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 parents 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

Ti b hc trng H Reed sau su thng nhng vn li loanh quanh n tn 18 thng na mi thc s ra i. Ti sao ti li chn b hc?

Mi th bt u t lc ti cho i. M ca ti l mt SV tr mi tt nghip H, cha chng. V th, b quyt nh mang ti cho lm con nui. B tin rng nn nhng ngi c bng H mang ti v nui v sp xp sn mi th tc cho con vi 2 v chng lut s. Chng th ng, n lc ti cho i, h li i mun c con gi. Th l, b m ti by gi, lc ang trong danh sch ch i, nhn c mt c in thoi lc na m: C mt b trai mi sinh cha ai nhn. ng b c mun nhn khng? H vui mng ng ngay. Khi m mi bit b m ti cha bao gi tt nghip H, thm ch cha ti cn cha tt nghip cp ba, b nht nh khng k giy cho con nui v ch nhng b khi b m ti ha sau ny s cho ti vo H.

17 nm sau, ti vo H tht. Nhng ti li ngu ngc chn mt trng t tin ngang vi Stanford, v ton b s tin t i ca b m ti, nhng ngi lao ng chn tay, vo tr tin hc. Sau su thng, ti thy vic u t nh vy tht v ngha. Ti khng bit mnh mun lm g v cng khng bit trng H s gip mnh nh th no. Th m ti vn ngi y, tiu tn nhng ng tin b m b bao m hi cng sc c i mi kim c. Ti quyt nh b hc v tin rng, mi th ri cng c thu xp n tho. Lc tht s rt run, nhng by gi nhn li, ti hiu rng, y l quyt nh ng n nht ca i mnh. Ngay khi quyt nh b hc, ti b nhng mn bt buc m mnh khng thch v bt u kim cc lp c v th v hn. Ti khng c KTX, v vy ti ng sn nh phng cc bn, tr v lon Coca ly 5 cent mua thc n, v i b hn 10 cy s dc thnh ph vo cc ngy ch nht n n mt ba lm phc hng

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, it's 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

tun ca n Hare Krishna. Ti tht s thch cuc sng . V chnh nhng g xem, nghe, thy, khm ph bng tr t m v tri gic ca tui trlc bin thnh nhng kinh nghim qu bu cho ti sau ny. H Reed lc c trng hc dy thit k th php, c l l nh nht trong c nc. Mi mu ch trn cc poster, bin hiu xung quanh trng u rt c thit k rt p. Lc y, coi nh b hc v khng phi hc nhng mn bt buc na, ti quyt nh chn lp hc v mu ch m thut tm hiu cung cch thit k. Ti tm hiu v cc mu ch serif, san serif, v cc khong cch khc nhau gia cc mu ch, v cc phng cch lm cho kiu in (typography). Nhng kiu cch v ch tht gi cm, tinh t, giu lch s. Chng m hoc ti t lc no khng hay. Nhng th vin vng ny chc chng em li mt ng dng thc t no cho cuc i ti. Th nhng 10 nm sau, khi bt u thit k chic my tnh Macintosh u tin, tt c quay tr li. Chng ti dn ht kin thc ca mnh vo thit k chic Mac ny. l chic my u tin c kiu ch rt p. Nu ti khng bc chn vo lp hc thit k ch hi H, chic Mac by gi s khng bao gi c cc kiu dng ch v cc phng ch c khong cch u nhau nh th ny. V v th, c l cng chng my tnh c nhn no trn th gii c cc kiu ch ny (v Windows cp hon ton t Mac). Nu khng bao gi b hc, ti khng i hc lp thit k ch ny, v cc my tnh c nhn cng khng c c nhng mu ch tuyt diu hm nay. D nhin, khi cn ngi gh nh trng, lm sao ti c th kt ni cc s vic theo hng nh vy? Nhng 10 nm sau nhn li, tt c u rt r rng. D nhin, cc bn khng th kt ni cc s vic khi nhn v pha trc, ch c th lm nh vy khi ta nhn li mt qung ng. V vy, cc bn phi tin tng rng cc hnh vi, s kin ca hin ti c mt mi lin quan no n tng lai. Bn phi tin tng vo mt iu g - linh tnh, s phn, cuc i, thuyt nhn qubt k ci g. Li suy ngh ny cha bao gi lm ti tht vng, v chnh n to nn tt c nhng khc bit trong cuc i mnh. Cu chuyn th hai: Tnh yu v s mt mt

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 returned 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

Ti rt may mn khi tm thy iu mnh thc s yu thch khi cn tr tui. Woz v ti bt u thit k my Apple trong gara t ca b m ti hi ti mi 20 tui. Chng ti lm vic rt chm ch, v trong vng 10 nm sau, Apple trng thnh. T mt b su ch c 2 ngi bin thnh mt tp on tr gi 2 triu la vi hn 4.000 nhn vin. Chng ti cho ra i sn phm nh cao nht ca mnh my Macintosh - nm trc , lc ti mi bc sang tui 30. Ri ti b ui vic. Lm sao c th b ui vic khi mt cng ty bn thn mnh sng lp nn? Chuyn l th ny. Khi Apple m rng, chng ti thu mt ngi m ti ngh l rt ti nng iu hnh cng ty cng mnh. Mt hai nm u, mi th u n. Nhng ri nhng nh hng tng lai c im bt ng, cui cng, chng ti ci nhau. Hi ng qun tr ng v pha anh ta, ti th ra khi cng ty, khi 30 tui. Tm huyt ca c mt thi k tiu tan, ti hon ton tuyt vng. Mt vi thng sau , khng bit phi lm g, ti cm thy khng phi vi cc bc tin bi, b l c hi khi n n tm tay. Ti gp David Packard v Bob Noyce v c gng ni li xin li v lm hng mi chuyn. L mt trng hp tht bi m cng chng u bit n, thm ch ti cn ngh n vic b chy khi thung lng ni mnh sng. Nhng ri c mt iu m dn dn ti nhn ra - ti vn rt yu nhng vic mnh lm! Nhng bin i Apple khng h lm gim st nim am m . Ti b t chi, nhng vn yu. V th, ti quyt nh lm li. Lc , ti khng th nhn thc c rng, chnh vic b ui khi Apple l iu tuyt vi nht din ra trong i. Nhng gnh nng ca vinh quang c thay th bi cm gic nh nhm khi bt u li t u v khng chc chn v mi th. Ti c t do bc vo thi k sng to nht ca cuc i. Trong vng 5 nm sau , ti bt u mt cng ty tn l NeXT, mt cng ty khc tn Pixar, v em lng yu mt ngi ph n tuyt vi sau ny tr thnh v ti.

fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. 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. 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 it's 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 others' 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

Pixar bt u sn xut cc phim hot hnh s dng cng ngh my tnh u tin ca th gii, b phim Cu chuyn chi (Toy Story), v by gi tr thnh mt trong nhng xng sn xut phim hot hnh thnh cng nht th gii. Vt i sao di, cui cng th Apple li mua li NeXT v ti tr v Apple, s dng chnh nhng cng ngh pht trin NeXT vo phc hng li cho Apple. Ti v Laurence cng nhau xy dng mt gia nh m m. Ti tin chc rng, nhng iu k diu trn khng xy ra nu ti khng b ui khi Apple. l mt liu thuc ng, nhng ng l bnh nhn cn c n. i lc cuc i qung mt cc gch vo u bn. ng mt nim tin. Ti tin rng, iu duy nht tip sc cho mnh l vic tnh yu nhng vic mnh lm. Bn cng vy, phi tm thy nim am m ca mnh. i vi cng vic hay vi ngi tnh u th c. Cng vic s chim mt phn ln cuc sng ca bn, v cch duy nht thc s toi nguyn l lm c nhng iu bn ngh l v i nht. V cch duy nht lm c nhng iu v i l yu vic mnh lm. Nu cha tm thy th bn c tip tc tm i. ng bng lng vi s n nh. Ging nh trong tnh yu vy, bn s bit ngay khi bn tm thy n. V cng ging nh trong bt k mi quan h no, n s ch tt p thm theo nm thng m thi. Bn c tm n khi bao gi thy, ng dng li. Cu chuyn th ba: Ci cht

Khi 17 tui, ti c mt cu rng: Nu ngy no bn cng sng nh th l ngy tn th ca mnh, n mt lc no bn s ng. Cu ni li n tng ln vi ti, v trong sut 33 nm qua, ti lun nhn vo gng mi ngy t hi mnh: Nu hm nay l ngy cui ca i mnh, liu mnh c mun lm nhng vic hm nay mnh sp lm khng? V khi nhn ra cu tr li l khng ngy ny qua ngy khc, ti bit mnh cn thay i iu g . Ghi nh rng "mt ngy no gn thi, mnh s cht i" l mt b quyt v cng quan trng gip ti quyt nh nhng la chn ln trong i. Bi v hu ht mi th - nhng mong i ca ngi khc, lng kiu hnh, ni lo s xu h khi tht bi -

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 ofThe Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid1970s, 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.

tt c u ph phim trc ci cht, li nhng g tht s quan trng. Lun nh rng mnh s cht l cch tt nht m ti bit trnh sa vo ci by suy ngh rng mnh khng mun mt i ci g . Ta hon ton v sn ri. Chng c l g khng i theo ting gi tri tim. Mt nm trc y, ti b chn bnh ung th. Ti i soi ngi lc 7h30 sng v pht hin c mt khi u trong tuyn tu. Lc , ti cn chng hiu tuyn tu l g. Bc s bo rng chc l mt loi ung th khng cha c, v ti ch sng c 3-6 thng na thi. Bc s khuyn ti v nh sp xp li mi cng vic, c th ngm hiu nh th l chun b mi th trc ci cht. C ngha l phi gi gn nhng iu mun ni vi cc con trong 10 nm ti trong vng mt vi thng. C ngha l m bo mi th c sp xp n tho c mi th u d dng sun s khi ti ra i. Khng ai mun cht c. K c nhng ngi mun ln thin ng cng khng mun cht . Th m ci cht li l im n ca tt c chng ta. Khng ai c th trn khi n. C l cng l iu hp l, bi Ci cht l sn phm tuyt vi nht ca Cuc sng. N l yu t lm thay i cuc sng. N gt b ci c v m ng cho ci mi. Ngay by gi ci mi l cc bn, nhng khng xa na bn s tr thnh ci c v b loi b. Th li cho ti nu ni nh th l qu gay cn, nhng m ng nh vy y. Thi gian ca cc bn l c hn, nn ng ph phm bng cch sng cuc i ca ngi khc. ng ri vo by ca s c on, gio iu ca ngi khc. ng nhng kin n o xung quanh nh chm ting ni bn trong bn. V quan trng nht, hy c dng cm i theo ting gi ca tri tim v linh tnh. Chng bit bn thc s mun g. Mi th khc ch l th yu thi. Khi ti cn tr, c mt tuyn tp tuyt diu tn l Catelogue ton tri t, c coi nh cun sch gi u ging ca th h chng ti. Mt tc gi tn Stewart Brand vit cun sch ny, v ng lm cho n v cng sng ng bng nhng chm ph lng mn ca mnh trong . l nhng nm cui thp k 60, khi cha c my tnh c nhn, nn c to nn hon ton bng my ch, ko, v my chp nh polaroid. N ging nh mt Google trn giy vy: rt l tng, trn y cc cng c hay ho v tng v i.

Steward v nhm ca ng cho ra i mt vi s Catelog ton tri t. S cui cng ra vo gia nhng nm 70, lc ti bng tui cc bn by gi. ba sau cun tuyn tp c bc nh mt con ng nng thn vo mt sm mai, cnh vt rt thch hp cho nhng ngi thch phiu lu t i b du hnh. di c dng ch: Hy c i kht v di dt (Stay hungry. Stay foolish). l li tm bit ca h trc khi kt thc. V ti lun c mun iu cho bn thn. V by gi, khi cc bn tt nghip v bc n nhng chn tri mi, ti cng chc cc bn nh vy. Hy lun khao kht. Hy c di kh. Cm n cc bn rt nhiu.