From……http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html
It is one of the
greatest reflections on life we've ever heard.
I am honored (1)
to be with you today at your commencement(2) from one of the
finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be
told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I
want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal(3).
Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I
dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as
a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit(4). So
why did I drop out?
It
started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college
graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption(5).
She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so
everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife.
Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really
wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the
middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want
him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found
out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had
never graduated from high school. She refused(6) to sign the
final adoption papers. She only relented(7) a few months later
when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And
17 years later I did go to college. But I naively(8) chose a
college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class
parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I
couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life
and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was
spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided
to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the
time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute
I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me,
and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It
wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in
friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits(9) to
buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to
get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of
what I stumbled into by following my curiosity(10) and intuition(11)
turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed
College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the
country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was
beautifully hand calligraphic(12). Because I had dropped out and
didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class
to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about
varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what
makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle
in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None
of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years
later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to
me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with
beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in
college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally
spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would
have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this
calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography
that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward
when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years
later.
Again,
you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking
backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your
future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma,
whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the
difference in my life.
My second story is about love and loss.
I
was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage
when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the
two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We
had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I
had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company
you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very
talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went
well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had
a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I
was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life
was gone, and it was devastating.
I
really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the
previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it
was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I
was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the
valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did.
The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected(13),
but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I
didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the
best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being
successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure
about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my
life.
During
the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with
an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world
first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most
successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple
bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at
the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful
family together.
I'm
pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple.
It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes
life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that
the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to
find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers.
Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be
truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do
great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking.
Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.
And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years
roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.
My third story is about death.
When
I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day
as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made
an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in
the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of
my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the
answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to
change something.
Remembering
that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered(14)
to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all
external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these
things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly
important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to
avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked.
There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About
a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning,
and it clearly showed a tumor(15) on my pancreas. I didn't even
know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type
of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than
three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in
order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your
kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a
few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up(16)
so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your
goodbyes.
I
lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy(17),
where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my
intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I
was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the
cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be
a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable(18) with
surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
This
was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get
for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with
a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual(19)
concept:
No
one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get
there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped
it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best
invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way
for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you
will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but
it is quite true.
Your
time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped
by dogma(20) — 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.
When
I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog,
which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named
Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with
his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and
desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and Polaroid
cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35
years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat
tools and great notions.
Stewart
and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then
when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s,
and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of
an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking(21)
on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay
Foolish." It was their farewell(22) message as they signed
off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And
now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay
Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Thank
you all very much.
New word form the text
of Steve Jobs' commencement speech to Stanford in 2005.
Honored
hon·or (ŏn′ər) n.
1. High respect, as that shown for special merit; esteem: the honor shown to a Nobel laureate.
2. a. Good name; reputation. b. A source or cause of credit: was an honor to the profession.
3. a. Glory or recognition; distinction.
b. A mark, token, or gesture of respect or distinction: the place of honor at the table.
c. A military decoration.
d. A title conferred for achievement.
drop out
1. To withdraw from participation, as in a game, club, or school.
2. To withdraw from established society, especially because of disillusion with conventional values.
commencement (kə-mĕns′mənt) n.
1. A beginning; a start.
2. a. A ceremony at which academic degrees or diplomas are conferred.
b. The day on which such a ceremony occurs.
No big deal
no big deal and no biggie
Inf. [of something] not difficult or troublesome. Don't worry. It's no big deal to wash the car. No problem. It's no biggie.
quit
v. quit or quit·ted (kwĭt′ĭd), quit·ting, quits v.tr.
1. To depart from; leave: "You and I are on the point of quitting the theater of our exploits
" (Horatio Nelson).
2. To leave the company of: had to quit the gathering in order to be home by midnight.
3. To give up; relinquish: quit a job.
4. To abandon or put aside; forsake: advised them to quit their dissipated ways.
5. To cease or discontinue: asked them to quit talking; quit smoking.
6. Computer Science To exit (an application).
a·dopt (ə-dŏpt′)tr.v. a·dopt·ed, a·dopt·ing, a·dopts
1. To take into one's family through legal means and raise as one's own child.
2. a. To take and follow (a course of action, for example) by choice or assent: adopt a new
technique.
b. To take up and make one's own: adopt a new idea.
3. To take on or assume: adopted an air of importance.
4. To vote to accept: adopt a resolution.
5. To choose as standard or required in a course: adopt a new line of English textbooks.
re·fuse 1 (rĭ-fyo̅o̅z′)
v. re·fused, re·fus·ing, re·fus·esv.tr.
1. a. To indicate unwillingness to do, accept, give, or allow: She was refused admittance.
He refused treatment.
b. To indicate unwillingness (to do something): refused to leave.
2. To decline to jump (an obstacle). Used of a horse.v.intr.
To decline to do, accept, give, or allow something.
re·lent (rĭ-lĕnt′)
v. re·lent·ed, re·lent·ing, re·lentsv.intr.
To become more lenient, compassionate, or forgiving. See Synonyms at yield. v.tr. Obsolete
1. To cause to slacken or abate.
2. To cause to soften in attitude or temper.
na·ive or na·ïve (nī-ēv′, nä-) also na·if or na·ïf (nī-ēf′, nä-)adj.
1. Lacking worldly experience and understanding, especially:
a. Simple and guileless; artless: a child with a naive charm.
b. Unsuspecting or credulous: "Students, often bright but naive, bet—and lose—substantial sums of money on sporting events" (Tim Layden).
2. Showing or characterized by a lack of sophistication and critical judgment: "this extravagance of metaphors, with its naive bombast" (H.L. Mencken).
3. a. Not previously subjected to experiments: testing naive mice.
b. Not having previously taken or received a particular drug: persons naive to marijuana.
n.
One who is artless, credulous, or uncritical.
Deposits de·pos·it (dĭ-pŏz′ĭt)
v. de·pos·it·ed, de·pos·it·ing, de·pos·itsv.tr.
1. To put or set down; place.
2. To lay down or leave behind by a natural process: layers of sediment that were deposited on the ocean floor; glaciers that deposited their debris as they melted.
3. a. To give over or entrust for safekeeping.
b. To put (money) in a bank or financial account.
4. To give as partial payment or security. v.intr.
To become deposited; settle.
n.
1. Something, such as money, that is entrusted for safekeeping, as in a bank.
2. The condition of being deposited: funds on deposit with a broker.
3. A partial or initial payment of a cost or debt: left a $100 deposit toward the purchase of a stereo system.
4. A sum of money given as security for an item acquired for temporary use.
5. A depository.
6. Something deposited, especially by a natural process, as:
a. GeologyA concentration of mineral matter or sediment in a layer, vein, or pocket: iron ore deposits; rich deposits of oil and natural gas.
b. Physiology An accumulation of organic or inorganic material, such as a lipid or mineral, in a body tissue, structure, or fluid.
c. A sediment or precipitate that has settled out of a solution.
7. A coating or crust left on a surface, as by evaporation or electrolysis.
curiosity
cu·ri·os·i·ty (kyo͝or′ē-ŏs′ĭ-tē)
n.pl. cu·ri·os·i·ties
1. A desire to know or learn.
2. A desire to know about people or things that do not concern one; nosiness.
3. An object that arouses interest, as by being novel or extraordinary: kept the carved bone and displayed it as a curiosity.
4. A strange or odd aspect.
5. ArchaicFastidiousness.
Intuition
in·tu·i·tion (ĭn′to̅o̅-ĭsh′ən,-tyo̅o̅-)n.
1. a. The act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the use of rational processes; immediate cognition.
b. Knowledge gained by the use of this faculty; a perceptive insight.
2. A sense of something not evident or deducible; an impression.
Calligraphic
cal·lig·ra·phy (kə-lĭg′rə-fē)n.
1. a. The art of fine handwriting.
b. Works in fine handwriting considered as a group.
2. Handwriting.
Reject
re·ject (rĭ-jĕkt′) tr.v. re·ject·ed, re·ject·ing,re·jects
1. To refuse to accept, submit to, believe, or make use of.
2. To refuse to consider or grant; deny.
3. To refuse to recognize or give affection to (a person).
4. To discard as defective or useless; throw away. See Synonyms at refuse1.
5. To spit out or vomit.
6. Medicine To resist immunologically the introduction of (a transplanted organ or tissue); fail to accept as part of one's own body.
n.(rē′jĕkt)
One that has been rejected: a reject from the varsity team; a tire that is a reject.
Encountered
en·coun·ter (ĕn-koun′tər)n.
1. A meeting, especially one that is unplanned, unexpected, or brief: a chance encounter in the park.
2. a. A hostile or adversarial confrontation; a contest: a tense naval encounter.
b. An often violent meeting; a clash.
v.en·coun·tered, en·coun·ter·ing, en·coun·ters v.tr.
1. To meet, especially unexpectedly; come upon: encountered an old friend on the street.
2. To confront in battle or contention.
3. To come up against: encounter numerous obstacles.
v.intr.
To meet, especially unexpectedly.
Phrasal Verb:
button up
1. To fasten one's clothing tightly, as against cold weather.
2. To close or seal securely: button up the cabin for winter.
3. To complete the final details of: "Publication is a couple of months off; they're just buttoning up paperback rights" (Donald Dale Jackson).
bi·op·sy (bī′ŏp′sē)
n. pl. bi·op·sies
1. The removal and examination of a sample of tissue from a living body for diagnostic purposes.
2. A sample so obtained.
tr.v. bi·op·sied, bi·op·sy·ing, bi·op·sies
To remove (tissue) from a living body for diagnostic purposes.
en·do·scope (ĕn′də-skōp′) n.
An instrument for examining visually the interior of a bodily canal or a hollow organ such as the colon, bladder, or stomach.
cur·a·ble (kyo͝or′ə-bəl)adj.
Being such that curing or healing is possible: curable diseases.
in·tel·lec·tu·al (ĭn′tl-ĕk′cho̅o̅-əl) adj.
1. a. Of or relating to the intellect.
b. Rational rather than emotional.
2. Appealing to or engaging the intellect: an intellectual book; an intellectual problem.
3. a. Having or showing intellect, especially to a high degree. See Synonyms at intelligent.
b. Given to activities or pursuits that require exercise of the intellect.
n.
An intellectual person.
Dog·ma (dôg′mə, dŏg′-)n. pl. dog·masor dog·ma·ta (-mə-tə)
1. A doctrine or a corpus of doctrines relating to matters such as morality and faith, set forth in an authoritative manner by a church.
2. An authoritative principle, belief, or statement of ideas or opinion, especially one considered to be absolutely true. See Synonyms at doctrine.
3. A principle or belief or a group of them: "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present" (Abraham Lincoln).
hitch·hike (hĭch′hīk′)
v. hitch·hiked, hitch·hik·ing, hitch·hikes
v.intr.
To travel by soliciting free rides along a road.
v.tr.
To solicit or get (a free ride) along a road.
Fare·well (fâr-wĕl′) interj.
Used to express goodbye.
n.
1. An acknowledgment at parting; a goodbye.
2. The act of departing or taking leave.
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