there is no reason not to follow ur heart

> > This is the prepared text of the address by Steve
> Jobs, CEO of Apple
> > Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, who spoke
> at Commencement on
> > June 12, 2005.
> >
> > I am honored to be with you today at your
> commencement 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. 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. 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.
> > 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 to sign the final adoption papers. She
> only relented a few
> > months later when my patents promised that I would
> someday go to
> > college.
> >
> > And 17 years later I did go to college. But I
> naively 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
> > 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
> > and intuition 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
> calligraphed. 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, its 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, 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 worlds
> 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 retuned 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 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 your 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 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 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, 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 with surgery. I
> had the surgery and
> > I'm fine now.
> >
> > This was the closest I've been to facing death,
> and I hope its 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 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 - 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.
> >
> > 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 on if
> you were so
> > adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay
> Hungry. Stay Foolish."
> > It was their farewell 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.