"Stay Hungry! Stay Foolish!"

 Thank you to  AM, from Goals For the Week, for sharing this video of Steve Jobs' Stanford commencement speech in 2005. Truly a man that is a testimony for following your passions and doing what you LOVE!  I would highly recommend taking 15 minutes of your day to watch this.

Some quotes and points that strike a cord with me:

• "Do what you believe is great work."
• If you haven't found what it is that you love, KEEP LOOKING!
• Steve challenges us to find what we love.  He points out that work fills such a great part of our life and that such a huge part of doing great work is to be doing what we love.  
• "Keep looking.  Don't settle.  As with all matters of the heart, you will know when you find it."  
• "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...You have nothing to lose."  
• "Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice."  
• "Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.  They somehow already know what you truly want to become."  

And his last words for us were:  

"Stay Hungry.  Stay Foolish."  

Steve's speech resonated with me on several levels.  It reminded me of just how important it is to have faith in our dreams, our gifts, and our goals.   Being true to ourselves and doing what makes us happy can  be risky and require us to take big leaps of faith.  It requires us to "Stay Hungry."  And to some, it might seem like we are "Staying Foolish"  but nobody becomes GREAT by following others' dreams and listening to all the people that want to place you in a conventional box.

Find What you Love.

Find what makes you feel JOYFUL and So Completely and Fully Alive! And then DO IT!  Nobody ever made a dream come true by listening to the people that said their ideas and goals were "foolish" or "impractical". 

I'm convinced that when we do what we are meant to do...when we GIVE in the way we are meant to give...when we use our gifts and follow our passions...The rest will follow.  The "Dots Will Connect", as AM mentioned.  The Plan will come together.  

I believe this!  So, as with almost everything in my life, I will stay "Hungry".  I will continue to work on shutting out the critic within myself and the critics that come from the outside, and I will "Stay Foolish".  I will Dream Big!   

Amanda