Marc Vela
9/12/13
ENG 100
Steve
Jobs Speech Response
Steve
Jobs, creator of Apple, and former CEO of Apple and Pixar Animations gave a
speech for the graduating class of 2005 for Stanford University. The speech was
given after Steve Jobs was thought to be cured from an extremely rare
pancreatic cancer. The basis of the speech is the story of his life. From
dropping out of college to starting Apple to be fired from Apple to reuniting
with Apple to becoming a cancer patient was the series of events Steve Jobs spoke
about to Stanford graduates. He talks about how experiences throughout his life
as affected who he is as a human being. Talking about these experiences Steve
Jobs tries to inspire future innovators and discoverers. Steve Jobs stresses
two key points in life. One key point he stresses is to truly love what you do,
as in your job, and to follow your heart and to be happy in life. The other key
point is quoted here: “you cannot connect the dots looking forwards, you can
only connect them looking backwards…you must trust the dots....believing that
they will connect...even if they lead you off the well-worn path.” From a
graduating student at Stanford to a freshman at the University of Hawaii at
Manoa would be basically the same. To inspire and motivate us to do well in
life, learn from your mistakes and to keep following your heart.
The above quote to me
means two things. That you learn best from your mistakes, I can’t tell you how
many lessons I’ve learned from screwing something up in the past. I believe
that this is true for just about everybody; that it is ok to make mistakes in
life because you learn. As a freshman at the University of Hawaii at Manoa I
will most likely encounter lessons that I will learn that will remember for the
rest of my life. I’ll learn what to do in certain situations and what not to do
in other situations. For example I am a student athlete so I will learn things
from personal experiences and even from teammates. I will learn how to manage
my time as an athlete and when I make a mistake it will only make me better. I
will become more mature from being around the older teammates. I will also
learn what to do and what not to do from their personal experiences. Steve Jobs
would tell me to do the exact same thing, to gather information from your
surroundings and to use that information to move forward in life.
The other meaning from
the quote that I gathered was that if you work hard in whatever it is you are
doing and that you do everything correctly, good things will happen and things
will work out. Even if things seem rough or that there is no light at the end
of tunnel, things will work out because you put all that hard work and good
will into whatever it is you are doing. Steve Jobs would tell you to keep
working hard, follow your heart, and to be patient for the outcome because that
outcome will be extremely rewarding and well worth it.
Pono Tokioka
ReplyDelete9/13/13
ENG 100
Steve Jobs Response Paper
At Stanford University graduation ceremony (2005), Steve Jobs presented with an inspirational speech. Mr. Jobs, founder and former CEO of Apple and Pixar Animation, gives some advices to the graduates from Stanford, their families, relatives, and friends. He began his speech with his early life and he also will tell us his three stories of his life. His main point of the first story is to trust your dots that will connect to your future.
This quote, “you cannot connect the dots looking forwards, you can only connect them looking backwards…you must trust the dots.... believing that they will connect...even if they lead you off the well-worn path.”, really means something. For example, he dropped out of college because his guts told him to and he is not interested into it. Instead he chose to take calligraphy class because he thinks it is fascinating. If it weren’t for that class, the Apple wouldn’t be as successful as today. So he stopped and realized that is the definition of dots connected backwards. You can’t just expect your future to be perfect and doing what you want. You just have to let your life to flow, listen to your guts, and something unexpected could happen.
This quote is very relevant to my life. When I first started playing baseball, I fell in love with that sport and wanted to be a professional baseball player. I was a 5-year-old kid and played baseball for 7 years, then all the sudden golf has gotten to my heart. I had to decide whether to quit the sport that I am good at and start a new sport as a beginner or not. So my guts were leaning to golf and I followed it. It was the best thing ever happened in my life because I wouldn’t get a scholarship from University of Hawai’i at Manoa. I also get to travel lots and seeing many different places. It was such an amazing experience to see the other side of the world. After Jobs’ speech about this quote, I realized that I already have the dots connected backwards. I can’t wait to find out what’s next in my future.
The purpose of Jobs' speech change as his audience changes from a graduating class at Stanford to an entering class in University of Hawai’i at Manoa is to inspire us that we can be as successful as him. He is sharing his lifetime experiences with us and how his journey started. His journey is very up and downs but that’s life and you will need to continue trusting your dots. His speech became very famous and his audience are not just Stanford graduates but for everyone else too. It was a really, really sad speech because he was so joyful and just defeated the pancreatic cancer. But a while later he died from the cancer. He is one of the most successful person ever lived.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAndee Zulim
DeleteENG 100
Steve Jobs Response
Steve Jobs, first of all, is a visionary. Although his life took a path few will ever encounter or have such an impact on the entire world, he notes during his commencement speech that life is about experiences. Those experiences, however significant or pointless, truly do shape us. It is true that we are the masters of our own future. We control our own destiny to some degree, but that future is steered by what we have learned.
The quote impacted me by reaffirming why I came to UH Manoa in the first place. Although I am an athlete and love to compete, I wanted to go to a school that was more than just a place to play ball at. I wanted to be out of my comfort zone and learn by submersing myself in a totally new culture and environment. I visited schools in cities like Portland and small towns like Pocatello, Idaho. UH afforded me the most range and by that I think it is just what Mr. Jobs is alluding to. I get to expand my potential, not only as a student, but as a citizen, an athlete, a nature lover and adventurer. These experiences, whether new or old, epic or boring, will shape my future decisions. They will drive what I ultimately decide to do and I have to know that whether that path was not my intended one, it is still a path I have walked. I will learn from that path and keep inching forward. Just like people leave rocks or markers behind them on unfamiliar hiking trails so they can find the way back home, my life path is a marked with those experiences. Steve Jobs reminds us to look at that path taken and find purpose and meaning in every route chosen. My path right now is fairly scattered and in some odd way, I sort of like that. I know that the older I get, it will become more centered because my experiences will shape that wide corridor to something more defined. I do believe that as a freshman in school we still have a lot of decisions to make and should be flexible and open minded.
The Stanford graduates, although they have fulfilled a major, still have the ability to shift paths. Even as a student, freshman or graduate, we are all given the ability to change. We can switch majors and career paths and this is the time to start shaping that path, but never forget that even though it may be fairly forged, it is not definite. We can and should change to what suits us but not be still not be selfish. We need to find that purpose and it may not be found on the first pass, but Mr. Jobs makes sure to say that we should not stop looking and trying to find our ideal comfort zone. Although he may have found his calling and changed the world because of it, not many of us will be able to do that. I will try to find my purpose here at UH and every day will be journey finding it, walking squiggly paths for sure. It is not a straight path and I may not end up even in the same direction as I started, but I will not take any of it for granted. Along the way I will make friends and lose some, hit a home run and strike out, ace a test and fail, love a class and hate one, but I will chalk this up to college life, the beginning of becoming an adult and I will connect those dots when the time is right.
Devin Duran
ReplyDelete“You cannot connect the dots looking forwards, you can only connect them looking backwards.” Steve Jobs proclaimed this statement in his commencement to the graduating class of Stanford University in 2005. When I think of Steve Jobs I immediately think of his success. I don’t consider the failure and tribulations he had to face in order to achieve it. A commencement speech’s purpose is to inspire and advise college graduates before they enter the work force in the “real world.” As a freshmen just starting my college career at the University of Hawai’i Manoa, hearing Job’s speech is still inspiring and helpful for the point of my life I am at.
For Steve Jobs’ intended audience, he urged them to not be fearful. Fearful of mistakes and fallouts. “You must trust the dots... believing that they will connect... even if they lead you off the well-worn path.” I interrupt this as having faith. In being brave when a situation or commitment ends badly. That loses and failures lead to new opportunities as long as you have the courage to purpose them. Steve Jobs gives the example of himself dropping out of college. And if he had never had done so, then he would not have “dropped in” to a calligraphy class, and Apple products would have the specialized fonts they famously provide. I took a “failure” in order for Jobs to obtain success, though he could not realize it at the time. Only when he was “looking backwards” did he realize that he needed to drop out of college and go “off the well worn path” to gain a skill set that he would have otherwise never possessed.
College graduates need this courage and faith entering the “real world” and freshmen in college benefit from these attributions as well. A college career is bound to have its downfalls. Wether it be doing subpar in a class, or having a personal upset or heartbreak, life happens. But facing these destined disappointments with agony does not help the situation, or prevent it from happening. Being able to amend my plans does help. If I don’t do well in a class, it does not mean that I am not smart. It means that maybe I should get a tutor, or explore other classes in different fields of studies. I could possibly end up having a gift in a different field or have a passion for a different major.
I also interrupt Steve Job’s advise as urging me to go on adventure. To try something that is out of my comfort zone. I could develop a love for something that I have never tried before. Or even take a class that is not required for my major. For example I could take a fashion design class, which is not connected to be wanting to be broadcast journalist, but it is something that I am interested in and I could benefit from it in my future.
I think that Steve Job’s speech’s purpose does differentiate between the two audiences when it comes down to the specifics. However, in the overall purpose and points, I think the meaning holds true: that failure is inevitable, but to overcome it by having faith and take chances.
Oh geez, Marc! Look at what you started! Next time, will you post in the COMMENTS section of the original assignment post. Thanks :)
ReplyDelete