If you haven’t heard Steve Jobs and his commencement speech for Stanford University in 2005, you must.

When I first came across that speech, I was still working in hospitals as a doctor. But it really made me think about what I should be doing… my job was great, but frankly I felt like I was just doing a job, to climb the career ladder, to make a steady paycheck, just another guy in the cog of the machinery running the rat race. Then I realised, that if I only had another year to live, there was plenty else I would want to be doing.

Here’s the full video. I highly encourage you watch it if you have not:

Here is an excerpt:

“When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because 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. Everything else is secondary.”

-Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005

2 years ago, my friend Gerard sent me some writings of Carlos Castenada. I quote:

“A man of knowledge chooses a path with a heart and follows it and then he looks and rejoices and laughs and then he sees and knows. All paths are the same: they lead nowhere. However, a path without a heart is never enjoyable. On the other hand, a path with heart is easy-it does not make a warrior work at liking it; it makes for a joyful journey; as long as a man follows it, he is one with it.”

I’ve since decided to live life on my own terms. It’s bee no easy ride, but I certainly am having a blast living my heart out.

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