How Do Your Dots Connect?

I recently stumbled across an amazing video of the Stanford University Commencement speech from 2005 given by Steve Jobs.

It is only 15 minutes long, but yet it is very powerful. In his speech, Steve tells 3 different stories about his life. The first one being about connecting the dots of his life where he says

“... it was impossible to 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. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

That concept is something that I have thought about a number of times in my life, but never quite put it in those terms. How about you? Have you looked back into your past and seen how decision X, led to Y and then onto Z?

Over the years I have asked myself “How Did I Get Here?” on a number of occasions, and then I will reflect on my life and look back and can see a previous decision that sent me on this path, and then one before that and so on; my X to Y to Z and beyond.

Starting from where I am today, I can look back over time and see how I got here. You can do the same with your life. What are your dots?

Everyone has many sets of dots that are connected and interrelated and you never know which ones will become major turning points in your life until years later when you are looking back and connecting the dots.

But like Steve says, you can never see into the future to know what dots will emerge because of a particular decision that you are making in the here and now. It is only possible to connect the dots looking backwards from today.

If you are interested in the whole thing, you can check out Steve Jobs’ full speech for yourself on YouTube here. It is only 15 minutes and definitely worth at least that much of your time.

Can you connect the dots in your life? I'd live to hear your story below...