Stay hungry, Stay foolish (4/3까지) - 원문탑재

[모닝동이]

애플, 맥킨토시, 토이스토리 등으로 너무나 유명한 "애플", "픽사"의 CEO로, 현재 컴퓨터 산업과 엔터테인먼트 산업의 중요한 인물 가운데 한 사람인 Steve Jobs 의 2004년 스탠포드 대학 졸업식 연설문을 발췌해 봤습니다. 

임미영

오늘 세계 최고의 명문대학들 중 하나인 여러분의 대학 졸업식에 자리를 함께 하게 되어 영광입니다. 솔직히 말씀 드리면, 저는 대학을 졸업하지 못했으며, 이것이 제가 대학 졸업식에 가장 가까이 와 본 경우입니다. 오늘 저는 여러분께 제 인생에 관한 세 가지 이야기를 해드리고 싶습니다. 그게 답니다. 거창할 것도 없는 그저 세가지 이야기입니다. 

It's great honor for me to join your university's graduation ceremony which is one of the greatest universities in the world. To frankly speaking  I didn't graduate from University and this is the nearest approach to get it. I want to tank about three things about life. That'a all. Just three. It's not a big thing.

이정우

첫째 이야기는 점들(인생의 크고 작은 일들)을 연결하는 것에 관한 것입니다. 저는 리드대학을 다니다가 6개월 만에 그만두었지만, 진짜로 자퇴하기 전 18개월여 동안 청강생으로 학교에 계속 머물렀습니다. 제가 왜 학교를 그만두었을까요?

 The first story is about connecting points( things of life). I stopped studying at  Reed college after  the 6 months, but  I stayed at the school as an auditor for 18 months before I really  quit . Why did  I  drop out ?

정종희

이야기(대학포기에 대한 사연)는 제가 태어나기 이전에 시작되었습니다. 저의 생모는 나이 어린 미혼모 대학원생이었는데, 저를 입양 보내기로 마음 먹었습니다. 제가 대학을 나온 사람들에 의해 입양이 되어야 한다고 제 어머니가 굳게 믿고 계셨기에 저는 태어나자마자 어느 변호사 부부에게 입양되기로 모든 준비가 완료된 상태였습니다. 

조국향

제가 세상에 짠하고 태어났을 때, 그 변호사 부부가 마지막에 가서 여자아이를 원한다고 마음 먹었던 것 말고는요. 그래서 대기자 명단에 이름을 올리셨던 제 양부모님이 한밤중에 “예상치 못한 남자아이가 생겼는데, 입양하시겠습니까?”라고 물어보는 전화를 받게 됩니다. 양부모님은 “물론이요” 라고 대답하셨습니다. 

Except the lawyer couple changed their mind to adopt a girl at the last minute, when I was born. So my step parents, who were on the list, got a phone call at midnight, asking "We have an unexpected boy. Do you want to adopt?"  They said, "Sure."

곽명순

나중에 제 생모가 양어머니는 대학 졸업자가 아니며, 양아버지는 고등학교도 못 나온 사람이라는 걸 알게 되었습니다. 생모는 최종 입양 서류에 서명하는 걸 거부했습니다. 생모는 몇 달 후에야 화를 누그러뜨렸는데, 제 양부모가 저를 대학에 보내겠다고 약속을 했을 때였습니다. 이것이 제 인생의 시작이었습니다.

도영화

17년 후 저는 정말로 대학에 진학했습니다. 그러나 순진하게도 저는 이곳 스탠포드 대학만큼이나 등록금이 비싼 대학을 선택했고, 노동자층이셨던 저의 양부모님이 모은 돈 전부가 제 등록금으로 사용되었습니다. 6개월 후, 저는 그것(어렵게 모은 양부모님의 저축을 축내면서 대학의 다니는 것)의 가치를 찾을 수 없었습니다. 

김인혜

저는 제 인생에서 제가 뭘 하고 싶어하는지도 몰랐고, 대학이 제 인생의 목표를 알아내는 데 어떤 도움을 줄지도 알지 못했습니다. 그런데도 저는 부모님이 평생 모은 재산을 축내고 있었습니다. 그래서 학교를 그만두기로 했고, 그러면 모든 것이 괜찮아질 거라 믿기로 했습니다. 

신진영

당시에는 상당히 두려웠었지만, 지금 돌이켜보면, 제가 내렸던 최선의 결정들 중 하나였습니다. 자퇴를 결정한 순간부터 흥미 없던 필수 과목들을 안 들어도 되었고, 훨씬 더 재미있어 보이는 강의들을 청강할 수 있었습니다.

I'm very scared at that time, but looking backward now, it was the best decision I've ever made. As I decided to drop out, I didn't need to get mandatory classes, and could get more interesting class to me.

이경환

모든 것이 낭만적인 것만은 아니었습니다. 기숙사 방이 없었으니 친구들의 기숙사 방 바닥에서 잠을 잤고, 음식을 사기 위해 5￠를 돌려받을 수 있는 빈 콜라 병들을 모아 반납했고, 하리 크리슈나 사원에서 주는 괜찮은 식사를 얻어먹기 위해 매주 일요일 밤이면 마을을 가로질러 7마일을 걸었습니다. 좋았습니다. 그리고 호기심과 직관을 따르는 것으로 인해 직면하는 것들 중 상당부분이 훗날 아주 값진 것들로 판명되었습니다. 예를 하나 들겠습니다.

권재현

당시 리드대학에는 아마도 이 나라 최고라 할 수 있는 필기체 강좌가 있었습니다. 캠퍼스 곳곳에 붙은 포스터, 모든 서랍의 라벨들이 정말 아름다운 필체로 적혀있었습니다. 자퇴를 해서 정규 강좌들을 들을 필요가 없었기 때문에, 저는 서체를 배우기 위해 서체 강좌를 수강하기로 마음먹었습니다. 

오제화

저는 삐침이 있는 글꼴과 없는 글꼴에 대해 배웠고, 서로 다른 문자들을 조합하면서 자간을 조절하는 법도 배웠고, 멋진 글꼴을 만들어 내는 조건에 대해서도 배웠습니다. 그건 과학이 잡아내지 못하는 방식 면에서 아름다웠고 역사적이었으며, 예술적으로 섬세했습니다. 그리고 저는 홀딱 반해버렸습니다.

이지은

이것(서체 강좌에서 배운 것)이 제 인생에서 실제 활용되리라는 희망조차 없었습니다. 그러나 10년 후, 우리가 최초의 매킨토시 컴퓨터를 설계할 때 이 모든 것들이 제게 되살아났습니다. 그리고 우리는 이 모든 것들을 맥 디자인에 쏟아 부었습니다. 맥은 아름다운 글꼴을 가진 최초의 컴퓨터였습니다. 제가 대학에서 바로 그 강의를 청강하지 않았더라면, 맥은 그렇게 다양한 글꼴을 가지거나, 자간이 비례적으로 조절되는 서체를 가질 수 없었을 겁니다. 

윤정환

그리고 MS사의 윈도우는 맥을 본뜬 것일 뿐이니까, 어떤 PC도 그런 글꼴을 가질 수 없었을 듯 합니다. 제가 대학을 그만두지 않았던들 그 서체 수업을 청강하지 않았을 테니, PC들 또한 오늘날 가지고 있는 그 아름다운 서체들을 가지지 못했을 수도 있습니다. 물론, 제가 대학을 다니던 그 시절엔 미래를 보면서 점들(인생의 크고 작은 일들)을 연결하기가 불가능했었습니다. 하지만 10년 후 뒤돌아보니 너무나 또렷했습니다.

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(여기서부터는 부담 없이 읽으시면 됩니다 ^^)

다시 말씀 드리지만, 앞일을 내다보면서 점들을 연결할 수는 없습니다. 나중에 뒤돌아보면서 그들을 연결 지을 수 있을 뿐입니다. 그러므로, 여러분 인생의 크고 작은 일들이 언젠가 미래에는 어떻게든 서로 연관성을 갖게 될 거라 믿어야 합니다. 그게 배짱/용기이든, 운명이든, 인생이든, 인연이든 아니면 그 어떤 것이든 간에 믿어야 합니다. 왜냐면, 인생의 크고 작은 일들이 미래에 연결될 거라는 믿음이 여러분이 마음 가는 대로 행동하는 데 있어서 자신감을 줄 것이기 때문입니다. 심지어는 그것이 여러분을 평범한 길에서 벗어나는 쪽으로 인도한다 할지라도 말입니다. 그리고 그건 아주 큰 차이를 낳게 될 것입니다.

저의 두 번째 이야기는 사랑과 상실에 관한 것입니다. 

저는 운이 좋았습니다. 일찌감치 인생에 있어서 사랑하는 것을 찾아냈으니까요. 제가 20살 때, 친구 워즈(Steve Wozniak)와 저는 제 부모님의 차고에서 애플이라는 회사를 차렸습니다. 우리는 열심히 일했고, 차고에서 달랑 2명으로 시작한 애플은 10년 후에 4,000명이 넘는 직원을 거느린 20억 달러 규모의 기업이 되었습니다. 우리는 제가 막 서른 살이 되는 시점 일년 전에 최고의 발명품인 매킨토시를 출시했습니다. 그리고 저는 해고당했습니다. 어떻게 자신이 세운 회사에서 해고를 당할 수 있을까요? 당시 애플이 성장하면서 저는 저와 함께 회사를 경영할 유능한 인재로 여겨졌던 사람을 채용했고, 첫 1년 정도는 순조로웠습니다. 하지만 그 후 우리의 미래에 대한 비전은 서로 어긋나기 시작했고, 결국 우리 둘 사이에 불화가 생겼습니다. 우리 둘 사이가 그랬을 때, 회사의 이사진들은 그의 편을 들었습니다. 그래서 전 나이 30에 쫓겨났습니다. 그것도 아주 공공연하게 말입니다. 제 청장년 기 전체의 목표/초점/관심대상이 사라졌고, 정말 참담한 심정이었습니다.

전 정말 몇 개월 간 뭘 해야 할지 갈피를 못 잡았습니다. 선배 벤처기업인들을 실망시켰다는 마음이 들었고, 바톤이 제게 전달되는 순간에 제가 그 바톤을 떨어뜨렸다는 마음이 들었습니다. 저는 데이비드 패커드(HP 창업자)와 밥 노이스(Intel 창업자)를 만나 무지막지하게 일을 엉망으로 만든 것에 대해 사과하려고 했습니다. 저는 세상이 다 아는 철저한 실패자였고, 실리콘 밸리에서 도망칠 생각까지 했었습니다.

그러나, 뭔가가 천천히 다시 분명해지기 시작했습니다. 저는 아직도 제가 하던 일을 사랑하고 있었습니다. 애플사에서 겪었던 일들조차도 그걸(일에 대한 사랑) 조금도 바꾸지 못했습니다. 인정받지 못했지만, 전 여전히 일에 대한 사랑에 빠져있었습니다. 그래서 다시 시작하기로 마음먹었습니다.

당시에는 몰랐지만, 애플사에서 해고당한 것은 결과적으로 제 인생에서 있었던 일들 중 최고의 것이 되었습니다. 성공이란 중압감이 다시 시작하는 초심자의 모든 것에 조금은 덜 확실해도 되는 가벼운 마음으로 대체되었습니다. 그건 제가 제 인생에서 가장 창의적인 시기들 중 하나로 돌입할 수 있도록 마음의 여유를 찾게 해 주었습니다.

그 후 5년 동안 저는 ‘넥스트’와 ‘픽사’라는 회사를 차렸고, 훗날 제 아내가 될 굉장한 여자를 만나 사랑에 빠졌습니다. 픽사는 세계 최초 컴퓨터 애니메이션 영화인 ‘토이스토리’ 제작을 시작했고, 지금은 전 세계적으로 가장 성공한 애니메이션 스튜디오가 되었습니다. 주목할 만한 반전 사건으로, 애플사는 넥스트를 인수했고, 저는 애플사로 복귀했으며, 그리고 넥스트에서 개발했던 기술이 현재 애플사 부흥의 핵심이 된 것입니다. 그리고 로렌과 저는 멋진 가정을 꾸리고 있습니다.

애플사에서 해고당하지 않았다면 이런 일들 중 한가지도 생기지 않았을 것이라는 확신이 듭니다. 정말 무지막지하게 쓰디쓴 약이었지만, 저 같은 환자에게 필요했던 것 같습니다. 때때로 인생이 당신의 머리를 벽돌로 내리칠 것입니다(삶이 갑작스레 고통의 연속). 믿음을 잃지 마십시오. 저는 제가 (모진 고난에도) 계속 나아가도록 해준 단 한가지가 제가 하는 일을 사랑했다는 사실이라고 확신합니다. 당신이 정열을 쏟을 수 있는 것(사랑하는 것)을 찾으십시오. 그것은 사랑하는 사람들에게 적용되는 것과 마찬가지로 일에도 똑같이 해당되는 것입니다.

‘노동’은 여러분 인생의 아주 큰 부분을 채워줄 것이며, 진정으로 만족하는 유일한 방법은 당신이 대단한 일이라고 자부하는 일을 하는 것입니다. 그리고 대단한 일을 해내는 유일한 방법은 여러분 자신들이 하는 일을 사랑하는 것입니다. 만약 아직까지 그걸 찾지 못했다면 계속 찾아보십시오. 안주하지 마십시오. 우리의 마음과 관련된 모든 일들이 그러하듯이 그것을 찾는 순간 알게 될 것입니다. 그리고 모든 멋진 인간 관계가 그러하듯이 시간이 가면 갈수록 점점 더 좋아질 것입니다. 그러니까 계속 찾아보십시오. 현실에 안주하지 마십시오.

저의 세 번째 이야기는 죽음에 관한 것입니다. 

제가 17살 때, "당신이 하루 하루를 인생의 마지막 날인 것처럼 산다면, 언젠가는 당신이 완전 확실히 옳아서 죽습니다^^ (그 인생의 마지막 날이 언젠가는 한번은 반드시 올 거랍니다.)"라고 했던 것 같은 인용문 하나를 읽었었습니다. 그것(인용문)은 저를 무척 감동시켰고, 그때 이후로 과거 33년간, 저는 매일 아침 거울을 보면서 제 자신에게 질문을 던졌습니다. “만약 오늘이 내 인생의 마지막 날이라면, 내가 지금 막 하려고 하는 일을 과연 하고 싶어할까?” 그리고 “아니오” 라는 대답이 여러 날 계속될 때면 언제나, 전 뭔가를 변화시킬 필요가 있다는 것을 알게 됩니다.

난 곧 죽을 거야 라는 것을 기억하는 것이 인생에서 중대한 선택들을 하도록 도와주는 데 있어서 제가 경험해본 것들 중 가장 중요한 수단입니다. 왜냐면 거의 모든 것들 ? 모든 외부로부터의 기대, 각종 자부심, 당혹감이나 실패에 대한 두려움 등 ? 이런 것들은 죽음 앞에서 진정으로 중요한 것들 만을 남긴 채 모두 사라질 것이기 때문입니다. 자신이 죽을 거라는 사실을 기억하는 것은 여러분이 뭔가 잃을 게 있다는 생각에 빠져드는 함정에서 벗어나는, 제가 알고 있는 최상의 방법입니다. 여러분들은 이미 가진 것이 전혀 없는 벌거숭이입니다. 여러분의 가슴이 이끄는 것을 따르지 않을 이유가 없습니다.

저는 약 1년 전에 암 진단을 받았습니다. 아침 7시 반에 스캔을 받았는데, 그것(스캔)은 제 췌장에 자리한 종양을 선명하게 보여주었습니다. 전 췌장이란 게 뭔지도 몰랐습니다. 의사들은 치유가 거의 불가능한 종류의 암이라고 말하면서 앞으로 3개월에서 6개월 이상은 기대하지 말라고 했습니다. 제 주치의는 집으로 돌아가 주변을 정리하라고 했는데, 이것은 의사들 말로 죽음을 준비하라는 뜻이었죠. 그건 아이들에게 당신이 앞으로 10년 동안 해줄 수 있을 거라 생각했던 모든 이야기를 단 몇 달 안에 모조리 얘기해주라는 의미였습니다. 그건 가족들이 가급적 편안할 수 있도록 모든 일을 제대로 정리하라는 말이었습니다. 그건 작별을 고하라는 말이었습니다.

전 그 (불치병) 진단을 받은 채로 하루를 꼬박 보냈습니다. 그 날 저녁 저는, 의사들이 제 식도아래쪽으로 그리고 위장을 지나 장까지 내시경을 넣어서, 췌장에 바늘을 찔러 넣은 다음 종양에서 세포 몇 개를 채취하는 생체조직검사를 받았습니다. 저는 마취상태였지만, 그 자리에 같이 있었던 아내가 말해주길, 현미경으로 세포를 관찰할 때 의사들이 훌쩍이기 시작했는데, 그건 제 암이 수술로써 치료가 가능한 아주 희귀한 형태의 것으로 판명이 났기 때문이었다 합니다. 저는 수술을 받았고 지금은 괜찮습니다.

이것이 제가 죽음에 가장 가까이 맞닥뜨려 본 경우이고, 앞으로도 수십 년 간은 그게 가장 가까이 가본 것이었으면 합니다. 죽음을 경험하고 보니, '죽음'이 유용하긴 하나 순전히 지적 개념이었을 때보다는 좀더 확신을 가지고 제가 여러분에게 이것을 말씀드릴 수 있습니다. 그 어느 누구도 죽고 싶어하지 않습니다. 천국에 가고 싶어하는 사람들조차도 그곳에 가려고 죽으려 하지는 않습니다. 그런데도 죽음은 우리 모두가 공유하는 마지막 도착지입니다. 

아무도 그걸 피해가지 못했습니다. 그리고 그래야만 하는데, 왜냐하면 죽음은 생명이 만들어낸 유일한 최고 발명품이나 진배없기 때문입니다. 죽음은 생명의 변화인자입니다. 죽음은 새로운 것이 들어설 수 있도록 헌 것을 처리해줍니다. 지금 당장은 여러분들이 새로운 존재이지만, 언젠가 그리 머지 않은 미래에 여러분은 점차적으로 옛 것이 되어 처리될 것입니다. 너무 극적으로 말씀 드렸다면 죄송합니다만, 꽤 맞는 말입니다.

여러분들의 시간은 유한합니다. 그러니까 남의 인생을 사는 데에 그 시간을 낭비하지 마십시오. 다른 사람들의 생각에서 나온 결론들에 얽매여 사는 도그마에 빠지지 마십시오. 다른 사람들의 의견에서 비롯된 잡음이 여러분들 내면의 소리를 압도하지 못하게 하세요. 그리고 가장 중요한 것은, 여러분의 가슴과 직관을 따르는 데 필요한 용기를 가지라는 것입니다. 그것들(가슴과 직관)은 여러분이 진짜 무엇이 되었으면 하는지를 다소나마 이미 알고 있습니다. 그 외 모든 것들은 부차적인 것입니다.

제가 어렸을 때, 제 나이 또래에게는 권위 있는 책들 중 하나였던 '지구 백과'란 출판물이 있었습니다. 여기 이곳 먼로 파크에서 그리 멀리 않은 곳에 살았던 스튜어트 브랜드란 사람이 만들어낸 책인데, 그는 자신의 시적인 기법으로 그 책에 생명을 불어넣었습니다. 이건 PC나 데스크탑 출판이 존재하기 전인 1960년대 후반이었고, 하여 모든 것이 타자기, 가위, 폴라로이드 카메라만으로 만들어졌습니다. 그건 인터넷 검색엔진 구글이 등장하기 35년 전의 일이었는데, 일종의 책 형태의 구글 같았습니다. 책은 이상적이었고 멋진 도구와 탁월한 아이디어들로 흘러 넘쳤습니다.

스튜어트와 그의 팀은 “The Whole Earth Catalog” 개정 판을 여러 차례 내놓은 다음, 책의 수명이 다할 때쯤 최종 판을 내놓았습니다. 그 때가 70년대 중반, 제가 여러분 나이 때였습니다. 그 최종 판의 뒤쪽 표지에는 만약 여러분이 모험을 꽤 좋아했었다면, 히치하이킹을 했을 것 같은 어느 이른 아침 시골길 사진이 있었습니다. 그 사진 아래에 이런 말이 있었습니다: “배고파해라(갈구하라). 바보 같아라.” 이는 그들이 책을 접으면서 전하는 마지막 작별인사 메시지였습니다. “배고파해라. 바보 같아라.” 저 또한 제 자신에게 그것(스튜어트의 작별인사 메시지)을 소망해왔습니다. 그리고 지금 새로운 시작을 위해 학교를 떠나는 여러분에게 같은 것을 희망합니다. “배고파해라. 바보 같아라”. 감사합니다.

I am uh... 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 uh... this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college 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 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 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." 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. This was the start in my life.

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 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 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 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 that 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. 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.

2^nd Story

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 4,000 employees. We just released our finest creation, the Macintosh, a year earlier and I 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. And 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 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've 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 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 and I retuned 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's 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.

3^rd Story

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 import!ant 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 import!ant. 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 and 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 other's opinions drowned(=>drown) out your own inner voice. And most import!ant, 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 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 60'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 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. 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.