The following is a summary and article by AI based on a transcript of the video "Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address". Due to the limitations of AI, please be careful to distinguish the correctness of the content.
00:07 | this program is brought to you by |
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00:08 | stanford university please visit us at |
00:11 | stanford.edu |
00:21 | thank you |
00:26 | i'm |
00:27 | honored to be with you today for your |
00:29 | commencement from one of the finest |
00:30 | universities in the world |
00:35 | truth be told |
00:38 | i never graduated from college |
00:41 | and |
00:42 | this is the closest i've ever gotten to |
00:44 | a college graduation |
00:47 | today i want to tell you three stories |
00:49 | from my life |
00:51 | that's it no big deal |
00:53 | just three stories |
00:55 | the first story |
00:57 | is about connecting the dots |
01:00 | i dropped out of reed college after the |
01:02 | first six months but then stayed around |
01:04 | as a drop in for another 18 months or so |
01:06 | before i really quit |
01:09 | so why'd i drop |
01:10 | out it started before i was born |
01:15 | my biological mother was a young unwed |
01:17 | graduate student and she decided to put |
01:20 | me up for adoption |
01:22 | she felt very strongly that i should be |
01:24 | adopted by college graduates so |
01:26 | everything was all set for me to be |
01:28 | adopted at birth by a lawyer and his |
01:30 | wife |
01:31 | except that when i popped out they |
01:33 | decided at the last minute that they |
01:35 | really wanted a girl |
01:37 | so my parents who were on a waiting list |
01:39 | got a call in the middle of the night |
01:41 | asking |
01:43 | we've got an unexpected baby boy do you |
01:45 | want him |
01:47 | they said of course |
01:50 | my biological mother found out later |
01:52 | that my mother had never graduated from |
01:54 | college and that my father had never |
01:56 | graduated from high school |
01:58 | she refused to sign the final adoption |
02:01 | papers |
02:03 | she only relented a few months later |
02:05 | when my parents promised that i would go |
02:07 | to college |
02:09 | this was the start |
02:10 | in my life |
02:13 | and 17 years later i did go to college |
02:17 | but i naively chose a college that was |
02:19 | almost as expensive as stanford |
02:22 | and all of my working class parents |
02:24 | savings were being spent on my college |
02:25 | tuition |
02:27 | after six months i couldn't see the |
02:29 | value in it |
02:30 | i had no idea what i wanted to do with |
02:32 | my life |
02:33 | and no idea how college was going to |
02:34 | help me figure it out |
02:36 | and here i was spending all the money my |
02:38 | parents had saved their entire life |
02:42 | so i decided to drop out and trust that |
02:44 | it would all work out okay |
02:47 | it was pretty scary at the time but |
02:49 | looking back it was one of the best |
02:50 | decisions i ever made |
02:53 | the minute i dropped out |
02:55 | i could stop taking the required classes |
02:57 | that didn't interest me |
02:59 | and begin dropping in on the ones that |
03:01 | looked far more interesting |
03:04 | it wasn't all romantic |
03:06 | i didn't have a dorm room so i slept on |
03:08 | the floor in friends rooms |
03:10 | i returned coke bottles for the five |
03:12 | cent deposits to buy food with |
03:14 | and i would walk the seven miles across |
03:16 | town every sunday night to get one good |
03:18 | meal a week at the hari krishna temple |
03:21 | i loved it |
03:23 | and much of what i stumbled into by |
03:25 | following my curiosity and intuition |
03:27 | turned out to be priceless later on |
03:29 | let me give you one example |
03:33 | reed college at that time offered |
03:34 | perhaps the best calligraphy instruction |
03:36 | in the country |
03:38 | throughout the campus every poster every |
03:40 | label on every drawer was beautifully |
03:43 | hand calligraphed |
03:45 | because i had dropped out and didn't |
03:46 | have to take the normal classes |
03:49 | i decided to take a calligraphy class to |
03:51 | learn how to do this |
03:52 | i learned about serif and sans serif |
03:54 | typefaces about varying the amount of |
03:57 | space between different letter |
03:58 | combinations about what makes great |
04:00 | typography great |
04:03 | it was beautiful historical artistically |
04:06 | subtle in a way that science can't |
04:08 | capture |
04:09 | and i found it fascinating |
04:11 | none of this had even a hope of any |
04:13 | practical application in my life |
04:17 | but ten years later when we were |
04:19 | designing the first macintosh computer |
04:21 | it all came back to me |
04:23 | and we designed it all into the mac it |
04:25 | was the first computer with beautiful |
04:27 | typography |
04:29 | if i had never dropped in on that single |
04:31 | course in college the mac would have |
04:33 | never had multiple typefaces or |
04:34 | proportionally spaced fonts |
04:37 | and since windows just copied the mac |
04:39 | it's likely that no personal computer |
04:41 | would have them |
04:49 | if i had never dropped out i would have |
04:51 | never dropped in on that calligraphy |
04:53 | class and personal computers might not |
04:55 | have the wonderful typography that they |
04:56 | do |
04:58 | of course it was impossible to connect |
05:00 | the dots looking forward when i was in |
05:01 | college but it was very very clear |
05:04 | looking backwards ten years later |
05:06 | again you can't connect the dots looking |
05:09 | forward you can only connect them |
05:11 | looking backwards |
05:12 | so you have to trust that the dots will |
05:14 | somehow connect in your future you have |
05:16 | to trust in something your gut destiny |
05:19 | life karma whatever |
05:21 | because believing that the dots will |
05:22 | connect down the road |
05:24 | will give you the confidence to follow |
05:26 | your heart even when it leads you off |
05:28 | the well-worn path and that will make |
05:31 | all the difference |
05:38 | my second story |
05:40 | is about love and loss |
05:43 | i was lucky i found what i loved to do |
05:46 | early in life |
05:47 | waz and i started apple in my parents |
05:49 | garage when i was 20. |
05:51 | we worked hard and in 10 years apple had |
05:53 | grown from just the two of us in a |
05:55 | garage |
05:56 | into a two billion dollar company with |
05:57 | over four thousand employees |
05:59 | we just released our finest creation the |
06:01 | macintosh a year earlier and i just |
06:03 | turned |
06:04 | 30. and then i got fired |
06:08 | how can you get fired from a company you |
06:10 | started |
06:12 | well |
06:13 | as apple grew we hired someone who i |
06:15 | thought was very talented to run the |
06:17 | company with me and for the first year |
06:19 | or so things went well but then our |
06:21 | visions of the future began to diverge |
06:23 | and eventually we had a falling out |
06:25 | when we did our board of directors sided |
06:27 | with him |
06:28 | and so at 30 i was out |
06:30 | and very publicly out |
06:32 | what had been the focus of my entire |
06:34 | adult life was gone and it was |
06:36 | devastating |
06:38 | i really didn't know what to do for a |
06:39 | few months |
06:40 | i felt that i'd let the previous |
06:42 | generation of entrepreneurs down that i |
06:44 | had dropped the baton as it was being |
06:46 | passed to me |
06:47 | i met with david packard and bob noyce |
06:50 | and tried to apologize for screwing up |
06:52 | so badly |
06:53 | i was a very public failure and i even |
06:55 | thought about running away from the |
06:56 | valley |
06:58 | but something slowly began to dawn on me |
07:01 | i still loved what i did |
07:04 | the turn of events at apple had not |
07:06 | changed that one bit |
07:07 | i'd been rejected but i was still in |
07:09 | love |
07:11 | and so i decided to start over |
07:14 | i didn't see it then but it turned out |
07:16 | that getting fired from apple was the |
07:17 | best thing that could have ever happened |
07:19 | to me |
07:20 | the heaviness of being successful was |
07:22 | replaced by the lightness of being a |
07:24 | beginner again less sure about |
07:26 | everything |
07:27 | it freed me to enter one of the most |
07:28 | creative periods of my life |
07:30 | during the next five years i started a |
07:32 | company named next another company named |
07:34 | pixar and fell in love with an amazing |
07:37 | woman who would become my wife |
07:39 | pixar went on to create the world's |
07:40 | first computer animated feature film toy |
07:42 | story and is now the most successful |
07:45 | animation studio in the world |
07:49 | in a remarkable turn of events |
07:51 | apple bought next and i returned to |
07:53 | apple and the technology we developed it |
07:56 | next is at the heart of apple's current |
07:57 | renaissance |
07:59 | and laureen and i have a wonderful |
08:01 | family together |
08:03 | i'm pretty sure none of this would have |
08:05 | happened if i hadn't been fired from |
08:06 | apple |
08:07 | it was awful tasting medicine but i |
08:09 | guess the patient needed it sometime |
08:12 | life sometimes life's gonna hit you in |
08:14 | the head with a brick |
08:15 | don't lose faith |
08:17 | i'm convinced that the only thing that |
08:18 | kept me going was that i loved what i |
08:20 | did |
08:21 | you've got to find what you love and |
08:24 | that is as true for work as it is for |
08:26 | your lovers |
08:27 | your work is going to fill a large part |
08:29 | of your life and the only way to be |
08:30 | truly satisfied is to do what you |
08:32 | believe is great work and the only way |
08:35 | to do great work is to love what you do |
08:38 | if you haven't found it yet keep looking |
08:41 | and don't settle |
08:43 | as with all matters of the heart you'll |
08:45 | know when you find it and like any great |
08:47 | relationship it just gets better and |
08:49 | better as the years roll on so keep |
08:52 | looking |
08:53 | don't settle |
09:04 | my third story |
09:06 | is about death |
09:08 | when i was 17 i read a quote that went |
09:10 | something like |
09:12 | if you live each day as if it was your |
09:14 | last someday you'll most certainly be |
09:16 | right |
09:20 | it made an impression on me and since |
09:22 | then for the past 33 years i've looked |
09:25 | in the mirror every morning and asked |
09:26 | myself if today were the last day of my |
09:29 | life would i want to do what i am about |
09:31 | to do today |
09:33 | and whenever the answer has been no for |
09:35 | too many days in a row i know i need to |
09:38 | change something |
09:39 | remembering that i'll be dead soon is |
09:42 | the most important tool i've ever |
09:43 | encountered to help me make the big |
09:45 | choices in life |
09:47 | because almost everything |
09:49 | all external expectations all pride all |
09:52 | fear of embarrassment or failure these |
09:54 | things just fall away in the face of |
09:56 | death |
09:57 | leaving only what is truly important |
10:00 | remembering that you are going to die |
10:02 | is the best way i know to avoid the trap |
10:04 | of thinking you have something to lose |
10:07 | you are already naked there is no reason |
10:10 | not to follow your heart |
10:13 | about a year ago |
10:14 | i was diagnosed with cancer |
10:17 | i had a scan at 7 30 in the morning and |
10:19 | it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas |
10:22 | i didn't even know what a pancreas was |
10:25 | the doctors told me this was almost |
10:27 | certainly a type of cancer that is |
10:29 | incurable and that i should expect to |
10:31 | live no longer than three to six months |
10:35 | my doctor advised me to go home and get |
10:37 | my affairs in order which is doctors |
10:40 | code for prepare to die |
10:43 | it means to try and tell your kids |
10:45 | everything |
10:46 | you thought you'd have the next ten |
10:48 | years to tell them in just a few months |
10:51 | it means to make sure everything is |
10:52 | buttoned up so that will be as easy as |
10:54 | possible for your family |
10:56 | it means to say your goodbyes |
11:00 | i live with that diagnosis all day |
11:03 | later that evening i had a biopsy where |
11:05 | they stuck an endoscope down my throat |
11:08 | through my stomach and into my |
11:09 | intestines put a needle into my pancreas |
11:12 | and got a few cells from the tumor |
11:14 | i was sedated but my wife who was there |
11:17 | told me that when they viewed the cells |
11:19 | under a microscope the doctor started |
11:21 | crying because it turned out to be a |
11:23 | very rare form of pancreatic cancer that |
11:26 | is curable with surgery i had the |
11:28 | surgery and thankfully i'm fine now |
11:40 | this was the closest i've been to facing |
11:42 | death and i hope it's the closest i get |
11:44 | for a few more decades |
11:46 | having lived through it i can now say |
11:48 | this to you with a bit more certainty |
11:50 | than when death was a useful but purely |
11:52 | intellectual concept |
11:54 | no one wants to die |
11:57 | even people who want to go to heaven |
11:59 | don't want to die to get there |
12:01 | and yet |
12:02 | death is the destination we all share |
12:05 | no one has ever escaped it |
12:07 | and that is as it should be because |
12:09 | death is very likely the single best |
12:12 | invention of life |
12:14 | it's life's change agent it clears out |
12:16 | the old to make way for the new |
12:19 | right now the new is you |
12:21 | but someday not too long from now you |
12:23 | will gradually become the old and be |
12:26 | cleared away |
12:27 | sorry to be so dramatic |
12:29 | but it's quite true |
12:31 | your time is limited so don't waste it |
12:34 | living someone else's life |
12:37 | don't be trapped by dogma which is |
12:39 | living with the results of other |
12:40 | people's thinking |
12:42 | don't let the noise of others opinions |
12:44 | drowned out your own inner voice |
12:46 | and most important have the courage to |
12:48 | follow your heart and intuition |
12:50 | they somehow already know what you truly |
12:53 | want to become |
12:54 | everything else is secondary |
13:08 | when i was young |
13:10 | there was an amazing publication called |
13:12 | the whole earth catalog |
13:14 | which was one of the bibles of my |
13:16 | generation |
13:17 | it was created by a fellow named stuart |
13:19 | brand not far from here in menlo park |
13:22 | and he brought it to life with his |
13:23 | poetic touch |
13:25 | this was in the late 60s before personal |
13:27 | computers and desktop publishing so it |
13:29 | was all made with typewriters scissors |
13:32 | and polaroid cameras |
13:33 | it was sort of like google in paperback |
13:35 | form 35 years before google came along |
13:39 | it was idealistic |
13:40 | overflowing with neat tools and great |
13:42 | notions |
13:44 | stewart and his team put out several |
13:46 | issues of the whole earth catalog and |
13:48 | then when it had run its course they put |
13:50 | out a final issue |
13:52 | it was the mid 1970s and i was your age |
13:57 | on the back cover of their final issue |
13:59 | was a photograph of an early morning |
14:02 | country road the kind you might find |
14:04 | yourself hitchhiking on if you were so |
14:06 | adventurous |
14:08 | beneath it were the words |
14:10 | stay hungry |
14:11 | stay foolish |
14:12 | it was their farewell message as they |
14:14 | signed off stay hungry |
14:17 | stay foolish |
14:19 | and i've always wished that for myself |
14:22 | and now as you graduate to begin anew |
14:26 | i wish that for you |
14:28 | stay hungry stay foolish |
14:30 | thank you all very much |
14:56 | the preceding program is copyrighted by |
14:58 | stanford university please visit us at |
15:01 | stanford.edu |