Steve Jobs 2005

7/23/2019 Steve Jobs 2005

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'You've got to find what youlove,' Jobs saysThis is a prepared text of the Commencement addressdelivered by Steve Jobs, CE of !pple Computer and of"ixar !nimation Studios, on June #$, $%%&

(ideo of the Commencement address

) am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the

finest universities in the world ) never graduated from college Truth be told,

this is the closest )'ve ever gotten to a college graduation Today ) want to tell

you three stories from my life That's it *o big deal Just three stories

The first story is about connecting the dots

) dropped out of +eed College after the first months, but then stayed around

as a drop-in for another #. months or so before ) really /uit So why did ) drop

out0

)t started before ) was born 1y biological mother was a young, unwed college

graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption She felt very

strongly that ) 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 )

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

as2ing3 45e have an unexpected baby boy6 do you want him04 They said3 4fcourse4 1y 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 to sign the final adoption papers She only relented a few

months later when my parents promised that ) would someday go to college

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!nd #7 years later ) did go to college 8ut ) naively chose a college that was

almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my wor2ing-class parents' savings

were being spent on my college tuition !fter six months, ) couldn't see the

value in it ) had no idea what ) wanted to do with my life and no idea how

college was going to help me figure it out !nd here ) was spending all of the

money my parents had saved their entire life So ) decided to drop out and

trust that it would all wor2 out 9 )t was pretty scary at the time, but loo2ing

bac2 it was one of the best decisions ) ever made The minute ) dropped out )

could stop ta2ing the re/uired classes that didn't interest me, and begin

dropping in on the ones that loo2ed interesting

)t wasn't all romantic ) didn't have a dorm room, so ) slept on the floor infriends' rooms, ) returned Co2e bottles for the &: deposits to buy food with,

and ) would wal2 the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good

meal a wee2 at the ;are 9rishna temple ) loved it !nd much of what )

stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless

later on <et me give you one example3

+eed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in

the country Throughout the campus every poster, every label on everydrawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed 8ecause ) had dropped out and

didn't have to ta2e the normal classes, ) decided to ta2e a calligraphy class to

learn how to do this ) learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about

varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what

ma2es great typography great )t was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in

a way that science can't capture, and ) found it fascinating

*one of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life 8ut #%

years later, when we were designing the first 1acintosh computer, it all came

bac2 to me !nd we designed it all into the 1ac )t was the first computer with

beautiful typography )f ) had never dropped in on that single course in college,

the 1ac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced

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fonts !nd since 5indows =ust copied the 1ac, it's li2ely that no personal

computer would have them )f ) had never dropped out, ) would have never

dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have

the wonderful typography that they do f course it was impossible to connect

the dots loo2ing forward when ) was in college 8ut it was very, very clear

loo2ing bac2ward #% years later

!gain, you can't connect the dots loo2ing forward6 you can only connect them

loo2ing bac2ward So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in

your future You have to trust in something > your gut, destiny, life, 2arma,

whatever This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the

difference in my life

1y second story is about love and loss

) was luc2y > ) found what ) loved to do early in life 5o? and ) started !pple

in my parents' garage when ) was $% 5e wor2ed hard, and in #% years !pple

had grown from =ust the two of us in a garage into a @$ billion company with

over A,%%% employees 5e had =ust released our finest creation > the

1acintosh > a year earlier, and ) had =ust turned B% !nd then ) got fired ;owcan you get fired from a company you started0 5ell, as !pple grew we hired

someone who ) thought was very talented to run the company with me, and

for the first year or so things went well 8ut then our visions of the future

began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out 5hen we did, our 8oard

of irectors sided with him So at B% ) was out !nd very publicly out 5hat

had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating

) really didn't 2now what to do for a few months ) felt that ) had let the

previous generation of entrepreneurs down > that ) had dropped the baton as

it was being passed to me ) met with avid "ac2ard and 8ob *oyce and tried

to apologi?e for screwing up so badly ) was a very public failure, and ) even

thought about running away from the valley 8ut something slowly began to

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dawn on me > ) still loved what ) did The turn of events at !pple had not

changed that one bit ) had been re=ected, but ) was still in love !nd so )

decided to start over

) didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from !pple 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 )t freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my

life

uring the next five years, ) started a company named *eDT, another

company named "ixar, and fell in love with an ama?ing woman who wouldbecome my wife "ixar went on to create the world's first computer animated

feature film, Toy Story , and is now the most successful animation studio in the

world )n a remar2able turn of events, !pple bought *eDT, ) returned to !pple,

and the technology we developed at *eDT is at the heart of !pple's current

renaissance !nd <aurene and ) have a wonderful family together

)'m pretty sure none of this would have happened if ) hadn't been fired from

!pple )t was awful tasting medicine, but ) guess the patient needed itSometimes life hits you in the head with a bric2 on't lose faith )'m convinced

that the only thing that 2ept me going was that ) loved what ) did You've got to

find what you love !nd that is as true for your wor2 as it is for your lovers

Your wor2 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 wor2 !nd the only way to do great

wor2 is to love what you do )f you haven't found it yet, 2eep loo2ing on't

settle !s with all matters of the heart, you'll 2now when you find it !nd, li2e

any great relationship, it =ust gets better and better as the years roll on So

2eep loo2ing until you find it on't settle

1y third story is about death

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5hen ) was #7, ) read a /uote that went something li2e3 4)f you live each day

as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right4 )t made an

impression on me, and since then, for the past BB years, ) have loo2ed in the

mirror every morning and as2ed myself3 4)f today were the last day of my life,

would ) want to do what ) am about to do today04 !nd whenever the answer

has been 4*o4 for too many days in a row, ) 2now ) need to change

something

+emembering that )'ll be dead soon is the most important tool )'ve ever

encountered to help me ma2e the big choices in life 8ecause almost

everything > all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or

failure > these things =ust fall away in the face of death, leaving only what istruly important +emembering that you are going to die is the best way ) 2now

to avoid the trap of thin2ing you have something to lose You are already

na2ed There is no reason not to follow your heart

!bout a year ago ) was diagnosed with cancer ) had a scan at 73B% in the

morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas ) didn't even 2now

what a pancreas was The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of

cancer that is incurable, and that ) should expect to live no longer than threeto six months 1y doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order,

which is doctor's code for prepare to die )t means to try to tell your 2ids

everything you thought you'd have the next #% years to tell them in =ust a few

months )t means to ma2e sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as

easy as possible for your family )t means to say your goodbyes

) lived with that diagnosis all day <ater that evening ) had a biopsy, where they

stuc2 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 )

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

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be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery ) had the

surgery and )'m fine now

This was the closest )'ve been to facing death, and ) hope it's the closest ) get

for a few more decades ;aving lived through it, ) can now say this to you with

a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual

concept3

*o one wants to die Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die

to get there !nd yet death is the destination we all share *o one has ever

escaped it !nd that is as it should be, because eath is very li2ely the single

best invention of <ife )t is <ife's change agent )t clears out the old to ma2eway for the new +ight 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 /uite true

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life on't be

trapped by dogma > which is living with the results of other people's thin2ing

on't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice !nd

most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition Theysomehow already 2now what you truly want to become Everything else is

secondary

5hen ) was young, there was an ama?ing publication called The Whole Earth

Catalog , which was one of the bibles of my generation )t was created by a

fellow named Stewart 8rand not far from here in 1enlo "ar2, and he brought it

to life with his poetic touch This was in the late #%s, before personal

computers and des2top publishing, so it was all made with typewriters,

scissors and "olaroid cameras )t was sort of li2e Foogle in paperbac2 form,

B& years before Foogle came along3 )t was idealistic, and overflowing with

neat tools and great notions

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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 )t was the mid-

#7%s, and ) was your age n the bac2 cover of their final issue was a

photograph of an early morning country road, the 2ind you might find yourself

hitchhi2ing on if you were so adventurous 8eneath it were the words3 4Stay

;ungry Stay Goolish4 )t was their farewell message as they signed off Stay

;ungry Stay Goolish !nd ) have always wished that for myself !nd now, as

you graduate to begin anew, ) wish that for you

Stay ;ungry Stay Goolish

Than2 you all very much

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Steve Jobs 2005