Stay Hungry Stay Foolish

Today is one of those days that I'll remember. One of those days when someone says where were you when Steve Jobs died? It's come as a bit of a shock and that surprises me. I've never met him, I don't know him. All I do know is what I see and read in the media. But what I read today struck a chord or maybe touched a nerve. I'm definitely still foolish, but am I still hungry?

In 2005 Steve Jobs gave the commencement address at Stanford University, where he told three stories, The first one was about his early years and education, and hoe following his passions unintentionally provided him with the inspiration for the first Mac's typography.

The second story was about love and loss, being fired from Apple, creating Pixar, falling in love and finally his return to Apple after they bought NeXT.

His final story and the part I have written out below is about death. It's so poignant today listening to him when speak about his battle with cancer and seeing death as life's change agent. I find it both moving and inspiring:

"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."

Thank you Steve. In death, as in life you are still an agent of change.

Read or watch the full speech here http://bit.ly/q5rcvx