Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

Channel: Stanford

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:01] [Music]

[0:07] this program is brought to you by

[0:08] Stanford University please visit us at

[0:11] stanford.edu

[0:20] thank

[0:26] you I'm uh honored to be with you today

[0:29] for your commencement from one of the

[0:30] finest universities in the

[0:33] [Applause]

[0:34] world truth be

[0:37] told uh I never graduated from

[0:40] college and uh this is the closest I've

[0:43] ever gotten to a college

[0:46] graduation today I want to tell you

[0:49] three stories from my life that's it no

[0:52] big deal just three

[0:54] stories the first story is about

[0:57] connecting the dots

[1:00] I dropped out of Reed College after the

[1:02] first 6 months but then stayed around as

[1:04] a drop in for another 18 months or so

[1:06] before I really

[1:08] quit so why' I drop

[1:11] out it started before I was

[1:14] born my biological mother was a young

[1:17] unwed graduate student and she decided

[1:19] to put me up for

[1:21] adoption she felt very strongly that I

[1:23] should be adopted by college graduates

[1:26] so everything was all set for me to be

[1:28] adopted at Birth by a lawyer and a his

[1:30] wife except that when I popped out they

[1:33] decided at the last minute that they

[1:35] really wanted a

[1:36] girl so my parents who were on a waiting

[1:39] list got a call in the middle of the

[1:41] night asking we've got an unexpected

[1:44] baby boy do you want him they said of

[1:49] course my biological mother found out

[1:52] later that my mother had never graduated

[1:54] from college and that my father had

[1:56] never graduated from high school she

[1:59] refused to signed the final adoption

[2:02] papers she only relented a few months

[2:04] later when my parents promised that I

[2:07] would go to college this was the start

[2:10] in my

[2:12] life and 17 years later I did go to

[2:16] college but I naively chose a college

[2:19] that was almost as expensive as

[2:21] Stanford and all of my workingclass

[2:23] parents savings were being spent on my

[2:25] college tuition after 6 months I

[2:28] couldn't see the value in it

[2:30] I had no idea what I wanted to do with

[2:32] my life and no idea how College was

[2:34] going to help me figure it out and here

[2:37] I was spending all the money my parents

[2:39] had saved their entire

[2:41] life so I decided to drop out and trust

[2:44] that it would all work out okay it was

[2:47] pretty scary at the time but looking

[2:49] back it was one of the best decisions I

[2:51] ever

[2:52] made the minute I dropped out I could

[2:56] stop taking the required classes that

[2:58] didn't interest me and begin dropping in

[3:00] on the ones that looked far more

[3:03] interesting it wasn't all romantic I

[3:06] didn't have a dorm room so I slept on

[3:08] the floor in friends rooms I returned

[3:10] Coke bottles for the 5-cent deposits to

[3:13] buy food with and I would walk the seven

[3:15] miles across town every Sunday night to

[3:18] get one good meal a week at the Hari

[3:20] Krishna Temple I loved it and much of

[3:24] what I stumbled into by following my

[3:26] curiosity and intuition turned out to be

[3:28] Priceless later on let me give you one

[3:31] example Reed College at that time

[3:34] offered perhaps the best calligraphy

[3:36] instruction in the country throughout

[3:38] the campus every poster every label on

[3:41] every drawer was beautifully hand

[3:44] cigraph because I had dropped out and

[3:46] didn't have to take the normal classes I

[3:49] decided to take a calligraphy class to

[3:51] learn how to do this I learned about

[3:53] serif and Sans serif type faces about

[3:56] varying the amount of space between

[3:57] different letter combinations about what

[4:00] makes great typography

[4:02] great it was beautiful historical

[4:05] artistically subtle in a way that

[4:07] science can't capture and I found it

[4:10] fascinating none of this had even a hope

[4:13] of any practical application in my

[4:16] life but 10 years later when we were

[4:19] designing the first Macintosh computer

[4:21] it all came back to me and we designed

[4:24] it all into the Mac it was the first

[4:26] computer with beautiful

[4:28] typography if I had never never dropped

[4:30] in on that single course in college the

[4:32] Mac would have never had multiple type

[4:34] faces or proportionately spaced fonts

[4:37] and since Windows just copi the Mac it's

[4:39] likely that no personal computer would

[4:41] have

[4:41] [Applause]

[4:44] [Music]

[4:48] them if I had never dropped out I would

[4:51] have never dropped in on that

[4:52] calligraphy class and personal computers

[4:54] might not have the wonderful typography

[4:56] that they do of course it was impossible

[4:59] to connect the dots looking forward when

[5:01] I was in college but it was very very

[5:03] clear looking backwards 10 years later

[5:07] again you can't connect the dots looking

[5:09] forward you can only connect them

[5:11] looking backwards so you have to trust

[5:13] that the dots will somehow connect in

[5:15] your future you have to trust in

[5:17] something your gut Destiny Life Karma

[5:20] whatever because believing that the dots

[5:22] will connect down the road will give you

[5:25] the confidence to follow your heart even

[5:27] when it leads you off the well-worn path

[5:29] path and that will make all the

[5:37] difference my second story is about love

[5:41] and

[5:42] loss I was lucky I found what I love to

[5:46] do early in life W and I started Apple

[5:49] in my parents garage when I was 20 we

[5:51] worked hard and in 10 years Apple had

[5:53] grown from Just the Two of Us in a

[5:55] garage into A2 billion doll company with

[5:57] over 4,000 employees we just released

[6:00] our finest creation the Macintosh a year

[6:03] earlier and I just turned

[6:05] 30 and then I got

[6:07] fired how can you get fired from a

[6:09] company you

[6:11] started well as Apple grew we hired

[6:14] someone who I thought was very talented

[6:16] to run the company with me and for the

[6:18] first year or so things went well but

[6:20] then our visions of the future began to

[6:22] diverge and eventually we had a falling

[6:24] out when we did our board of directors

[6:27] sided with him and so at 30 I was out

[6:30] and very publicly out what had been the

[6:33] focus of my entire adult life was gone

[6:35] and it was

[6:37] devastating I really didn't know what to

[6:38] do for a few months I felt that I had

[6:41] let the previous generation of

[6:42] entrepreneurs down that I had dropped

[6:44] the Baton as it was being passed to me I

[6:47] met with David Packard and Bob noise and

[6:50] tried to apologize for screwing up so

[6:53] badly I was a very public failure and I

[6:55] even thought about running away from the

[6:57] valley but something slowly began to

[6:59] dawn on me I still loved what I

[7:03] did the turn of events at Apple had not

[7:06] changed that one bit I'd been rejected

[7:09] but I was still in

[7:10] love and so I decided to start

[7:13] over I didn't see it then but it turned

[7:16] out that getting fired from Apple was

[7:17] the best thing that could have ever

[7:19] happened to me the heaviness of being

[7:21] successful was replaced by the lightness

[7:24] of being a beginner again less sure

[7:26] about everything it freed me to enter

[7:28] one of the most creative periods per of

[7:29] my life during the next 5 years I

[7:32] started a company named next another

[7:34] company named Pixar and fell in love

[7:36] with an amazing woman who would become

[7:37] my wife Pixar went on to create the

[7:40] world's first computer animated feature

[7:42] film Toy Story and is now the most

[7:44] successful Animation Studio in the

[7:48] world in a remarkable turn of events

[7:51] Apple bought next and I returned to

[7:54] Apple and the technology we developed it

[7:56] next is at the heart of Apple's current

[7:58] Renaissance and L and I have a wonderful

[8:01] family

[8:02] together I'm pretty sure none of this

[8:05] would have happened if I hadn't been

[8:06] fired from Apple it was awful tasting

[8:08] medicine but I guess the patient needed

[8:10] it sometime life sometimes life's going

[8:13] to hit you in the head with a brick

[8:15] don't lose faith I'm convinced that the

[8:18] only thing that kept me going was that I

[8:20] loved what I did you've got to find what

[8:23] you love and that is as true for work as

[8:25] it is for your lovers your work is going

[8:28] to fill a large part of your life and

[8:30] the only way to be truly satisfied is to

[8:32] do what you believe is great work and

[8:34] the only way to do great work is to love

[8:37] what you do if you haven't found it yet

[8:40] keep looking and don't settle as with

[8:43] all matters of the heart you'll know

[8:45] when you find it and like any great

[8:47] relationship it just gets better and

[8:49] better as the years roll on so keep

[8:52] looking don't settle

[8:57] [Applause]

[9:04] my third story is about

[9:07] death when I was 17 I read a quote that

[9:10] went something like if you live each day

[9:13] as if it was your last someday you'll

[9:15] most certainly be

[9:19] right it made an impression on me and

[9:22] since then for the past 33 years I

[9:25] looked in the mirror every morning and

[9:26] asked myself if today were the last day

[9:29] of my life what I want to do what I am

[9:31] about to do today and whenever the

[9:34] answer has been no for too many days in

[9:36] a row I know I need to change

[9:39] something remembering that I'll be dead

[9:41] soon is the most important tool I've

[9:43] ever encountered to help me make the big

[9:45] choices in life because almost

[9:48] everything all external expectations all

[9:51] Pride all fear of embarrassment or

[9:53] failure these things just fall away in

[9:56] the face of death leaving only what is

[9:58] truly important

[10:00] remembering that you are going to die is

[10:02] the best way I know to avoid the Trap of

[10:05] thinking you have something to lose you

[10:07] are already naked there is no reason not

[10:10] to follow your

[10:12] heart about a year ago I was diagnosed

[10:15] with cancer I had a scan at 7:30 in the

[10:19] morning and it clearly showed a tumor on

[10:21] my pancreas I didn't even know what a

[10:23] pancreas was the doctors told me this

[10:27] was almost certainly a type of cancer

[10:29] that is incurable and that I should

[10:31] expect to live no longer than 3 to 6

[10:34] months my doctor advised me to go home

[10:37] and get my Affairs in order which is

[10:40] doctor's code for prepare to die it

[10:43] means to try and tell your kids

[10:45] everything you thought you'd have the

[10:47] next 10 years to tell them in just a few

[10:50] months it means to make sure everything

[10:52] is buttoned up so that it will be as

[10:54] easy as possible for your family it

[10:57] means to say your goodbyes

[11:00] I live with that diagnosis all day later

[11:03] that evening I had a biopsy where they

[11:06] 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 I was

[11:15] sedated but my wife who was there told

[11:18] me that when they viewed the cells under

[11:19] a microscope the doctor started crying

[11:22] because it turned out to be a very rare

[11:24] form of pancreatic cancer that is

[11:26] curable with surgery I had the surgery

[11:29] and thankfully I'm fine

[11:39] now this was the closest I've been to

[11:41] facing death and I hope it's the closest

[11:43] I get for a few more decades having

[11:46] lived through it I can now say this to

[11:48] you with a bit more certainty than when

[11:50] death was a useful but purely

[11:52] intellectual

[11:54] concept no one wants to die even people

[11:58] who want to go to heaven don't want to

[11:59] die to get there and yet death is the

[12:03] destination we all share no one has ever

[12:06] escaped it and that is as it should be

[12:09] because death is very likely the single

[12:12] best invention of life it's life's

[12:14] change agent it clears out the old to

[12:17] make way for the new right now the new

[12:20] is you but someday not too long from now

[12:23] you will gradually become the old and be

[12:25] cleared away sorry to be so dramatic but

[12:29] it's quite

[12:30] true your time is limited so don't waste

[12:34] it living someone else's life don't be

[12:37] trapped by Dogma which is living with

[12:39] the results of other people's thinking

[12:42] don't let the noise of others opinions

[12:44] drown out your own inner voice and most

[12:47] important have the courage to follow

[12:48] your heart and intuition they somehow

[12:51] already know what you truly want to

[12:54] become everything else is secondary

[13:00] [Applause]

[13:08] when I was young there was an amazing

[13:11] publication called the whole earth

[13:13] catalog which was one of the Bibles of

[13:15] my generation it was created by a fellow

[13:18] named Stuart brand not far from here in

[13:21] Meno Park and he brought it to life with

[13:23] his poetic touch this was in the late

[13:26] 60s before personal computers and

[13:28] desktop publishing so it was all made

[13:30] with typewriters scissors and Polaroid

[13:32] cameras it was sort of like Google in

[13:35] paperback form 35 years before Google

[13:37] came along it was idealistic overflowing

[13:41] with neat tools and great

[13:43] Notions Stewart and his team put out

[13:45] several issues of the whole earth

[13:47] catalog and then when it had run its

[13:49] course they put out a final issue it was

[13:52] the mid 1970s and I was your

[13:56] age on the back cover of their final

[13:59] issue was a photograph of an early

[14:01] morning Country Road the kind you might

[14:04] find yourself hitchhiking on if you were

[14:06] so

[14:07] adventurous beneath it were the words

[14:10] stay hungry stay foolish it was their

[14:13] farewell message as they signed off stay

[14:16] hungry stay foolish and I have always

[14:20] wished that for

[14:21] myself and now as you graduate to begin

[14:25] a new I wish that for you stay hungry

[14:29] stay foolish thank you all very

[14:32] [Applause]

[14:50] [Music]

[14:55] much the preceding program is

[14:57] copyrighted by Stanford University

[15:00] please visit us at stanford.edu