This is why we should learn from Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs’ Convocation Speech (Stanford)
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.

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.

To watch the video, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA

He was too much inspiring :')

Life will bring us to death

Bulan Ramadhan tahun ini, ada dua kabar mengejutkan dan menyedihkan yang aku terima.

Pertama, masih sekitar awal Ramadhan, seorang seniorku, Chandra, angkatan 2006, meninggal dunia karena kecelakaan. Kabarnya mobilnya menabrak sebuah rumah dalam perjalannya dari Bandung kembali ke Sumedang. Lalu sebuah pohon menimpanya, sehingga ia terhimpit di antaranya, dan kemudian meninggal. :'(

Aku memang tidak terlalu mengenal Chandra, tapi bagaimanapun, kami bersekolah di tempat yang sama, di jurusan yang sama. :'(

Kedua, semalam ketika aku baru saja akan memejamkan mataku, sebuah sms mengagetkanku. "Na, kang mardo meninggal"

Astagfirullah.. Seniorku yang kedua ini adalah angkatan 2005. Terus terang, aku adalah salah satu penggemarnya. Dia adalah pemain futsal yang keren. :'( Dia itu, mempesona. :'(

And guess what? Dia meninggal setelah bermain futsal. Kabarnya setelah futsal, dia kejang-kejang. Lalu ia meninggal karena serangan jantung. I couldn't even believe it. Orang sesehat dia yang selalu berolahraga? Lalu kemudian meninggal karena serangan jantung?

Baiklah, aku rasa memang itu semua sudah ditakdirkan oleh Sang Kuasa. Tapi di usia semuda itu, Tuhan? Sungguh?

Ketakutan mulai menjalariku. Siapa yang menduga mereka yang masih sangat muda, dipanggil secepat itu oleh Sang Pencipta? Ternyata benar, kematian itu lebih dekat dari urat nadi kita sendiri.

Aku takut. Aku takut jika aku dipanggil terlalu cepat. Ya Tuhan, aku masih penuh dosa. Aku masih kurang beribadah dan berbuat baik. Dan bagian yang paling aku takutkan adalah jka aku harus dipanggil sebelum aku bisa banyak membahagiakan orang tuaku. :'(

Tolong Tuhan, mereka menaruh banyak harapan padaku. 

Entahlah. Aku tidak tau. Beritau aku.

Aku selalu ingin menulis cerita cinta. Tapi aku tidak punya kisah cinta yang cukup indah untuk kujadikan inspirasi. :|

Aku lupa. Aku lupa bagaimana rasanya diperhatikan. Aku lupa bagaimana rasanya menunggu sms dan telepon. Aku lupa bagaimana rasanya ditanya "kenapa jam segini belum pulang?". Mungkin aku amnesia. Aku bahkan lupa bagaimana caranya mengatakan "Aku sayang kamu". Oh tidak, maaf, bahkan aku tidak tau bagaimana mengatakannya. 

Aku selalu kagum dengan orang-orang yang dapat menuliskan kisah cinta dengan begitu indahnya. Kisah yang dapat menyentuh titik terdalam si pembaca. Kisah yang mampu membuat pembacanya tertawa sampai menangis, dan menangis sampai tertawa. 

Aku benar-benar tidak tau, apakah mereka yang mampu menulis seindah itu, benar-benar selalu mengalami kisah cinta yang indah juga? Atau justru mereka sudah mengalami banyak kisah pilu, hingga mereka mampu mendeskripsikan cinta dengan begitu indahnya? Entahlah. Aku tidak tau. Beritau aku.

Yah, aku memang tidak memiliki kisah cinta yang indah dan dapat menyentuh hati orang lain. Setidaknya belum sampai saat ini. Aku tidak tau, apa sih sebenarnya rencana Tuhan untukku? Apakah ada sesuatu yang jauh lebih indah untukku di masa depan? Ataukah sebenarnya Tuhan sudah memberikannya padaku, namun aku tidak menyadarinya? Entahlah. Aku tidak tau. Beritau aku.

Seorang teman pernah berkata padaku, "Kamu sih terlalu pemilih, jadinya susah kan dapet pacarnya". Am I? 

Aku tidak tau, apakah aku salah jika aku ingin mendapat pasangan yang, paling tidak, benar-benar baik? Ya ya ya, aku tau, memang tidak ada orang yang benar-benar baik. Tapi paling tidak aku ingin seseorang yang baik-nya cukup signifikan. Iya, aku tau, semua orang pasti ingin pasangan yang baik, siapa yang tidak?

Hmm, hanya saja, selama ini aku bertemu orang-orang yang "sepertinya" baik. Dan aku dengan mudahnya percaya, kemudian terbuai, kemudian dibuang, kemudian menangis. Menyedihkan. Bodoh memang. Entahlah. Aku tidak tau. Beritau aku.

Dosen pembimbingku pernah berkata padaku, "Kamu itu keliatan banget gampang percaya sama orang". Yah, begitulah adanya. Kadang aku merasa terlalu bodoh. Tapi aku tidak tau bagaimana untuk sulit percaya pada orang lain. Entahlah. Aku tidak tau. Beritau aku.

Sweetest couple, Carl and Ellie.

How would it feel to marry your friend? Yeah, a friend from your childhood.
Here, Carl and Ellie serve us with a super-cute love stories. 

 

Pictures source: Google

:')

Aku, Jodohku, dan Pernikahan.

Belakangan ini aku mulai menyadari satu hal. Aku bukan lagi remaja. 21 tahun. Lajang. Dan pengangguran friksional. Ya, tanpa terasa, waktu memang berjalan begitu cepat. The funny thing is, sekarang bukan pertanyaan "mau ke kampus jam berapa?" lagi yang sering ditanyakan. Melainkan "kapan kawin?"

Ah, aku bahkan merasa masih terlalu kecil untuk memikirkannya. Walaupun sebenarnya tidak. Ya, bahkan saat memasuki usia 17 tahun pun aku sudah berubah menjadi seorang yang "siap dibuahi". Well, okay, bahasa "siap dibuahi" mungkin kurang enak didengar. :))

Aku ingat perkataan salah seorang dosenku pada mahasiswanya, "Kalian itu udah siap bikin anak, tapi kalian belum siap untuk punya anak". So true, i think. 

Poin yang ingin aku bahas bukan itu. I almost couldn't believe that I start thinking about marriage.

Percaya atau tidak, sekarang-sekarang ini, tiap kali aku melihat anak kecil (yang lucu), pikiran "I really wanna have one" selalu melintas di benakku. Aku selalu ingin punya anak. Yeah, a child on my own. Kemudian aku sadar bahwa, yah, aku memang sudah mulai menginjak usia dewasa. Aku bukan lagi gadis kecil yang ingin punya anak boneka susan. I want the real one.

Aku mulai sering membayangkan kapan aku akan bertemu jodohku, di mana, dan bagaimana. Aku sering berpikir, apa yang akan membuatku memutuskan untuk menikah dengannya? Bagaimana dia melamarku? Kenapa akhirnya dia ingin menikahiku? Kenapa aku memilihnya, memilihnya untuk menjadi partner seumur hidupku? Dan terakhir, aku terus bertanya-tanya, siapa dia? Apa dia sudah lama menungguku? Apa sebelumnya kami saling mengenal, atau pernah bertemu mungkin?

Membayangkannya saja membuatku tersenyum. :)
Aku memikirkan tentang, bagaimana kehidupan kami nanti? Bagaimana jika aku dan dia harus bekerja di kota yang berbeda, atau bahkan pulau yang berbeda? Bagaimana jika aku baru memperoleh beasiswa S2 ke luar negeri setelah aku menikah dengannya? Bagaimana rasanya jika kami harus terpaut sejauh itu, terpaut samudera? Ah, kadang aku berpikir bahwa, mungkin aku terlalu banyak berpikir.

Aku selalu ingin, pacar pertamaku nanti adalah pacar terakhirku. Yang juga suami pertama dan terakhirku. :">
Aku bukan terlalu pemilih, tapi kadang aku hanya terlalu takut untuk sakit hati. Bahkan aku rasa aku lupa bagaimana caranya jatuh cinta. Bagaimana rasanya jatuh cinta. Bagaimana rasanya dicintai dan diharap-harapkan. Konyol memang, tapi aku rasa aku memang sudah terlalu lama mengesampingkan hal itu.

Hmm, okay, aku memang mulai gundah dengan statusku saat ini. Maksudku, aku 21 tahun. Dan aku selalu bercita-cita untuk memiliki anak di usia 25 tahun. :|

Sebentar lagi aku akan bekerja. Bertemu dengan banyak orang baru dengan berbagai usia. Tidak menutup kemungkinan bukan, bahwa nanti aku bekerja dengan orang-orang yang sudah berkeluarga? Lalu di mana aku akan bertemu jodohku? Dimana, Tuhan?

Terus terang, aku mulai takut. Karna orang-orang terus mencekoki-ku dengan "Mending cepetan cari pacar sekarang, nanti kalo udah kerja susah cari pacarnya". Ergh!

Hmm, mungkin memang sudah saatnya aku punya pasangan. Tapi aku terlalu pemalu untuk memulai. Ahh...

This journey met its end. Finally.

After a long long way, I finally made it. :)

Yeaay! My final assignment is DONE! And now I'm proud to say that there is something behind my name. SE. Yeah, I'm a "Sarjana Ekonomi" since August 4, 2011. I can freely write my name down, Andina Dian Rosita, SE. *gasp*

It was just like a, um, dream. I almost couldn't believe it. I mean, I've been through "hell"! I've gone up and down to get this title. Yeah, a title behind my name. (Okay, okay, I've already said that. Sorry). I've spent so many many many things on this. My energies. My mind. My time. My money. And too many tears. I'm just tearful. Okay, I must say, too tearful. 

Let me tell you, I started everything on my seventh semester. Oh no, I mean the very last part of my seventh semester.  The first two months I was struggling with comprehensive exam(s). I finally passed it on my fifth. Then my proposal was accepted a month later. The next four months were the most exhausting time in my college life. Ever!

At some point in time, I thought that I wouldn't able to finish it. I thought that it has no end. But then the "judgment" day came. I tried my best. And then within a couple hours, I made it! :)

I've ever thought that life was joking on me. Every time I stepped out of a mess, I was forced to enter a new one. When I thought I was done, I found out that everything wasn't over yet. When I started hoping, something must have ruined it over and over again. 

And in the end, I realize that, well, life is an uncertain game. It will take us wherever it wants. It will put a smile on our faces in a disguise manner. It will throw tears on our faces unexpectedly. And then light it up again with a smile. Then come another tears. And so on. It will be that way. Will always be. All we have to do is, keep trying, keep praying, keep hoping, and keep believing that there must be something behind everything. That there must be a sun behind the clouds. There must be a happiness behind sorrow. And that there must be smile behind tears. So, cheers, everyone! Great things are waiting for us. :)

Aku jahat.

Sekitar pertengahan menuju akhir tahun, saat itu, 2006, aku melakukan kesalahan, yang sampai sekarang aku anggap sebagai kesalahan terbesar dalam hidupku. Bukan hanya dalam masa remajaku, tapi dalam hidupku. I really mean my  whole life.

Karena, bahkan sampai saat ini, hari ini, detik ini, 2011, aku masih terus dihantui rasa bersalah itu. Aku memang tidak mengingatnya setiap hari. Aku berusaha mati-matian melupakannya. Tapi aku tidak bisa. Aku tidak pernah bisa. Don't ask me why. I just can't. 

Pernahkah kalian merasakan hal seperti ini? Seperti yang aku rasakan. Menangis dalam hati. Membisu saat ingatan-ingatan itu bermunculan kembali. Dan berjuang menghapusnya kembali. Aku tidak pernah berhasil. Aku selalu gagal melakukannya. Rasa bersalah itu jauh lebih besar dibandingkan usahaku melupakannya. Dan keduanya tak akan pernah menjadi sepadan. Aku tau, penyesalan ini akan terus menghantuiku sampai, entah kapan, akhir hayatku?

Salahku. Itu memang salahku. Dan bahkan aku tak berdaya untuk mengucapkan kata maaf padanya. Ya, padanya. Pada dia yang kusakiti diam-diam. Dia yang bahkan mungkin sampai sekarang tidak tau kenyataan yang kusembunyikan. Kenyataan yang pasti akan membuatnya sangat membenciku. Membenciku lebih dari apapun. Aku tidak sanggup membuatnya bersedih, membuatnya marah, membuatnya kehilangan segalanya, setelah apa yang dia miliki saat ini. Aku hanya tidak ingin kebahagiannya hilang. Aku tidak ingin senyum di wajahnya sirna begitu mendengar pengakuanku. Pengakuan dosa yang pasti akan membuatnya sangat kecewa. Kecewa padaku. Sahabatnya sendiri. :'(

Namun, apakah sebenarnya aku hanya takut dibenci? Apakah sebenarnya aku bukan takut melihatnya bersedih, tapi aku hanya takut dibenci? Ya, dibenci dan tidak pernah dimaafkan. Aku takut. 

Aku menyimpan rahasia ini rapat-rapat. Aku menutup semua pintu masuknya. Aku memblokir semua celah yang ada. Aku menghalangi telinga-telinga lain untuk mendengarnya. Aku hanya membaginya pada satu orang. Sahabatku. Ya, sahabat terbaikku. Intan Mashayu. Aku menangis di pelukannya. Rasa bersalah ini terlalu besar, Tuhan.. Sungguh terlalu besar. 

"Maaf"

Hanya satu kata itu yang harus kuucapkan. Tapi kerongkonganku selalu tersumbat setiap aku ingin mengucapkannya. Ingin mengungkap kebenaran lima tahun yang lalu. 

Ya, lima tahun. Lima tahun lamanya aku menyimpan ini semua. Jauh di dasar hatiku. Terlalu jauh. 

Aku terus ingin kembali ke masa lalu. Entahlah, aku tidak pernah merasa se-menyesal ini. Se-terpuruk ini. Se-sedih ini. Aku adalah tipe orang yang tidak suka menyesali masa lalu yang kelam. Aku selalu menganggap setiap kesalahanku di masa lalu adalah sebuah pelajaran. Sesuatu yang pastinya akan membuatku menjadi seseorang yang lebih baik lagi nantinya. 

Tapi tidak untuk yang satu ini. Aku benar-benar tidak bisa menganggapnya hanya "sebuah pelajaran". Aku benar-benar ingin kembali ke masa lalu. Kembali ke masa lima tahun yang lalu. Dan memperbaiki semuanya. Itu saja. Aku hanya ingin menghapus episode itu dalam hidupku. Menghapusnya selamanya. SELAMANYA. Aku hanya ingin, saat ini, hari ini, detik ini, 2011, aku memandang dia yang menyelami danau kebahagiaan dengan senyum di wajahku. Aku hanya ingin sebuah senyuman. Senyum paling tulus yang bisa aku berikan karna dia benar-benar bahagia. Bukan penyesalan tiada akhir yang membuatku meneteskan air mata. 

Tolong aku. Aku terlalu jahat. Aku terlalu takut. Aku terlalu pengecut. Aku terlalu lemah. Aku terlalu buruk. Aku terlalu tidak sanggup mengungkap kebenaran itu. Kebenaran yang merupakan hak nya. Kebenaran yang harus ia ketahui. Ya, kebenaran yang kusimpan erat-erat selama lima tahun ini. 

Aku jahat. :'(