7 Killer Pieces Of Life Advice That Prove Oprah Winfrey Is #Goals

Youtube/Harvard University

While we all have our own opinions, there’s one thing we can agree on: Oprah Winfrey is a force to be reckoned with. From her show, “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” to her network, “OWN,” to her many charities and to her incredible ability to inspire others with her own voice, Oprah was clearly the best choice for Harvard’s 2013 commencement speaker. And these seven major pieces of advice she delivered not only inspired that graduating class, but are timeless enough to inspire the hell out of the rest of us.

1. Learn from your mistakes.

“Learn from every mistake, because every experience, encounter and particularly your mistakes are there to teach you and force you into being more of who you are. And then figure out what’s the next right move. And the key to life is to develop an internal moral, emotional G.P.S that can tell you which way to go.”

2. Don’t be afraid of failure.

“It doesn’t matter how far you might rise. At some point, you are bound to stumble. If you’re constantly doing what we do — raising the bar… if you’re constantly pushing yourself higher, higher, the law of averages predicts that at some point, you might fall. And when you do, I want you to remember this: There is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction.”

3. Find success through expressing yourself.

“But no matter what challenges or setbacks or disappointments you may encounter along the way, you will find true success and happiness if you have only one goal — there really is only one — and that is this: to fulfill the highest, most truthful expression of yourself as a human being. You want to max out your humanity by using your energy to lift yourself up, your family and the people around you.”

4. Tell your story the right way.

“The challenge of life, I have found, is to build a resume that doesn’t simply tell a story about what you want to be, but a story about who you want to be. It’s a resume that doesn’t just tell a story about what you want to accomplish, but why, a story that’s not just a collection of titles and position, but a story that is really about your purpose, because when you inevitably stumble and find yourself stuck in a hole, that is the story that will get you out.”

5. Kindness is at the core of humanity.

“Extend yourself in kindness to other human beings wherever you can… what unites us is ultimately far more redeeming and compelling than anything that separates us. No matter who we are or what we look like or what we may believe, it is both possible and, more importantly, it becomes powerful to come together in common purpose and common effort.”

6. Find your light.

“So whether you call it soul or spirit or higher self, there is a light inside each of you — all of us — that illuminates your very human beingness if you let it. And as a young girl from rural Mississippi, I learned long ago that being myself was much easier than pretending to be Barbara Walters.”

7. Listen to your inner G.P.S.

“If you’re willing to listen to, be guided by, that small voice that is the G.P.S. within yourself — to find out what makes you come alive — you will be more than okay. You will be happy, you will be successful and you will make a difference in the world. ”

Read the transcript of the speech here.

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