Getting fired from Apple was at first devastating for Jobs, but it was also the best thing that could have happened. Being a beginner again freed him to enter the most creative period of his life. In the next five years, Jobs started the company NeXT and Pixar. What kept him going was that he loved what he was doing.  You have to find what you love. Work will fill the largest part of your life, and you will only be satisfied if you do great work. If you haven't found what you love, keep looking. Don't settle.

Love and loss

When Steve Jobs was young, he dropped out of college, which enabled him to take a calligraphy course that interested him, but had no immediate practical benefit. Looking back, the Mac would not have had multiple typefaces or well-spaced fonts if Jobs had not dropped in on that course in college. You can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect it in hindsight. Believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart.

How your experiences join up

If today is the last day of your life, would you do what you plan to do that day? If the answer is "no", you need to change something. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Instead, dare to follow your heart.

Live each day as if it was your last

Drawing from some of the most pivotal points in his life, Steve Jobs, chief executive officer and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, urged graduates to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in life's setbacks -- including death itself -- at the university's 114th Commencement on June 12, 2005. Transcript of Steve Jobs' address: http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html Stanford University channel on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/stanford

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Motivation & Inspiration

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Leadership & Management

Drawing from some of the most pivotal points in his life, Steve Jobs, chief executive officer and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, urged graduates to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in life's setbacks -- including death itself -- at the university's 114th Commencement on June 12, 2005.

Transcript of Steve Jobs' address:
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

Stanford University channel on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/stanford

Stanford is a place of discovery, creativity and innovation located in the San Francisco Bay Area on the ancestral land of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. Dedicated to our founding mission—benefitting society through research and education—we are working toward a sustainable future, accelerating the impact of research with external partners, catalyzing discoveries about ourselves and our world, and educating students as global citizens. Our main campus, which welcomed its first class in 1891, is now home to 650+ student organizations, 36 varsity athletic teams, 20 libraries, 21 living Nobel laureates, 18 interdisciplinary research institutes, seven schools, and a vibrant arts scene. More than 9,000 graduate students and 7,000 undergraduates pursue studies at Stanford each year. Our financial aid program, one of the most generous in the nation, makes it possible for any admitted undergraduate to attend without taking on student debt. Learn more at stanford.edu.