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This is a commencement speech Steve Jobs gave to the graduating class of Stanford (full context here). He tells three stories from his life. It’s long, but I think it’s moving, and worth it.

1. Typography. Turns out that after Jobs dropped out of college he audited a few classes. On of these was calligraphy. This class taught him an appreciation for typography’s history, art, and value. He used this info later when he designed the Apple computer. And, as he put it, “Since windows just copied the Mac, if it wasn’t for this class personal computing might not have any kind of beautiful typography”. There’s a snowball effect for you.
2. Being fired was awesome. After Jobs was fired from Apple, it let him look at his life and pursue his passions again. This led to Pixar, his company Next being bought by Apple, and his wife and family. Not a bad severance package.
3. Death is around the corner. A bit morbid, Jobs explains how he uses death as a motivator in his life.

He concludes his speech with a quote from an old publication from the ’70s. “Stay hungry, stay foolish”. Not bad advice.

video via the always awesome 1938 media.

I leave you with a classic Apple ad. The message of which now, more than ever, is obviously right from Jobs’ mouth.