Steve Jobs Inspires Stanford Graduates to Take Risks and Follow Their Hearts
Today, Steve Jobs gave a commencement speech to the Stanford University Graduates. The commencement speech was about taking risks and following your heart to accomplish your goals. Jobs wanted to inspire the next generation, and he used personal stories and examples from his life to do so.
Jobs emphasized the importance of doing what you love, and to keep looking for that dream job without settling for something that doesn’t truly interest you.
He connected this idea to when he was fired from Apple Computers in 1985 after a dispute with John Scully (CO-CEO) and the then board of directors. Getting fired allowed Jobs to creatively reset and led to what was one of Jobs’ most successful periods.
“Getting fired to Apple was one of the best things that could’ve happened to me,” Jobs said.
Jobs went on to create Pixar Animation Studios, which is one of the most successful animation studios in the world, as well as the “NeXT” Computer during his time away from Apple, the latter which eventually led Jobs to return to Apple Computers.
Jobs also met, and eventually married his wife, Laurene Jobs during this time.
Jobs also stressed the importance of trusting yourself to make the right decisions and trusting that things would work out. Everything in life happens for a reason. You can look back later to evaluate your choices, but you won’t truly know what the right choice is until later in life. Jobs called this idea “connecting the dots.”
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them backwards. You must trust that the dots will somehow connect…” Jobs said.
Jobs continued that sentiment by encouraging the graduates to follow their heart, even when things get challenging, because that will make all the difference.
Jobs dropped out of Reed College after he realized he didn’t enjoy what he was doing, and frankly it was unaffordable and not beneficial for him. He then “dropped back in” by dropping into classes that interested him, like calligraphy.
Jobs learning about calligraphy led to the first Macintosh computer having unique fonts and formatting, and personal computers may have never had them. Jobs listened to his instinct and was willing to take a big risk in dropping out of college to pursue his interests, which is a trait that has paid dividends to Jobs to this point.
Jobs also emphasized the concept of living every day like it’s your last. Make sure that you do the things that you want to do with the time that you have.
Jobs has looked himself in the mirror every morning for the past 33 years, and asked himself if what he was about to do that day is what he truly wanted to do. If the answer was “no” too often, he would make changes.
“Remembering I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life,” Jobs said.
Jobs continued to stress that the graduates should follow their hearts, as time is limited, and that they shouldn’t live someone else’s life.
Jobs left the graduates with a parting quote that he has tried to live up to his entire life. This quote is from “The Whole Earth Catalog”, and it means to strive for more and to not be afraid to take risks to achieve your goals. Simply put, “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”
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