Inspiring Thoughts

The past fortnight has been pretty bored & unmotivated. Today something caught my attention. Something fun in YouTube from Prof Jiang Rongrong after bioseparations lecture... the commencement speeches by J.K. Rowling at Harvard University in 2008 and Steve Jobs at Stanford University in 2005.

Basically they shared their personal experiences on failure and what made them successful. I had particularly deep impression on the following points they made.

"If you live your life too cautiously, you have failed by default.

It's not how much you live, but the quality of life you live."

J.K. Rowling [1]

"Pursue what you really love to do and you'll do it very well."

Steve Jobs [2]

For people who have not been experiencing major failures in their lives, perhaps it's difficult to put themselves in Rowling's and Steve's shoes. I guess many people have also experienced this dilemma...

Family's and society's expectations

VERSUS

Dreams and passion

How many people have that kind of courage to go against all odds to pursue what they really want to do? Very few I guess.

It's inspiring to hear others' success stories. However, we often use others' measure of success for ourselves. But definition of success should be personalised. I think if we manage to achieve the goals we set for ourselves, no matter how minor they are, we have been successful. In today's societies, much of the definition of success are material-based, which are a major source of stress in life. The tendency to constantly compare ourselves with others make our life even more difficult.

Basically, there are no such thing as things which we can't do. Everything needs time and it's only a matter of learning how accept the failures and bouncing back from it.

I'm lucky to be taught by a good teacher, who not only teaches you how to think, but also motivate you. Arigato gozaimasu!

Sources of images :

[1] http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/10/20/jk_narrowweb__300x390,0.jpg
[2] http://www.sfgate.com/blogs/images/sfgate/techchron/2007/01/09/mn_macworld_caps104.jpg