Tony Michalski's Master Key Coaching

[This is a prepared text of the Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005. Source: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html]

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, it’s 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 returned 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 it’s 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 others’ 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.

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Anything becomes possible when you can see it manifested in your own mind. The journey of success begins by first perceiving it, then having absolute faith without giving up. Actively pursue your goal every day and refuse to give up until you acheive it.

True success doesn’t happen overnight and takes time.

Success is never giving up and overcoming obstacles.

Your success or lack of it is determined by what you do with what you have.

The gaining of something planned is the standard definition of success. To accomplish anything, you must create a plan and work at it. Failure is failing to try. Without a plan of action, you don’t have a blueprint for your success.

Take authority over yourself through the successful development of your skills, talents, and abilities. Seek knowledge and create a plan to put into action.

Passion and motivation lead to success, which is only guaranteed by taking action now.

Create short-term and long-term goals for yourself. Every goal should be realistic and specific with a completion date. Goal-setting today will determine your success or lack of it tommorow.

Failing to plan is planning to fail. Write down the steps necessary to reach your goal and gather information relating to it. No goal will come to pass without a plan of action. Success is based on the importance of planning. Failure is failing to create the proper blueprint to achieve your specific goal.

Your success can only expand to the size of your vision. Proverbs 23:7 says,

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

Your thoughts set the course of your life, which is why you become what you constantly envision. Big dreams demand big expectations. When your vision is big, it’s more likely that your success will be big. Create your plan, work it, and refuse to give up. Have a written plan of what must be accomplished every day to ensure that you’re taking action related to your goals.

To reach your highest level of success, changes always need to be made. Knowledge alone doesn’t guarantee success; it’s action taken based on your knowledge that creates change. Success is only guaranteed to those who are committed to it.

Have big dreams and goals. Success begins one step at a time. You will become successful in every noteworthy area of your life by learning and gaining knowledge. You must gain understanding in the area you want to be successful in. We have the responsibility to educate ourselves because understanding and knowledge are essential to manifesting success.

Your ability to succeed is hidden in continuous self-improvement.

–

Jawara D. King

About this Article’s Author: Jawara King is a full-time author, philosopher, researcher, and writer, working in the metaphysical and spiritual fields. As a contemporary spiritual teacher, he conveys the timeless profound messages of the ancient spiritual masters of all traditions. His works blend physics, spiritual philosophy, Eastern wisdom, and mystical Christianity with life-changing results. Jawara’s foundational teachings bring together insights from a range of spiritual paths to form a spiritually global coherent practice; guiding thousands of people to transform their lives through one of the greatest teachings in the world today. He has written five self-improvement books outlining the philosophical and spiritual framework necessary to bring forth a spiritual awakening in the real world.

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I am somewhat sensitive to sounds. If I hear something out of place — an errant squeak, a slightly off-balance picture on a shelf that knocks as it wobbles when a person walks by it — I have to investigate the source of the sound and fix it so as to make it stop.

When I heard a small, barely audible knocking in my office a couple of weeks ago, I just thought it was the wind.

Then I felt everything swaying ever so slightly. I still thought it was the wind.

It lasted longer than a burst of wind usually lasts, though.

That’s when I received an email that stated that my area was struck by a small earthquake.

Holy cow! What the heck is going one here?

I know that some of you in places like California are laughing at me. I’ve seen the web sites showing the “damage” from the earthquake that originated in Virginia: the toppled lawn chairs and shaken knick-knacks.

You must understand that this was my very first one! Ever. It was the first for probably everyone in my area. It was … Weird.

Moving forward a couple weeks later to this past weekend, my area found itself once again being toyed with by Mother Nature.

This time it was flooding.

The Susquehanna River rising and almost covering the Market Street Bridge in Wilkes-Barre, PA.

A couple places in my area were decimated. Our downtown was evacuated and people expected the worst. The levees that were built to withstand waters of up to 41 feet held strong even though the river crested at over 42 feet.

It’s been somewhat crazy. I even quipped that if hordes of locusts appear, I’m calling game over!

My area isn’t the only place. There are fires in Texas. Flooding in other places. Hurricanes.

What’s the point of all this?

Already in my area, clean up has begun in earnest. People who have lost everything are assessing things and planning their next move. Businesses are moving as quickly as possible to get things up and running.

Human nature, even when forced to the brink by Mother Nature, perseveres and prevails.

In our individual lives, we cannot control everything that happens. As Forrest Gump said in the movie, sometimes “crap happens.” (I sanitized that for our all-ages audience.)

What counts is how we react to the crap. What counts is what we do after the crap has passed. What counts is that we keep on keeping on after all the crap is thrown at us.

One of my favorite quotes comes from Friedrich Nietzsche who exhorted “Build your houses on Vesuvius.”

Life, no matter how safe we try to play it, will always toss something at us. It will do its best to knock us down a notch. It will take its best shot time and again.

We’re better than that, though. We’re stronger. We’re smarter.

So dream big and plan bigger.

Talk loudly and act boldly.

You might fall and fail. You might lose and be defeated. You might end up battered and broken.

But you’ll overcome it. You will prevail. You will stand tall.

That’s just what tough “sum-bitches” like us tend to do.

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One of my favorite quotes — one that guides much of my life and work — is a Japanese proverb:

Your garden is not complete until there’s nothing more you can take out of it.

A garden cannot have EVERYTHING in it. If it does, it ceases to be a garden and instead becomes a mess. A tangled mess.

Beautiful gardens are those in which the person who tends to it carefully and with great thought removes that which is not necessary.

The result is that those plants and flowers that remain are able to get all the nourishment they need and thus they grow strong and true.

People who see the garden or who walk through it notice the care and fore-thought that went into the planning can care and they appreciate the beauty that surrounds them.

The same holds true for your life.

As you remove that which isn’t necessary to you, you begin to nourish those notions and ideas and things that do mean something to you.

So, first you remove the weeds.

Next, you remove the things that, while not weeds, tend to occupy your time to no end.

After that, you remove the not so important flowers and plants. This is where it gets tricky because it may be a close call between what you will keep and what you will discard.

Life is full of tough choices, though.

And they need to be done.

You will finally come to the point that there will be nothing more that you can take from your garden.

What you will be left with is your completed garden. If you tend to it and care for it properly, then you will have a resplendent garden that you will be proud to show.

Sometimes, life and work and play isn’t about acquiring or attaining. It is about removing, trimming, honing, and discarding.

Think about that quote for a little while. I think that as you do that, it will make more and more sense to you.

“Your garden is not complete until there’s nothing more you can take out of it.”

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It’s been a while since I posted an article. I apologise for my absence. I’ve been busy with quite a few things.

As you know, we’ve been having weekly Master Key Coaching Teleseminars. We made it to Week Fourteen and are well on our way to completing our study of Haanel’s most famous and awesomely inspiring work.

I’ve also been readying a few new and great books for release. One is entitled I Believe, Therefore I Am. It’s an amazing book and I know that you are going to love it.

As I was surfing the ‘Net, I stumbled upon this quote. When I read it, I immediately thought about Haanel, The Master Key System, and what we’ve been discussing on the Master Key Coaching Teleseminars.

The author of the snippet is Ayn Rand, philosopher and author of such works as The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Love her or hate her, one must admit that she made an impact on the world. Also, whether you love her or hate her, I think you will get a lot from the following quote from her.

“Productive work” does not mean the unfocused performance of the motions of some job. It means the consciously chosen pursuit of a productive career, in any line of rational endeavor, great or modest, on any level of ability. It is not the degree of a man’s ability nor the scale of his work that is ethically relevant here, but the fullest and most purposeful use of his mind.

Charles F. Haanel also had quite a bit to say about productive work. If you’ve been listening to the Master Key Coaching Teleseminars, then you know that. Peruse this excerpt from The Master Key System, for example.

8. The financier gets much because he gives much; he thinks; he is seldom a man that lets any one else do his thinking for him; he wants to know how results are to be secured; you must show him; when you can do this he will furnish the means by which hundreds or thousands may profit; and in proportion as they are successful will he be successful. Morgan, Rockefeller, Carnegie, and others did not get rich because they lost money for other people. On the contrary, it is because they made money for other people that they became the wealthiest men in the wealthiest country on the globe.

9. The average person is entirely innocent of any deep thinking; he accepts the ideas of others and repeats them in very much the same way as a parrot; this is readily seen when we understand the method which is used to form public opinion and this docile attitude on the part of a large majority, who seem perfectly willing to let a few persons do all their thinking for them, is what enables a few men in a great many countries to usurp all the avenues of power and hold the millions in subjection. Creative thinking requires attention.

Of course, this isn’t all that Haanel wrote on the subject. The Master Key System is full of points like this.

Take the time to review them.

Take the time to choose your goal.

Commit yourself to achieving it.

Focus all of your thoughts and all of your energy to accomplishing what you set to do.

You can begin right now. Make the choice to do so.

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