It was in 2006 when I discovered the famous Steve Jobs’ Stanford commencement address that had a huge impact on my life. Back then I didn’t know that Steve wasn’t the kind of leader I believe great leaders should be, but he sure had courage to follow his heart and intuition. Some of my favourite quotes from the speech:
‘Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true. Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.’
‘You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.’
Inspired by the commencement address and a Harvard University programme I attended years ago, together with Kairi Kuuskor from Bold Tuesday we delivered a practical seminar at Estonian Art Academy. The seminar was called ‘Courage to create one’s future’ and focused on two topics:
- connecting the dots and trusting one heart and intuition in creating one’s future;
- accelerators and brakes (or our dreams and fears, loyalties etc) and ways of releasing the latter;
- growth support opportunities, such as mentoring, coaching and supervision.
We shared our own personal dots and pivots from the past and invited the big hall of students and lecturers to do so.
We used Bold Tuesday Vision Board Reimagined as a basis for our seminar.
Special thanks to EKA and Robert Luig for video and technical support!
Jaga mõtteid: