You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.

You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path. And that will make all the difference.

We all know Steve Jobs’ commencement address at Stanford, or at least various bits from what has become one of the most famous speeches in modern history. Above is a portion I didn’t remember from the last time I watched the speech in full many years ago. Thankfully, to celebrate the 20th (!!) anniversary of the speech, the Steve Jobs Archive has remastered it for HD and it’s available at the link.

I couldn’t get very far through it without tearing up; I basically cried through the rest of it. Jobs’ personal #spirituality and philosophy of how the realms of humanism (aka the “liberal arts”) and technology intersect has meant so much to me over the past couple of decades. Apparently in an interview a few years before this speech, Steve Jobs stated:

“People sometimes forget that they are very unique and that they have very unique feelings and perspectives. The whole computer industry wants to forget about the humanist side.”

I cannot think of a more appropriate perspective than right now as we watch with horror Big Tech companies across this industry utterly fail at the humanist side. (Even Apple has been struggling!)

And as I write this, on a day which has been unreservedly gutwrenching when it comes to domestic & geopolitical news, I find comfort in the words of Steve Jobs: “Sometimes life’s gonna hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.”