Do What You Love, Love What You Do

By: María de los Ángeles Marqui Drago and María Inés Córdoba

Steve Jobs shared three life stories with Stanford graduates in 2005. The purpose of this paper is to summarize those three stories.

The first story, which he explained was about “Connecting the dots” (Stanford, 2012, 0:58) took us from before his birth to the time when he had founded Apple. He chose different moments of his life (dots) that seemed random as he experienced them but once he could look back on them, he perceived them as being connected. We learned that Steve Job’s adoptive parents were his biological mother’s second choice for she had decided he had to be adopted by college graduates. These undergraduates could only adopt him on condition that he was going to be sent to college, which he was, but after six months he decided to quit because he was not sure about what he wanted from life. He claimed dropping out was one of the best decisions he had ever made given that not having the obligation to attend classes that did not motivate him meant he could choose, for instance one on calligraphy. This high quality course inspired him ten years later when he was designing one of the first personal computers as he could incorporate typographic fonts into their word processors. And that is how the dots connected, which he could not have been foreseen until all those events had unfolded.

            The second story he opted to tell was one of “Love and loss” (Stanford, 2012, 5:40). Ten years after founding Apple, business was thriving and so was Steve. He was working doing what he loved when he was dismissed from his own company; he experienced this loss downheartedly and had to start afresh. This incident, caused his crossing paths with the woman he would marry and new partners with whom he set up NExT, which was later on bought by Apple and Pixar, the most successful animation studio at the time of the commencement address. “Getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me” (Stanford, 2012, 7:18). He came to this conclusion after realising that despite the fact that he did not momentarily have a job, his love for what he did remained unaltered, therefore that crisis brought way to new and brilliant endeavours both in his professional and personal life.

            The last story is about death. Death, to Steve Jobs is a twofold concept because while it is a ghastly idea, at the same time it is a powerful stimulus. Before facing a highly likely prospect of death he would ask himself every day whether he would feel content if that particular day, was the last one he ever had to live. This was his way of assessing his life and deciding if adjustments were necessary. In his speech, he invited the audience to grasp the freedom that lies in the idea of death: if we are already dead, why not live life to the fullest? If we all share the same fate, why not be as happy as we can with what we do? He draws near the end of the story pondering over the fact that “death is very likely the single greatest invention of life” (Stanford, 2012, 12:12) because it allows for change and renovation and without it the world would be paralysed.  The last anecdote he shares and wishes for his audience is that they always have the possibility of staying young and foolish, as one of his favourite publications wished for its readers.

These stories invite us to reflect upon our lives and their circumstances. Moreover, they teach us that it is fundamental to see the big picture and that, occasionally, events that seem daunting can lead to the opening of doors we had never expected. It is paramount not to despair in the face of incidents and to try to look beyond them or even embrace them, for they may be new beginnings. Once one has found one’s passion, it is vital not to let it go and pursue it with all one’s strength. The grit we devote to each of our attempts will dictate how satisfied we can feel about their outcomes.

References

Stanford. (2012, March 7). Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc