Doug’s fiancée Mandy forwarded a link to the commencement speech delivered by Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, to the 2005 graduating class at Stanford. I’m a fan of good speeches, regardless of whether they were delivered in real life (like this was), books (Atlas Shrugged anyone?) or via Hollywood (think Michael Douglas in The American President, Mel Gibson in Braveheart, Belushi in Animal House, etc.). So I read this one, and I liked it. A lot.
Jobs broke the speech out into three lessons he’d learned in life, with a really interesting and significant story to illustrate each. The lesson that most caught my attention was his first: that everything in life has a purpose, and only later in life can you look back and “connect the dots” from where you are now to everything that got you there.
Life is a collection of experiences, and to get the most out of life, those experiences build on one another – they connect. So apply that to Pickle of the Month. Yes, it could truly be a stupid idea. Yes, we are not likely to make heaps of money. But is it worthwhile? Hard to say now. But somewhere down the road, when the time is right to stop and connect the dots, I think the results will be surprising…
Pickle of the Month blog 