这是一篇由一位大学辍学者在斯坦福大学毕业典礼上发表的演讲。他分享了三个个人故事，每个故事都蕴含着关于生活、目标和视角的深刻信息。 他的第一个故事围绕“连接点”展开。他讲述了自己因为意识到为一件他没有热情的事情而背负债务毫无价值，所以在里德学院学习六个月后决定辍学的经历。他描述了随之而来的非传统生活方式，睡地板、捡可乐瓶换钱，但也获得了自由去探索他真正感兴趣的科目。其中一个就是书法课，他纯粹出于好奇去上的。他强调了当时这个选择看似毫无实用性。然而，他将这段看似微不足道的经历与他后来在苹果公司的工作联系起来。十年后，在设计麦金塔电脑时，他对排版字体的知识变得非常宝贵。它使他们能够将漂亮的字体和字形融入到Mac中，这是个人电脑前所未有的功能。他说，如果他当初没有旁听那堂书法课，Mac，甚至可能所有的个人电脑，可能就不会拥有现在的排版字体。他以强调相信生活中的经历最终会连接起来的重要性来结束这个故事。他建议毕业生们相信自己的直觉、命运和直觉，因为相信这些点会在未来连接起来，会给他们信心去追随自己的内心，即使这会引导他们走上非传统的道路。 他的第二个故事着重于“爱与失去”。他讲述了自己早期对计算机的热情以及与朋友在他父母的车库里创立苹果公司的故事。在过去的十年里，苹果公司发展成为一家拥有超过4,000名员工、价值20亿美元的公司。然而，当他的愿景与他聘请来帮助他管理公司的人的愿景出现分歧时，他被苹果公司解雇了。他将这段经历描述为毁灭性的，一次公开的失败，让他感到迷茫和对未来不确定。尽管遭遇了挫折，他意识到他对自己在苹果所做的事情的热爱并没有减少。他决定重新开始，后来他意识到这是可能发生在他身上最好的事情。摆脱了成功的负担，他进入了一个极富创造力的时期。在接下来的五年里，他创立了Next和皮克斯，并与他未来的妻子相爱。皮克斯后来创作了《玩具总动员》，并成为世界上最成功的动画工作室。后来，苹果公司收购了Next，把他带回了他创立的公司，而Next开发的技术在苹果公司的复兴中发挥了关键作用。他强调了这段经历的矛盾性，指出他最大的成功源于最初看起来像是灾难性失败的事情。他鼓励毕业生们在生活中的挑战中坚持不懈，永不失去信念，并强调关键在于找到他们所热爱的东西并坚持不懈地追求它。他说，做好工作的唯一方法就是热爱你所做的事情，如果你还没有找到它，那就继续寻找，不要妥协。 他的第三个也是最后一个故事深入探讨了“死亡”这个主题。他分享了他在17岁时遇到的一句话，“如果你把每一天都当成最后一天来过，那么总有一天你会是对的”，以及这句话如何影响了他的生活。33年来，他每天早上都照镜子，问自己是否想做那天要做的事情。如果连续很多天答案都是“不”，他就知道自己需要做出改变。他分享了自己在一年前被诊断出患有胰腺癌，并被告知只有三到六个月生命的经历。他描述了诊断带来的情感负担以及为死亡做准备的过程。奇迹般地，活组织检查显示他患有一种罕见的、可治愈的胰腺癌，并成功进行了手术。他强调了面对死亡的现实以优先考虑真正重要的事情的重要性。他敦促毕业生们不要浪费生命去过别人的生活，不要被教条所困，不要让别人的意见淹没自己内心的声音。相反，他建议他们要有勇气追随自己的内心和直觉。他以引用他年轻时钦佩的出版物《全球概览》及其告别语：“求知若饥，虚心若愚”来结束他的演讲。他将同样的祝愿传递给毕业生，敦促他们在开始未来的努力时保持好奇心、雄心壮志并对新的体验持开放态度。

This is a commencement speech delivered by a college dropout to graduating students at Stanford University. He shares three personal stories, each carrying a profound message about life, purpose, and perspective. His first story revolves around "connecting the dots." He recounts his decision to drop out of Reed College after six months, driven by the realization that he didn't see the value in accumulating debt for something he wasn't passionate about. He describes the unconventional lifestyle that followed, sleeping on floors and returning Coke bottles for money, but also the freedom he gained to explore subjects that genuinely interested him. One of these was a calligraphy class, which he took purely out of curiosity. He emphasizes the seemingly impractical nature of this choice at the time. However, he connects this seemingly insignificant experience to his later work at Apple. Ten years later, when designing the Macintosh, his knowledge of typography became invaluable. It allowed them to incorporate beautiful fonts and typefaces into the Mac, a feature that was unprecedented in personal computers. He states that if he hadn't dropped in on that calligraphy class, the Mac, and possibly all personal computers, might not have the typography they do today. He concludes this story by emphasizing the importance of trusting that life's experiences will eventually connect. He advises the graduates to have faith in their instincts, destiny, and intuition because believing that the dots will connect in the future will give them the confidence to follow their hearts, even when it leads them down unconventional paths. His second story centers on "love and loss." He speaks of his early passion for computers and founding Apple with a friend in his parents' garage. Over ten years, Apple grew into a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees. However, he was fired from Apple when his visions diverged from those of someone he hired to help him run the company. He describes this experience as devastating, a public failure that left him feeling lost and unsure of his future. Despite this setback, he realized that his love for what he did at Apple hadn't diminished. He decided to start over, which he later recognized as the best thing that could have happened to him. The freedom from the burden of success allowed him to enter a period of immense creativity. During the next five years, he started Next and Pixar, and found love with his future wife. Pixar went on to create Toy Story, and became the world's most successful animation studio. Later, Apple bought Next, bringing him back to the company he founded, and the technology developed at Next played a crucial role in Apple's revival. He highlights the paradoxical nature of this experience, noting that his greatest successes stemmed from what initially seemed like a catastrophic failure. He encourages the graduates to persevere through life's challenges and to never lose faith, emphasizing that the key is to find what they love and pursue it relentlessly. He states that the only way to do great work is to love what you do, and if you haven't found it yet, keep looking and don't settle. His third and final story delves into the subject of "death." He shares a quote he encountered at age 17, "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right," and how it influenced his life. He has looked in the mirror every morning for 33 years and asked himself if he wanted to do what he was about to do that day. If the answer was "no" for too many days in a row, he knew he needed to make a change. He shares his experience being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a year prior and being told he had only three to six months to live. He describes the emotional weight of the diagnosis and the process of preparing for death. Miraculously, a biopsy revealed that he had a rare, curable form of pancreatic cancer, and he underwent successful surgery. He emphasizes the importance of confronting the reality of mortality to prioritize what truly matters. He urges the graduates not to waste their lives living someone else's life, not to be trapped by dogma, not to let the noise of others' opinions drown out their inner voice. Instead, he advises them to have the courage to follow their hearts and intuition. He ends his speech by referencing "The Whole Earth Catalog," a publication he admired in his youth, and its farewell message: "Stay hungry, stay foolish." He imparts this same wish to the graduating class, urging them to remain curious, ambitious, and open to new experiences as they embark on their future endeavors.