"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life." ~ Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs Commencement Address - Stanford University's Class of 2005, June 12, 2005.

I have never graduated college or university. The closest I came to being a university student was when I took real estate classes at the University of British Columbia. To this day, I don't have a degree. But what I do have is stubborn-ness to not take "no" for an answer, the stubborn-ness to continue no matter how many times life may knock me down and an unwillingness to listen to naysayers who have nothing better to do than to knock other people's dreams down.

I can almost see Steve Job's words directed at me. June 12th, 2005 was my 35th birthday. And on that June of 2005, I finally found out what it was that I enjoyed in life. From that moment on, I was a photographer. It has been more than six years since that commencement day address and just now I realized that even though I didn't hear Steve Job's words then, they penetrated in some shape or form.

I'm not a rich man, frankly, I could probably be considered one of the poorest in terms of finances. But there is one thing that separates those who are lost in the maelstrom that is life and those who have the ability and willingness to succeed is their perseverance. I'm dedicated in my goal, no matter how far it may seem out of reach to others. Being a professional photographer is my goal, my task, my job and I am prepared to dedicate my soul and life to it.

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.

~ Steve Jobs

I will not listen to naysayers. I will not let other people's doubts bring me down. I will not stop in my dedication to my pursuit of my profession of photography. As Jobs said, I need to have the courage to follow my heart and my intuition.

And that alone is my Life Journey. May we all have success and happiness in our individual Life Journeys.