On the "light" side
by Jorge Cham
by Scott Adams
STAY HUNGRY. STAY FOOLISH.
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 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 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 other's 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.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.
DESIDERATA
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace
there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on
good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too
have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are
vexations to the spirit.If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in
your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the
changing fortunes of time.Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of
trickery. But let not this blind you to what virtue there is; many
persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of
heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be
cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and
disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the
counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But
do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born
of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle
with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the
trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not
it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations in the noisy confusion of
life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and
broken dreams; it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.Strive to be happy.
--- Max Ehrmann, 1927
Deteriorata
Go placidly amid the noise and the waste and remember what comfort
there may be in owning a piece thereof.Avoid quiet and passive persons unless you are in need of sleep.
Rotate your tires. Speak glowingly of those greater than yourself and
heed well their advice, even though they be turkeys; know what to
kiss and when.Consider that two wrongs never make a right, but that three do.
Wherever possible, put people on hold. Be comforted that in the face
of all aridity and disillusionment and despite the changing fortunes
of time, there is always a big future in computer maintenance.
Remember the Pueblo. Strive at all times to bend, fold, spindle and
mutilate.Know yourself; if you need help, call the FBI. Exercise caution in
your daily affairs, especially with those persons closest to you --
that lemon on your left, for instance. Be assured that a walk through
the ocean of most souls would scarcely get your feet wet. Fall not in
love therefore; it will stick to your face.Gracefully surrender the things of youth, birds, clean air, tuna,
Taiwan; and let not the sands of time get in your lunch. Hire people
with hooks. For a good time, call 555-4311; ask for Ken. Take heart
amid the deepening gloom that your dog is finally getting enough
cheese; and reflect that whatever misfortune may be your lot, it
could only be worse in Milwaukee.You are a fluke of the universe; you have no right to be here, and
whether you can hear it or not, the universe is laughing behind your
back.Therefore make peace with your God whatever you conceive Him to be --
Hairy Thunderer or Cosmic Muffin.With all its hopes, dreams, promises, and urban renewal, the world
continues to deteriorate. Give up.by Tony Hendra
performed by National Lampoon
on National Lampoon Radio Dinner LP
(1972 Blue Thumb Records)
"Dr. Seuss Explains Why Computers Fail"
(To be read aloud)
If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
and the bus is interrupted at a very last resort,
and the access of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,
then the socket packet pocket has an error to report.If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash,
and the double-clicking icon puts your Window in the trash,
and your data is corrupted cause the index doesn't hash,
then your situation's hopeless and your system's gonna crash!!If the label on the cable on the table at your house
says the network is connected to the button on your mouse,
but your packets want to tunnel to another protocol,
that's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall,and your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss,
so your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse;
then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang,
'cuz sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang!When the copy of your floppy's getting sloppy in the disk,
and the macro code instructions cause unnecessary risk,
then you'll have to flash the memory and you'll want to RAM your ROM.
Quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your Mom![Sent in by an Australian Engineer, with credit to the inspiration of Dr. Seuss ]
From IEEE Region 8 News August 2002
Think New, Think Different...Think LATERALLY!!!
Some time ago I received a call from a colleague, who asked if I
would be the referee on the grading of an examination question. He was
about to give a student a zero for his answer to a physics question,
while the student claimed he should receive a perfect score and would if
the system were not set up against the student.The instructor and the student agreed to an impartial arbiter, and I
was selected. I went to my colleague's office and read the
examination question: "Show how it is possible to determine the
height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer."The student had answered: "Take the barometer to the top of the
building, attach a long rope to it, lower it to the street, and then
bring it up, measuring the length of the rope. The length of the
rope is the height of the building."I pointed out that the student really had a strong case for full
credit since he had really answered the question completely and
correctly. On the other hand, if full credit were given, it could
well contribute to a high grade in his physics course. A high grade
is supposed to certify competence in physics, but the answer did not
confirm this. I suggested that the student have another try at
answering the question. I was not surprised that my colleague
agreed, but I was surprised when the student did.I gave the student six minutes to answer the question with the
warning that the answer should show some knowledge of physics. At the
end of five minutes, he had not written anything. I asked if he wished to
give up, but he said no. He had many answers to this problem; he was
just thinking of the best one. I excused myself for interrupting him
and asked him to please go on. In the next minute, he dashed off his
answer which read:"Take the barometer to the top of the building and lean over the
edge of the roof. Drop the barometer, timing its fall with a
stopwatch. Then, using the formula x=0.5*a*t^2, calculate the height of the
building."At this point, I asked my colleague if he would give up. He
conceded, and gave the student almost full credit. In leaving my
colleague's office, I recalled that the student had said that he had other
answers to the problem, so I asked him what they were."Well," said the student. "there are many ways of getting the height
of a tall building with the aid of a barometer. For example, you
could take the barometer out on a sunny day and measure the height of
the barometer, the length of its shadow, and the length of the shadow of
the building, and by the use of simple proportion, determine the
height of the building.""Fine," I said, "and others?"
"Yes," said the student." There is a very basic measurement method
you will like. In this method, you take the barometer and begin to
walk up the stairs. As you climb the stairs, you mark off the length
of the barometer along the wall. You then count the number of
marks, and this will give you the height of the building in barometer
units."A very direct method."
"Of course. If you want a more sophisticated method, you can tie the
barometer to the end of a string, swing it as a pendulum, and
determine the value of g at the street level and at the top of the
building. From the difference between the two values of g, the
height of the building, in principle, can be calculated.""On this same tact, you could take the barometer to the top of the
building, attach a long rope to it, lower it to just above the
street, and then swing it as a pendulum. You could then calculate the
height of the building by the period of the precession"."Finally," he concluded, "there are many other ways of solving the
problem. Probably the best," he said, "is to take the barometer to
the basement and knock on the superintendent's door. When the
superintendent answers, you speak to him as follows: 'Mr.
Superintendent, here is a fine barometer. If you will tell me the
height of the building, I will give you this barometer.'"At this point, I asked the student if he really did not know the
conventional answer to this question. He admitted that he did, but
said that he was fed up with high school and college instructors trying to
teach him how to think, to use the 'scientific method' and to explore the deep
inner logic of the subject in a pedantic way, as is often done in the new
mathematics, rather than teaching him the structure of the subject. With
this in mind, he decided to revive scholasticism as an academic lark to
challenge the Sputnik-panicked classrooms of Americaby Alexander Calandra, The Saturday Review, December 21, 1968, p 60.
Ögrenci geçmeli mi?
Bu soru Kopenhagen daki bir universitenin fizik sinavindan alinmistir:
Bir gokdelenin yuksekligini barometre ile nasil bulursunuz?Ogrencilerden birinin cevabi:
"Barometrenin ucuna bir ip baglarsiniz. Sonra gokdelenin tepesinden asip
sallarsiniz. Barometre yere degdiginde ipin boyuyla barometrenin boyunun
toplami gokdelenin yuksekligini verecektir."Bu oldukca orijinal cevap hocayi cileden cikartmaya yetti ve ogrenci
dersten kaldi. Ogrenci cevabinin dogrulugu konusunda itirazda bulundu ve
universite durumu cozmek icin baska bir hoca gonderdi.Yeni hoca, cevabin aslinda dogru olduguna, fakat kayda deger bir fizik
bilgisinin varligini gostermedigine karar verdi. Sorunu cozmek uzere
ogrenciyi en azindan asgari bir temel fizik bilgisi olup olmadigini
anlamak icin, ona alti dakika vererek sorunun sozlu cevabini vermesi
kararini aldi. Ilk bes dakika, genc sessizlige gomuldu. Alni dusunceden
kiris kiris olmustu. Hoca zamanin tukenmekte oldugunu hatirlattiginda genc
cesitli cevaplarinin oldugunu, fakat hangisini kullanacagina
karar veremedigini soyledi. Tekrar acele etmesi tavsiye edilince genc
soyle cevapladi:"Ilk olarak, barometreyi gokdelenin tepesine cikartip kenarindan asagi
birakip yere inene kadar gecen sureyi olcersiniz.
Binanin yuksekligiH = 0.5 x g x t2
formulu uygulanarak hesaplanabilir. Fakat barometre icin kotu bir secim."
"Veya gunes parliyorsa, barometrenin yuksekligini olcersiniz. Sonra onu
bir yere dikip golge uzunlugunu ve sonra da gokdelenin golge uzunlugunu
olcebilirsiniz. Bundan sonrasi basit bir orantiyi cozmek olacaktir. "Fakat
bu konuda gokbilimsel bir cevap istiyorsanz, barometrenin ucuna bir sicim
baglayip onu bir sarkac gibi sallandirabilirsiniz. Once yer seviyesinde,
daha sonra da gokdelenin tepesinde. Yuksekligi,T=2 kvk (I/g)
formulundeki farktan yararlanarak bulabilirsiniz.
"Yahut da gokdelenin disarisinda bir yangin merdiveni varsa, barometreyi
bir cetvel gibi kullanarak yukariya cikarken gokdelenin boyunu barometre
yuksekligi biriminden sayip bunlari toplayabilirsiniz.""Eger ille de sikici ve ortodoks olmak istiyorsanz, tabii ki barometre ile
gokdelenin tepesindeki yer seviyesindeki basinci olcer, milibar cinsinden
cikan farki feet'e cevirebilirsiniz ve yuksekligi bulursunuz. Ancak bizler
daima zihnin bagimsizligi ve bilimsel metodlar kullanma konusunda tesvik
edildigimiz icindir ki, en iyi yol suphesiz hademenin kapisini calmak ve
yeni bir barometre isteyip istemedigini sorarak, gokdelenin yuksekliini
soylemesi durumunda, ona bu barometreyi verecegimizi soylemek olurdu."Sizce ogrenci gecmeli mi kalmali mi?
Ogrencinin adi: Niels Bohr, Fizik'te Nobel odulu kazanan tek Danimarkali
Alexander Calandra, The Saturday Review, December 21, 1968, p 60.
ZAMAN YÖNETiMi
Profesör sinifa girip karsisinda duran dünyanin en seçilmis
ögrencilerine kisa bir süre baktiktan sonra, "Bu gün Zaman Yönetimi
konusunda deneyle karisik bir sinav yapacagiz" dedi. Kürsüye yürüdü,
kürsünün altindan kocaman bir kavanoz çikartti. Arkadan, kürsünün
altindan bir düzine yumruk büyüklügünde tas aldi ve taslari büyük bir
dikkatle kavanozun içine yerlestirmeye basladi. Kavanozun daha baska
tas almayacagina emin olduktan sonra ögrencilerine döndü ve "Bu kavanoz
doldu mu?" diye sordu. Ögrenciler hep bir agizdan "Doldu" diye
cevapladilar. Profesör "Öyle mi?" dedi ve kürsünün altina egilerek bir
kova micir çikartti. Miciri kavanozun agzindan yavas yavas döktü.
Sonra kavanozu sallayarak micirin taslarin arasina yerlesmesini
sagladi. Sonra ögrencilerine dönerek bir kez daha"Bu kavanoz doldu mu?" diye sordu. Bir ögrenci
"Dolmadi herhâlde" diye cevap verdi.
"Dogru" dedi profesör ve gene kürsünün altina egilerek bir kova kum aldi
ve yavas yavas tüm kum taneleri taslarla micirlarin arasina nüfuz edene
kadar döktü. Gene ögrencilerine döndü ve "Bu kavanoz doldu mu?" diye
sordu. Tüm siniftakiler bir agizdan"Hayir" diye bagirdilar.
"Güzel" dedi profesör ve kürsünün altina egilerek bir sürahi su aldi ve
kavanoz agzina kadar doluncaya dek suyu bosaltti . Sonra ögrencilerine
dönerek"Bu deneyin amaci neydi" diye sordu. Uyanik bir ögrenci hemen
"Zamanimiz ne kadar dolu görünürse görünsün, daha ayirabilecegimiz
zamanimiz mutlaka vardir" diye atladi."Hayir" dedi profesör,
"Bu deneyin esas anlatmak istedigi "Eger büyük taslari bastan
yerlestirmezsen küçükler girdikten sonra büyükleri hiç bir zaman kavanozun
içine koyamazsin" gerçegidir".Ögrenciler saskinlik içinde birbirlerine bakarken profesör devam etti:
"Nedir hayatinizdaki büyük taslar? Çocuklariniz, esiniz, sevdikleriniz,
arkadaslariniz, egitiminiz, hayâlleriniz, sagliginiz, bir eser yaratmak,
baskalarina faydali olmak, onlara bir sey ögretmek! Büyük taslariniz belki
bunlardan birisi, belki bir kaçi, belki hepsi. Bu aksam uykuya yatmadan
önce iyice düsünün ve sizin büyük taslariniz hangileridir iyi karar verin.
Bilin ki büyük taslarinizi kavanoza ilk olarak yerlestirmezseniz hiç bir
zaman bir daha koyamazsiniz, o zaman da ne kendinize, ne de çalistiginiz
kuruma, ne de ülkenize faydali olursunuz. Bu da iyi bir is adami, gerçekte
de iyi bir adam olamayacaginizi gösterir".Profesör, ders bittigi hâlde konusmadan oturan ögrencileri sinifta
birakarak çikti.Yukardaki gerçek hikâye, Kellog Business School'da (Northwestern
Üniversitesi) Is Idaresi master ögrencileri ile Zaman Yönetimi dersi
profesörü arasinda geçer.Yazar bilinmiyor, bildirirseniz eklenecek.