Steve Jobs' Commencement Address


Steve Jobs gave this great commencement address to students at Stanford in 2005. Of course, he himself had dropped out of college! Talking about that, he said:
“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.”
One of those courses that interested him was on calligraphy. Years later, that appreciation and understanding would get translated into the fonts of the world’s first GUI on computers; and expand further into the focus he gave to esthetic beauty of all of Apple’s gadgets. The lesson from all that?
“You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. 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.”

He talked about his ouster from Apple at age 30 and why he was able to rebound: because he was able to find and work on what he loved. His lesson?
“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 someone diagnosed with cancer, there was inevitably a philosophical side to his talk:
“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.”
And so he advised:
“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….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 others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”

Did Jobs come up with all that himself? Did someone else write the speech for him (of course, that just raises the question whether he would allow anyone to do that)? Regardless of the answer, it is still a great speech. Do read it.

Comments

  1. Ramiah KumarApril 20, 2018 at 2:22 PM

    The first of the finish lines coming from the blog writer surprised me! Quoted verbatim, these are: "Did Jobs come up with all that himself? Did someone else write the speech for him (of course, that just raises the question whether he would allow anyone to do that)? Regardless of the answer, it is still a great speech"

    The finish lines consist of two questions and one affirmative. As to the last line, the affirmative, I would of course agree since I have read the whole speech some time back.

    As I said, the first line, stated as a question, was the reason for my surprise. If someone expresses something, there is rarely need to feel doubtful about source, under normal circumstances. Here, since Steve's competence and ability for easily 'going out of the ordinary' are well known, there could be really no reason to consider if Steve is capable of coming up with that stuff. I could sense it was from his depth, when I read first his lecture.

    So, I wondered maybe it is not all that straight forward question! :-) I came to that opinion after reading the second question. I felt it is not intended to be a question after all, but a clarification to that effect, "Yes, of course, it was all Steve's, who else".

    Why I ran into such a train of thought is because it is my conviction that all those who search for the spiritual essence truthfully, sincerely, and, tenaciously never fail to reach such depths of what one may label as "profound philosophical insights". I know Steeve's search had all the three adjectives I have described. I would only be surprised if he falls short of expressing profound thoughts of philosophical nature! :-)

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