Any speechwriter who expects that he or she will have to write a graduation address in the future (and that includes most of us), should look up Steve Jobs' commencement address to the graduating class of Stanford University last month. It's brief, it's uplifting and it's full of practical advice for new grads.

I've always maintained that the reason why most graduation speeches fail is because most graduation speakers fall into the trap of thinking that the occasion is about them, instead of about the graduates. So they use the occasion to stroke their own egos or promote their pet causes. No wonder they bore their audiences.

In his own address, Steve Jobs talks about himself, but he shares experiences from his life and career that new graduates can relate to and learn from. Essentially, he tells the graduates to live courageously, to do what they love and to trust that if they are true to themselves, the choices that they make will bring them success.

The core paragraph is this: "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 other's 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."

That's good advice for anyone.

You can access the complete text of Jobs' address here.