Steve Jobs: How to Find Your Life Purpose

One man can change the world. The iPhone in your pocket. The iPad in your bag. The sleek laptop you're reading this on. Thank Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs created Apple computers and Pixar, and brought us many of the most amazing and useful innovations of our time.

Steve Jobs passed away a couple weeks ago, leaving behind a legacy that will not be forgotten. His story is one of a man who followed his gut, searched for what he loved, and lived each day to the fullest. In his 2005 Stanford University Commencement Speech, he spoke about three stories from his own life. He used these stories to illustrate his three keys to living fully.

Three Keys to Finding Your Life Purpose

* Follow Your Gut
* Search for What You Love and Do Not Settle
* Live Each Day as Though it is Your Last
Follow Your Gut

But on the day of his birth, you wouldn't have guessed that baby would have much to offer. His unwed mother had the baby, knowing that she would give him up for adoption. The couple that was supposed to adopt him (an educated, professional couple) backed out when they saw that he was a boy. So the adoption agency called another couple who had been on the waiting list to see if they wanted a baby boy.

The couple that sprang from their beds to welcome a baby into their lives was a working class couple. Although they saved for Jobs' college education, he knew they couldn't afford it. At Reed college, he dropped out of school, because he didn't know what he wanted to do with his life and because he didn't want to waste his parents money. Dropping out of school allowed him to drop-in to the classes that he was interested in. It was in those classes that he learned about calligraphy and design, tools that seemed useless, but a decade later would help set the Macintosh computer apart.

He didn't know that the calligraphy class he was checking out because he was interested in it would one day influence the computer company he created and would thereby influence the entire would. He couldn't have known that. But he was following his curiosity and his gut. And his gut led him to the same place that your gut can lead you: The Right Place at the Right Time. Trust in your gut. Trust in your instinct. Trust that it will all come together because there is a greater purpose.

Search for What You Love; Do Not Settle

By the time he was 30, Steve Jobs created a $2 billion company. Then he got fired. His own company forced him out. Imagine how that would feel. He was down and he didn't know what to do. He took some time to talk to people he respected and he took some time to determine what he loved. What he realized that what he still loved was technology and innovation. Being fired had freed him from all the pressures that went with being successful. Now he could start fresh with no pressure. He was able to create NeXT and Pixar. He was also able to meet and fall in love with the woman who would become his wife, Laureen.

Looking back, he says that being fired from Apple was the best thing that could have happened to him. It freed him. It allowed him to truly search for what he loved.

Setbacks come. The unexpected happens. You'll get fired from your own company. You'll get hurt by your own family. These are opportunities to search deeply for what you love, to re-discover who you are, and to ensure that you are living a life of meaning and purpose. These are the moments that will allow you to define your life as one of greatness.

Live Every Day As Though it is Your Last

Each day of his life, Jobs would look in the mirror and ask himself, "If this was the last day of my life, is this what I would want to be doing? That was the formula he used to determine his course of action. He didn't waste his time. He used every day and every moment to give his gift fully to the world, to empower people to express themselves and to live more fully.

Jobs battled cancer. He had a liver transplant. He had health issues that made death a very real presence in his life. He knew how precious life is. He also knew how precious death is. Death is what makes way for the new. It clears out the old and gives the young a chance to innovate and leave their mark upon the world.

Steve Jobs left his mark upon the world. And now it is your turn. Live this day as though it is your last. Give fully. Love fully. Live with passion, searching for who you are at your deepest core.