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<v Speaker 1>I'm honored to be with you today for your commencement

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<v Speaker 1>from one of the finest universities in the world. Truth

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<v Speaker 1>be told, I never graduated from college. This is the

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<v Speaker 1>closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today, I

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<v Speaker 1>want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it,

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<v Speaker 1>no big deal, just three stories. The first story is

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<v Speaker 1>about connecting the dots. I dropped out of Read College

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<v Speaker 1>after the first six months, but then stayed around as

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<v Speaker 1>a drop in for another eighteen months or so before

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<v Speaker 1>I really quit. So why'd I drop out? It started

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<v Speaker 1>before I was born. My biological mother was a young,

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<v Speaker 1>unwed graduate student, and she decided to put me up

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<v Speaker 1>for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be

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<v Speaker 1>adopted by college graduates. So everything was all set for

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<v Speaker 1>me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and

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<v Speaker 1>his wife, except that when I popped out, they decided

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<v Speaker 1>at the last.

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<v Speaker 2>Minute that they really wanted Earl.

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<v Speaker 1>So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got

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<v Speaker 1>a call in the middle of the night, asking, we've

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<v Speaker 1>got an unexpected baby boy.

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<v Speaker 2>Do you want it? They said? Of course.

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<v Speaker 1>My biological mother found out later that my mother had

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<v Speaker 1>never graduated from college. And that my father had never

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<v Speaker 1>graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final

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<v Speaker 1>adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when

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<v Speaker 1>my parents promised that I would go to college. This

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<v Speaker 1>was the start in my life, and seventeen years later

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<v Speaker 1>I did go to college, but I naively chose a college.

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<v Speaker 1>It was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of

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<v Speaker 1>my working class parents savings were being spent on my

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<v Speaker 1>college tuition.

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<v Speaker 2>After six months.

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<v Speaker 1>I couldn't see the value of it. I had no

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<v Speaker 1>idea what I wanted to do with my life, and

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<v Speaker 1>no idea how college was going to help me figure

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<v Speaker 1>it out. And here I was spending all the money

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<v Speaker 1>my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided

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<v Speaker 1>to drop out and trust that it would all work out. Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>it was pretty scary at the time, but looking back,

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<v Speaker 1>it was one of the best decisions I ever made.

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<v Speaker 1>The minute I dropped out, I could stop taking the

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<v Speaker 1>required classes that didn't interest me and begin dropping in

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<v Speaker 1>on the ones that looked far more interesting.

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<v Speaker 2>It wasn't all romantic.

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<v Speaker 1>I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on

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<v Speaker 1>the floor in friend's rooms. I returned coat bottles for

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<v Speaker 1>the five cent deposits to buy food with, and I

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<v Speaker 1>would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night

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<v Speaker 1>to get one good meal a week at the Hari

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<v Speaker 1>Krishna Temple. I loved it, and much of what I

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<v Speaker 1>stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out

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<v Speaker 1>to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example.

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<v Speaker 1>Meet College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy

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<v Speaker 1>instruction in the country. Throughout the campus, every poster, every

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<v Speaker 1>label on every drawer was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I

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<v Speaker 1>had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes,

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<v Speaker 1>I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how

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<v Speaker 1>to do this. I learned about seraph and san serif typefaces,

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<v Speaker 1>about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations,

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<v Speaker 1>about what makes.

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<v Speaker 2>Great typography great.

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<v Speaker 1>It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that

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<v Speaker 1>science can't capture, and I found it fascinated. None of

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<v Speaker 1>this had even a hope of any practical application in

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<v Speaker 1>my life. But ten years later, when we were designing

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<v Speaker 1>the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me

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<v Speaker 1>and we designed it all into the mac. It was

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<v Speaker 1>the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never

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<v Speaker 1>dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac

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<v Speaker 1>would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts.

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<v Speaker 1>Since Windows just copy the Mac, it's likely that no

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<v Speaker 1>personal computer.

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<v Speaker 2>Would have them.

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<v Speaker 1>If I had never dropped out, I would have never

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<v Speaker 1>dropped in on that calligraphy class, and personal computers might

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<v Speaker 1>not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course,

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<v Speaker 1>it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when

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<v Speaker 1>I was in college, but it was very very clear

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<v Speaker 1>looking backwards ten years later. Again, you can't connect the

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<v Speaker 1>dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards.

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<v Speaker 1>So you have to trust that the dots will somehow

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<v Speaker 1>connect in your future. You have to trust in something,

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<v Speaker 1>your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever, because believing that the

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<v Speaker 1>dots will connect down the road will give you the

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<v Speaker 1>confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you

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<v Speaker 1>off the well worn path, and that will make all

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<v Speaker 1>the difference. My second story is about love and loss.

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<v Speaker 1>I was lucky. I found what I loved to do

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<v Speaker 1>early in life was and I started Apple in my

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<v Speaker 1>parents' garage when I was twenty. We worked hard, and

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<v Speaker 1>in ten years Apple had grown from just the two

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<v Speaker 1>of us in a garage into a two billion dollar

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<v Speaker 1>company with over four thousand employees. We just released our

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<v Speaker 1>finest creation with Macintosh a year earlier, and I just

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<v Speaker 1>turned thirty, and then I got fired. How can you

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<v Speaker 1>get fired from a company you started well? As Apple grew,

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<v Speaker 1>we hired someone who I thought was very talented to

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<v Speaker 1>run the company with me, and for the first year

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<v Speaker 1>or so things went well. But then our visions of

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<v Speaker 1>the future began to diverge, and eventually we had a

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<v Speaker 1>falling out. When we did, our board of directors sided

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<v Speaker 1>with him, and so at thirty, I was out, and

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<v Speaker 1>very publicly out. What had been the focus of my

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<v Speaker 1>entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. I

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<v Speaker 1>really didn't know what to do. For a few months,

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<v Speaker 1>I felt that I had let the previous generation of

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<v Speaker 1>entrepreneurs down, that I had dropped the baton as it

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<v Speaker 1>was being passed me. I met with David Packard and

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<v Speaker 1>Bob Noys and tried to apologize for screwing.

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<v Speaker 2>Up so badly.

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<v Speaker 1>I was a very public failure, and I even thought

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<v Speaker 1>about running away from the valley. But something slowly began

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<v Speaker 1>to dawn on me.

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<v Speaker 2>I still loved what I did.

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<v Speaker 1>The turn of events at Apple had not changed that

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<v Speaker 1>one bit. I'd been rejected, but I was still in love,

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<v Speaker 1>and so I decided to start over. I didn't see

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<v Speaker 1>it then, but it turned out that getting fired from

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<v Speaker 1>Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened

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<v Speaker 1>to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by

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<v Speaker 1>the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything.

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<v Speaker 1>It freed me to enter one of the most creative

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<v Speaker 1>periods of my life. During the next five years, I

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<v Speaker 1>started a company named Next, another company named Pixar, and

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<v Speaker 1>fell in love with an amazing woman who would become

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<v Speaker 1>my wife. Pixar went on to create the world's first

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<v Speaker 1>computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and his now the

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<v Speaker 1>most successful animation studio.

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<v Speaker 2>In the world.

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<v Speaker 1>In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought Next, and

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<v Speaker 1>I returned to Apple and the technology we developed it

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<v Speaker 1>Next is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance, and

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<v Speaker 1>Loreena and I have.

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<v Speaker 2>A wonderful family together.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if

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<v Speaker 1>I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine,

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<v Speaker 1>but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life Sometimes

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<v Speaker 1>life's going to hit you in the head with a brick.

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<v Speaker 1>Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that

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<v Speaker 1>kept me going.

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<v Speaker 2>Was that I loved what I did. You've got to.

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<v Speaker 1>Find what you love, and that is as true for

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<v Speaker 1>work as it is for your lovers. Your work is

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<v Speaker 1>going to fill a large part of your life, and

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<v Speaker 1>the only way to be truly satisfied is to do

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<v Speaker 1>what you believe is great work. And the only way

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<v Speaker 1>to do great work is to love what you do.

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<v Speaker 1>If you haven't found it yet, keep looking and don't settle.

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<v Speaker 1>As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when

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<v Speaker 1>you find it, and like any great relationship, it just

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<v Speaker 1>gets better and better as.

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<v Speaker 2>The years roll on.

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<v Speaker 1>So keep looking, don't settle. My third story is about death.

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<v Speaker 1>When I was seventeen, i read a quote that went

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<v Speaker 1>something like, if you live each day as if it

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<v Speaker 1>was your last, someday, you'll most certainly be right. It

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<v Speaker 1>made an impression on me, and since then, for the

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<v Speaker 1>past thirty three years, I've looked in the mirror every

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<v Speaker 1>morning and ask myself, if today were the last.

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<v Speaker 2>Day of my life, what I want to do?

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<v Speaker 1>What I am about to do today, and whenever the

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<v Speaker 1>answer has been no for too many days in a row,

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<v Speaker 1>I know I need to change something. Remembering that I'll

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<v Speaker 1>be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever

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<v Speaker 1>encountered to help me make the big choices in life.

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<v Speaker 1>Because almost everything, all external expectations, all pride, all fear

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<v Speaker 1>of embarrassment or failed, these things just fall away in

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<v Speaker 1>the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

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<v Speaker 1>Remembering that you are going to die is the best

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<v Speaker 1>way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you

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<v Speaker 1>have something to lose. You are already naked. There is

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<v Speaker 1>no reason not to follow your heart.

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<v Speaker 2>No one wants.

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<v Speaker 1>To die, even people who want to go to heaven

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<v Speaker 1>don't want to die to get there. And yet death

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<v Speaker 1>is the destination we all share. No one has ever

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<v Speaker 1>escaped it, and that is as it should be, because

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<v Speaker 1>death is very likely the single best invention of life.

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<v Speaker 1>It's life's change agent. It clears out the old to

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<v Speaker 1>make way for the new. Right now, the new is you,

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<v Speaker 1>But someday, not too long from now, you will gradually

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<v Speaker 1>become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be

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<v Speaker 1>so dramatic, but it's quite true. Your time is limited,

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<v Speaker 1>so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be

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<v Speaker 1>trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of

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<v Speaker 1>other people's thinking.

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<v Speaker 2>Don't let the noise of other's.

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<v Speaker 1>Opinions drownd out your own inner voice, and most important,

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<v Speaker 1>have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They

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<v Speaker 1>somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything

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<v Speaker 1>else is secondary. Stay hungry, stay foolish,