Steve Jobs gave at Stanford, what I felt was the best commencement address anyone could have given. Neither grandiose, nor unimposing in its tone, the address was deeply steeped in pragmatism. For someone who comes across as a control freak, and a media antagonist, Steve gave an incredibly personal address that spread across three stories. The first story was about connecting the dots (I got the subheading for my blog from this story), the second about love and loss, and the third about death. All through the stories he stressed that no one has the map of life, you have to rely on your instincts, karma whatever. What he encourages you to do however, is to take risks, "stay hungry, and stay foolish" and hope that when you look back, the dots will all connect.
The reason I bring this up is because of a discussion my friend Dan and I were having this weekend, during our drive between Irvine and San Diego. Dan and I tend have some very interesting conversations. Partly because we can probably can go on hours and hours arguing and counter-arguing on any subject, and partly because Dan has the uncanny ability to make arguements for any side as long as they are not for my side. Well , we had a discussion about career change, its pros and cons etc. As usual, we ended up trading what-if scenarios and the discussion ended up asking more questions than it answered, and reminded me of Steve Job's commencement address.
honored ...
If something is done out of love or enjoyment, that's one thing, but if you are going for money ... then sometimes all that glitters is not gold, appearances are not what the seem, grass is not greener on the other side of the fence, and costs might outweigh the benefits.
But ... you are right on taking chances and sometimes just throwing doubts away. And for the record, I haven't decided ...
Posted by: dan | August 31, 2005 at 09:47 AM