**Steve Jobs' speech for students โ€” Transcript & Summary | SozAI** Source: https://sozai.app/transcript/steve-jobs-speech-students/ Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford commencement speech: three stories on connecting the dots, love and loss, and death as life's change agent. ## Key Takeaways - Trust that current experiences will connect meaningfully later, even when the path is unclear. - Follow your passion and intuition rather than conventional expectations. - Setbacks like being fired can open the door to new beginnings. - Living with awareness of mortality helps prioritize what truly matters. ## What the video covers - Jobs opens by noting he never graduated from college, framing his talk as three simple stories from his life. - He describes his adoption: his biological mother wanted college-graduate parents, and his parents were chosen from a waiting list at the last minute. - He dropped out of Reed College after six months, feeling college tuition consumed his working-class parents' savings without clear purpose. - After dropping out, he took classes that interested him, including a calligraphy course that later shaped the typography of the Macintosh. - He argues you can only connect the dots looking backward, so you must trust that experiences will connect in the future. - The second story covers how he co-founded Apple in his parents' garage at age 20 and grew it into a multi-billion-dollar company. - At 30 he was fired from Apple after a falling out with the executive he had hired, leaving him devastated. - He started over, founding NeXT and Pixar, and marrying Laurene; Apple later acquired NeXT and he returned, bringing its technology with him. - The third story addresses his 2004 pancreatic cancer diagnosis and his doctors' prognosis of a few months to live. - He concludes that remembering death is the most useful tool for making big life choices, and that death is life's change agent, urging graduates to stay hungry and foolish. ## Chapters 1. 00:00 Introduction and opening remarks 2. 01:26 Story one: Adoption and dropping out of college 3. 02:44 Dropping in on calligraphy class 4. 05:25 Connecting the dots and trusting the future 5. 06:25 Story two: Founding Apple and getting fired 6. 07:47 Starting NeXT and Pixar, returning to Apple 7. 09:08 Story three: Death, cancer, and living fully 8. 13:13 Closing: Stay hungry, stay foolish Answers ## Questions about this video Why did Steve Jobs drop out of Reed College? He felt college was consuming his parents' savings without helping him figure out what he wanted to do with his life. He decided to drop out and trust that things would work out, after which he began attending classes that interested him. How did the calligraphy class influence the Macintosh? Jobs said the calligraphy course taught him about typography, including serif fonts and letter spacing. Ten years later, when designing the first Macintosh, he incorporated multiple typefaces and proportionally spaced fonts, which personal computers later adopted. What lesson does Jobs draw from his cancer diagnosis? He says remembering that he would die soon was the most important tool he had for making big life decisions. He argues death is life's change agent, clearing out the old to make way for the new, and urges graduates to stay hungry and foolish. ## Full Transcript โ€” Download SRT & Markdown 00:01 Speaker A I'm honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. Truth be told, I never graduated from college, and this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. 00:20 Speaker A graduation today I want to tell you three stories from my life that's it no big deal just three stories the first story is about connecting the dots I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months but then stayed 00:38 Speaker A Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories. 00:55 Speaker A 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 01:09 Speaker A The first story is about connecting the dots. I dropped out of Reed College after the first six months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another eighteen months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out? 01:26 Speaker A later 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 01:41 Speaker A It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed 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've got an unexpected baby boy. Do you want him?" They said, "Of course." 01:59 Speaker A college tuition after 6 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 the money my parents 02:13 Speaker A My biological mother found out later 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 go to college. 02:29 Speaker A stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me and begin dropping in on the ones that looked far more interesting it wasn't all romantic I didn't have a dorm room so I slept on the floor in friends rooms I returned 02:44 Speaker A This was the start of my life. Seventeen 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 the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out okay. 02:58 Speaker A what I stumbled into by following my C 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 03:15 Speaker A 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 far more interesting. 03:29 Speaker A about varying the amount of space 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 03:47 Speaker A 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 five-cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the seven 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. 04:02 Speaker A typography if I had never dropped in on that single course in college the Mac would have never had multiple type faces or proportionally spaced fonts and since Windows just copyed the Mac it's likely that no personal computer would have 04:22 Speaker A 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 and every label on every drawer was beautifully hand-lettered. 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 sans-serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, and 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. 04:34 Speaker A forward when I was in college but it was very very clear looking backwards 10 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 04:48 Speaker A 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 that calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. 05:04 Speaker A and that will make all the difference my second story is about love and loss I was lucky I found what I love to do early in life W and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20 we 05:25 Speaker A 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. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference. 05:38 Speaker A 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 05:54 Speaker A 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 twenty. We worked hard, and in ten years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a two-billion-dollar company with over four thousand employees. We had just released our finest creation, the Macintosh, a year earlier, and I had just turned thirty, and then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? 06:07 Speaker A 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'd let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down that I had dropped the Baton as it 06:19 Speaker A 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 thirty, I was out, and very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. 06:35 Speaker A still loved what I did the turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit I'd been rejected but I was still in love and so I decided to start over I didn't see it then but it turned 06:50 Speaker A I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I'd 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 Apple had not changed that one bit. I'd been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over. 07:02 Speaker A one of the most creative periods of my life during the next 5 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 world's first 07:14 Speaker A 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. 07:32 Speaker A Renaissance and Loren 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 sometime life sometimes life's going 07:47 Speaker A 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 world's 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. 07:59 Speaker A 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 08:11 Speaker A 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 is going to hit 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 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, and 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. Don't settle. 08:26 Speaker A looking don't settle [Applause] 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 08:56 Speaker A My third story is about death. When I was seventeen, 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 thirty-three years, I've 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 fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. 09:08 Speaker A 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 09:22 Speaker A everything all external expectations all Pride all fear of embarrassment or failure these things just 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 09:38 Speaker A 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 09:53 Speaker A 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 3 to 6 10:08 Speaker A 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 and tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few 10:24 Speaker A months it means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family family it means to say your goodbyes I live with that diagnosis all day later that evening I had a biopsy 10:39 Speaker A 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 10:53 Speaker A a microscope the doctor 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 thankfully I'm fine now this was the closest I've been to 11:15 Speaker A 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 11:27 Speaker A 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 11:43 Speaker A because death is very likely the single best invention of life it's 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 11:59 Speaker A and be cleared away sorry to be so dramatic but it's 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 12:16 Speaker A 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 secondary when I was young there was an 12:44 Speaker A amazing publication called the whole earth catalog which was one of the Bibles of my generation it was created by a fellow named Stuart brand not far from here in Meno Park and he brought it to life with his poetic touch this was 12:59 Speaker A was in the late 60s 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 13:14 Speaker A overflowing with neat tools and great Notions Stewart and his team put out several issues of the whole earth catalog and then when it had run its course they put out a final issue it was the mid 1970s and I was your age 13:30 Speaker A 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 St stay foolish it was their 13:47 Speaker A 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 a new I wish that for you stay hungry stay foolish thank you all very much 14:09 Speaker A [Music] [Applause] Topics: Steve Jobs Stanford commencement connecting the dots entrepreneurship Apple life lessons mortality career advice calligraphy motivational speech Study this video - [Flashcards from this video](https://sozai.app/tools/ai-flashcard-generator/?from=transcript&id=86973) - [Quiz on this video](https://sozai.app/tools/quiz-generator/?from=transcript&id=86973) Free, made by AI from this transcript. 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