一直就很喜欢Jobs和Woz的传奇故事，而且俺也是Woz的忠实fans。虽然Jobs可能有些太能讲了，而且每次听到Jobs讲话都会有种热血沸腾的感觉，但是不得不承认Jobs的确是个成功的人，是个相当成功的商人，一个很有魅力的领袖。今天无意中看到了这篇文章，似乎里面的一些故事在别的地方也都看过，不过还是被感动了一下。人嘛，活着就应该潇洒一定，也应该有自己美好的梦想。当然能够梦想成真堪称是最幸福的人生啦～～
This is the text of the
Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of
Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.
I am honored to be with you
today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in
the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, 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 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 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, its 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 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 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 its 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 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 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.
本文是苹果公司和皮克斯动画工作室CEO斯蒂文.乔布斯在2005年6月12日斯坦福大学毕业典礼上的讲稿。
在de.li.cio.us上看到了这篇文章，很受启发，翻译过来和大家分享。从这里我们可以看到一个出生即被领养，父母没文化，没有背景，没有金钱，大学没毕业的孩子是如何成为大名鼎鼎的苹果公司的老板的。或许学历真的没那么重要，重要的是一个人的魄力，魅力，生命力！
你们今天将从这所全球最好的大学之一毕业，我很荣幸能和你们在一起。我大学没毕业。老实说这是我第一次离大学毕业这么近。今天我想讲述我人生中的三个故事。仅此而已。没什么大不了。只是三个故事。
第一个故事是关于看问题的方向的。
我在里德学院读了六个月之后就辍学了，但是在正式退学之前我又在那里混了大约18个月。我为什么退学呢？
要从我的出生说起。我的生母是个年轻的未婚研究生，她决定把我送人领养。她老是觉得我应该被大学生收养，所以我一出生就被一名律师和他的妻子领养。
只可惜见到我时他们在最后一刻决定他们想要一个女孩。所以我现在的父母，当时正排队领养，半夜接到一个电话：“没想到是个男孩，你们要不？”他们说“当
然。”后来我的生母发现我妈根本不是大学毕业，我爸也不是高中毕业。她拒绝在最后的领养协议上签字。几个月之后我父母答应将来一定让我读大学，她才缓和了
一些。
17年后我确实进了大学。但是天真地选择了一个学费和斯坦福差不多的学校，我爸妈全部的积蓄都用来交我的学费。六个月之后，我发现在那儿呆着没劲。
我不知道自己要做什么，也看不出大学能帮我找到答案。在那儿我花着父母一生的积蓄。所以我决定退学，并坚信我一定会成功。起初非常害怕，但是后来发现那是
我一生中最棒的决定之一。从退学那一刻起，我不用听那些枯燥的课程，我开始蹭那些我喜欢的课。
这没什么浪漫可言。我没有宿舍，只好在朋友宿舍打地铺，我靠回收5美分的可乐瓶子糊口，每个周日晚上步行7公里穿过市区到Hare
Krishna神庙吃顿饱饭。我就喜欢这样。后来我发现跟着自己的好奇和直觉走是多么的重要。举个例子吧：
里德学院当时提供可能全国最好的书法课程。校园里的每张海报，抽屉上的每个标签都是用漂亮的书法写的。因为我退学不用上课，我决定参加书法课探个究竟。我学会了serif
和 san
serif字体，学会了调整不同字母之间的空隙，学会了怎样让字体看上去更美。它是如此的美丽，富有历史感和艺术的微妙感，自然科学不可能捕捉到的，我发现它是如此让人着迷。
这一切在我的生活当中都没起到什么实际作用。但是十年后，当我们设计第一台Mac电脑的时候，它派上用场了。我们把它完全用到Mac机上。这是第一
台拥有漂亮字体的电脑。如果我大学时没有选择这门课程，Mac急就不会有如此美丽的，匀称的字体。要不是Windows模仿Mac，每台个人电脑上就不会
有这些字体。如果我没有辍学，我就不可能蹭这门书法课，个人电脑上也就不会拥有现在这样的漂亮字体。当然我当初大学时可没想到这些。但是回顾过去却是历历
在目。
再一次我想说，你不知道将来会发生什么；你只能追溯到过去。所以你必须相信从某种程度上现在和未来休戚相关。你必须相信某些东西——你的勇气，命运，生命力，因果报应，等等等等。这种态度让我屡试不爽，他改变了我人生中的一切。
我的第二个故事是关于爱情和损失的。
我很幸运——我很早就发现我喜欢的东西了。Woz和20岁的我在我父母的车库里成立了苹果公司。我们努力工作，10年内苹果公司从一个只有车库里两个人的
公司成长为市值20亿美金4000多名雇员的公司。一年前，我们刚推出我们最好的产品——
Macintosh，我刚满30岁。然后我就被开除了。你自己创建的公司怎么可能开除你？是这样的，随着苹果不断壮大，我们雇用了一些我认为非常有天分的
人和我一起管理公司，刚开始几年效果不错。但是后来我们在公司未来发展上产生分歧，最后吵了一架。这时，董事会站在了他那边。所以30岁我出局了。地球人
都知道。曾经是我整个成年生活焦点的东西失去了，而且那么彻底。
接下来的几个月我有些不知所措。我感到愧对之前的企业家——接力棒到我手中我却没能把握。我约见了
David Packard 和 Bob
Noyce并努力为现在的窘境道歉。地球人都知道我是个失败者，我甚至想过离开硅谷远走高飞。但是慢慢我开始发现一些东西——我仍然爱着我所做的。苹果公司的波折一点也没改变我的喜爱。我曾被拒绝，但从没放弃。所以我决定从头开始。
当初没有发现，后来才证明被苹果公司开除是我最幸运的事情。成功的包袱没有了，取而代之的是初学者的轻松，对什么都不确定。它让我进入生命中最具创造力的阶段。
接下来的五年内，我成立了一家名叫NeXT的公司，和一家叫Pixar的公司，并爱上了一个后来成为我老婆的漂亮妹妹。Pixar创造出了世界上第一部电脑动画片《玩具总动员》，现在是世界上最成功的动画工作室。在一次意义非凡的转折事件中，苹果收购了
NeXT，我又回到了苹果公司，我们在NeXT公司开发的技术成为了苹果公司当时复兴的核心。同时我和Laurene也终成眷属。
我非常确信如果不被苹果公司开除这一切都不会发生。良药苦口利于病。
有时命运会拿板儿砖拍你脑门儿。但是别失去信心。我确信让我坚持下来的是我对自己所作所为锲而不舍的爱。你也到找到你所喜爱的。对
工作对恋人都适用。你的工作将占据你生活的绝大部分，而充实生活最好的办法就是去做你认为伟大的事情。做最伟大的事情的唯一方法就是去做你喜欢做的事情。
如果你还没找到，请继续。不要安于现状。
世上无难事，只怕有心人。就像任何伟大的友谊，时间越久，情谊越深。所以继续寻找，直到找到为止。不要安于现状。
我的第三个故事是关于见上帝的。
当我17岁的时候，我听到了大致这样一句话：“如果你把每天都看成是生命中的最后一天，总有一天你会发现自己的决定是正确的。”这句话给我留下了深刻的印象，此后的33年里，我每天早上都对着镜子问自己：“如果这是我生命中的最后一天，我会去做今天计划要做的事情么？”如果连续几天答案都是否定的，那么我就知道我需要改变了。
我遇到过的能帮助我做出生命中重大抉择的最好工具，就是记住我将很快去见上帝。因为几乎一切——所有的外界期望，所有的骄傲，所有对窘境和失败的恐惧——都会在面临死亡时失去意义，只剩下那些真正重要的东西。记住你将会很快见上帝是你避免陷入害怕失去的陷阱的最好方法。你已经一无所有。你没有理由不去跟随你的信念。
大约一年前我被诊断出癌症。我早上七点半做了扫描，发现了胰腺癌。我不知道什么是胰腺。医生说这几乎是一种绝症，最多活3到6个月。我的医生建议我回家准
备后事，这是医生让我准备见上帝的行话。这意味着你将10年后发生的事情在几个月之内告诉你的孩子。这意味着你要守口如瓶，不让你的家人发现你患癌症的蛛
丝马迹。这意味着是说再见的时候了。
我整天都惴惴不安。那天晚些时候我做了一个活细胞切片检查，医生将一个内诊镜从我的喉咙里穿进去，经过胃穿到肠子里，用针穿透我的胰腺，从肿瘤上取下一些
细胞。我服了镇静剂，但是我旁边的老婆告诉我，当医生在显微镜下检查细胞时他们开始惊声尖叫，因为这是一种很少见的胰腺癌，能通过手术治愈。我做了手术，
现在康复了。
这是我第一次如此近距离的接触上帝，我想再过几十年这个记录也不会被打破。经过这一切之后，我想肯定地，并非见上帝作为一个有用但纯粹的知识概念，对你
说：谁也不想见上帝。即便是想升天堂的人也不想通过这种方式升天。但是人总会见上帝。谁也躲不过。这很正常，因为见上帝很可能是生命唯一的伟大发明。它好
比是生命的变革代理人。它推陈出新。现在的“新”是你，但是不久的将来，你将逐渐成为“陈”，被“推”掉。很遗憾变革如此具有戏剧性，但这千真万确。
你的时间有限，所以不要活在别人的影子里。不要死板教条——吃那些别人嚼过的东西。不要让你自己内心的声音淹没在他人建议的噪音里。最重要的是，鼓起勇气，相信你的信念和直觉。他们从某种程度上已经知道你真正的目的。其它的都是次要的。
当我年轻的时候，有一本不错的刊物叫做《The Whole Earth
Catalog》，那是我们这一代人的圣经。作者是一个叫做Menlo
Park的哥们儿，他住处离这儿很近，他以诗人的笔触创作了这本杂志。那是在20世纪60年代，个人电脑和台式印刷系统尚未问世，所以全部用打字机，剪刀，宝丽来相机做成。好比是平装本的Google，比Google早了35年：理想主义，充满了灵巧的工具和伟大的理念。
Stewart和他的小组出版了很多期《The Whole Earth
Catalog》，然后顺其自然地出了最后一期。当时是70年代中期，我和你们年龄相仿。在他们最后一期杂志的封底上是一张描写清晨乡村马路的照片，给人
一种仿佛正要探险的感觉。下面的文字写着：“保持饥渴，保持天真。”这是他们的告别语。保持饥渴，保持天真。我自己也经常这么希望。现在你们即将毕业，重
新开始，我也这样祝愿你们。
保持饥渴，保持天真。
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