I stumbled across a commencement speech by Jim Carrey to the Maharishi University of Management and was blown away by his depth and wisdom. He delivered what people were expecting – comedy – but he strove to impart the concept that great things are on the horizon if we don’t let fear stand in our way. Check it out even if you are not a Jim Carrey fan. Here is a link to a LinkedIn article about his speech if you want to skip to the highlights.
I wondered what other inspiring commencement speeches were out there. After a quick Google search, I turned up a few authors who had the same question.
Graduation Wisdom listed their top 18 (even though the title is “Top 10 Commencement Speeches”. There are links to most of the commencement speeches. Scroll to the bottom of the page for sketch notes.
KeepInspiringMe.com has a similar list but with additional speakers.
The Huffington Post has a completely different list. I don’t believe any of the speakers on this list showed up on the first two. I love diversity!
Why do we love commencement speeches even if we’ve been out of college for a long time? Because they remind us not to be limited by ourselves … not to be encouraged toward mediocrity … to be authentic and true to ourselves. They remind us to use our knowledge, skills, and abilities to make the world a better place. Or, as Jim Carrey pointed out,
“Your job is not to figure out how it’s going to happen for you, but to open the door in your head and when the doors open in real life, just walk through it. Don’t worry if you miss your cue. There will always be another door opening. They keep opening.”