Connecting the Dots, Following Your Heart: Three Stories from Steve Jobs' Life

Today, I bring you the story of
that speech which continues to be told around the world.

In 2005,
at the Stanford University commencement ceremony.

Apple co-founder
Steve Jobs stood on the podium

and spoke to young people
at a crossroads in their lives.

What he, a man who never graduated from college, chose to share was not
a story of glamorous success
or words of encouragement—

it was "three stories."

Unadorned, personal stories.

Yet those words,
even now, nearly 20 years later,
continue to support and inspire people all over the world.

Story 1: "Connecting the Dots"—There is no such thing as a wasted experience

Jobs enrolled at Reed College, but
dropped out after only six months.

He felt it was wrong to spend the tuition
that his working-class parents had saved their entire lives for

on a college education
that had no clear purpose.

However, he
did not leave the university
immediately.

He stayed for another 18 months
as a "drop-in" student,

secretly auditing only the classes that interested him.

He slept on the floor of friends' rooms,

returned Coke bottles for the 5-cent deposits,

and walked 11 kilometers
to the Hare Krishna temple
for one good meal a week.

It was by no means an easy life, but
he says that during that time,

"what I learned by following my curiosity and intuition
turned out to be priceless later on."

That is what he said.

The symbol of this was
a calligraphy class
.

At the time, Reed College boasted
some of the best
calligraphy instruction in the country.

Jobs was fascinated by serif and sans-serif typefaces,
and the

beautiful spacing between letters—

he was captivated by the world of typography.

At the time,
I never imagined that this would be
of any practical use.

However, ten years later,
when designing the first Macintosh,

all those memories came flooding back.

The world's first computer with beautiful fonts
was born because of
that calligraphy class.

He said this:

You cannot connect the dots looking forward;
you can only connect them
looking backward.

That is why
you must trust that the experiences that seem disconnected now
will surely connect somewhere
in the future.

Even if you cannot see the meaning
of what you are working on right now,

it may still be
in the state of a 'dot'.

The dots will surely connect someday.

Story 2: 'Love and Loss'—Setbacks can be the greatest turning point.

When Jobs was 20,
he started Apple in his parents' garage.

Ten years later,

Apple had grown into a $2 billion company
with over 4,000 employees.

But just after turning 30,
he was fired
from the company he had created.

Having lost everything I had dedicated my life to,

for several months,
I experienced a despair so deep I couldn't bring myself to do anything.

I even considered
running away from Silicon Valley.

Yet, what kept him moving forward was

the unchanging passion of
"I still love what I do".

Ironically,
being fired from Apple became
the best thing that ever happened to me.

Freed from the heavy burden of being a successful person,

I regained the
"lightness of a beginner,"
and entered the most creative period of my life.

In the five years that followed,
I started NeXT and Pixar,

and met the woman who would become my wife.

Pixar created the world's first
computer-animated feature film,
"Toy Story,"

and eventually became
one of the world's leading studios.

And with Apple's acquisition of NeXT,
I returned to Apple—

the technology developed at NeXT
became the core that supported Apple's revival.

"Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick.
Don't lose faith.
The only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did.

The only thing that kept me going
was that I loved what I did.

If you haven't found it yet,
keep looking.
Don't settle."

Losing something
is not the end.

Sometimes, it may be
the blank space
for a 'true beginning.'

Story 3: 'Death'—Don't waste your limited time living someone else's life

There is a quote Jobs read
when he was 17.

If you live each day as if it were your last,
someday you will most certainly be right.

For the 33 years since then,
he looked in the mirror every morning
and asked himself.

If today were the last day of my life,
would I want to do what I am about to do
today?

When the answer was no for too many days in a row,
he knew he needed to change something.

Being aware of death
is the most important tool
when making big choices in life.

Because,

external expectations, pride, fear of failure—

all these things just fall away in the face of death,
leaving only what is truly important
.

A year before the speech,

he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer,
and was told he had 3 to 6 months to live.

He later recovered through surgery, but
from the experience of feeling death so close,
he spoke with even greater conviction.

Your time is limited.
So don't waste it living someone else's life.

Don't let the noise of others' opinions
drown out
your own inner voice.

And most importantly,
have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.

They somehow already know what you truly want to become.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

At the end of his speech,
Jobs quoted the farewell message
written on the back cover
of a magazine he used to love.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

Always stay hungry,

Always keep learning,

and never pretend to know what you don't.

Perhaps that attitude was what kept his life in motion.
Perhaps that attitude was what kept his life in motion.

The dots will connect.

Loss can be a turning point.

By being aware of death,
today shines brighter.

What these three stories tell us,
ultimately, is one thing.

Trust your inner voice,
and keep walking.

The "Righteousness First, Profit Later" of Eiichi Shibusawa introduced in a previous article,

as well as the "Honor" of Inazo Nitobe,

and the "Burai" (unconventional life) of Kusafune Shigyo—

when you get down to it,
they all arrive at the same question.

Are you living a life that you are not ashamed of in the eyes of your own conscience?

Jobs' words are,
to that question,
one vivid answer.

Finally,

What are the "dots"
for you right now?

And what is your heart
telling you right now?

To everyone who always
reads this note.

Being able to deliver these words to you,
I am truly grateful.

Let's meet again in the next article.

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