Just three stories. 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 18

months or so before I really quit. 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. 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 and I found it fascinating. None of this had even

a hope of any practical application in my life, but 10 years later when we were designing

the first macintosh computer, it all came back to me. If I had never dropped out, personal

computers might not have had 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. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your

future. 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. My second story is

about love and loss. I was lucky - I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and

started Apple in my parents' garage when I was 20 and in ten years Apple had grown from

just the 2 of us in a garage into a 2 billion dollar company with over 4000 employees. And

then I got fired. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone. I really

didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation

of entrepreneurs down. I'd been rejected but I still loved what I did. I didn't see it

then, but 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. 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 it's now the

most successful animation studio in the world. 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. Your work is gonna

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. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when

you find it. My third story is about death. If you live each day as if it was your last,

some day you'll most certainly be right. For the past 33 years, I've looked in the mirror

every morning and asked myself: If today were the last day of my life, would I wanna do

what I am about to do today? Because almost everything, all external expectations, all

pride, all fear of embarassment or failure, these things just fall away in the face of

death. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of

thinking you have something to lose. There is no reason not to follow your hearts. Your

time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't let the noise of

other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. Have the courage to follow your heart

and intuition: They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else

is secondary. Stay hungry, stay foolish. Thank you all very much.