Steve Jobs Explains How the Thought of Death Inspires Living a Good Life in a Colorful Whiteboard Animation

Steve Jobs, the visionary co-founder of Apple and Pixar, gave an inspiring commencement address to the graduates of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California on June 12, 2005. During his presentation, Jobs, who had just found out he had cancer, shared with the audience of young people how the thought of death was the inspiration of how he wanted to live his life.

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. …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.

Inspired by this remarkable speech, Mark Wooding of After Skool quite elegantly illustrated a colorful whiteboard animation reflective of Jobs’ profound words.

Learn about the most important tool to make your life choices with this new animation from Steve Jobs.