Hi
>
>
>
>Do take some time off and read the text below. A slightly long read, but
>pretty interesting .....
>
>
>
>____
>
>
>
>A very interesting and inspiring speech... Many a people have been
>motivated
>by this speech....
>
>This is a speech given two years ago by Guy Kawasaki, one of the founders
>of
>Apple Computer who helped create the Mac.
>
>Palo Alto High School Baccalaureate Speech 6/11/95
>
>- "Hindsight" by Guy Kawasaki
>
>
>
>Speaking to you today marks a milestone in my life. I am 40 years old. 22
>years ago, when I was in your seat, I never, ever thought I would be 40
>years old.The implications of being your speaker frightens me. For one
>thing, when a 40 year old geeser spoke at my baccalaureate ceremony, he
was
>about the last person I'd believe. I have no intention of giving you the
>boring speech that you are dreading. This speech will be short, sweet, and
>not boring.I am going to talk about hindsights today. Hindsights that I've
>accumulated in the 20 years from where you are to where I am. Don't
blindly
>believe me. Don't take what I say as "truth." Just listen. Perhaps my
>experience can help you out a tiny bit. I will present them ala David
>Letterman. Yes, 40-year old people can still stay up past 11.
>
>
>
>Live off your parents as long as possible.
>
>When I spoke at this ceremony two years ago, this was the most popular
>hindsight-except from the point of view of the parents. Thus, I knew I was
>on the right track. I was a diligent Oriental in high school and college.
I
>took college-level classes and earned college-level credits. I rushed
>through college in 3 1/2 years. I never traveled or took time off because
I
>thought it wouldn't prepare me for work and it would delay my graduation.
>Frankly, I blew it. You are going to work the rest of your lives, so don't
>be in a rush to start. Stretch out your college education. Now is the time
>to suck life into your lungs-before you have a mortgage, kids, and car
>payments. Take a whole semester off to travel overseas. Take jobs and
>internships that pay less money or no money. Investigate your passions on
>your parent's nickel. Or dime. Or quarter. Or dollar. Your goal should be
>to
>extend college to at least six years. Delay, as long as possible, the
>inevitable entry into the workplace and a lifetime of servitude to bozos
>who know less than you do, but who make more money. Also, you shouldn't
>deprive your parents of the pleasure of supporting you.
>
>
>
>Pursue joy, not happiness.
>
>This is probably the hardest lesson of all to learn. It probably seems to
>you that the goal in life is to be "happy." Oh, you maybe have to
sacrifice
>and study and work hard, but, by and large, happiness should be
>predictable.
>Nice house. Nice car. Nice material things. Take my word for it, happiness
>is temporary and fleeting. Joy, by contrast, is unpredictable. It comes
>from
>pursuing interests and passions that do not obviously result in happiness.
>Pursuing joy, not happiness will translate into one thing over the next
few
>years for you: Study what you love. This may also not be popular with
>parents. When I went to college, I was "marketing driven." It's also an
>Oriental thing. I looked at what fields had the greatest job opportunities
>and prepared myself for them. This was brain dead. There are so many ways
>to
>make a living in the world, it doesn't matter that you've taken all the
>"right" courses. I don't think one person on the original Macintosh team
>had
>a classic "computer science" degree. Your parents have a responsibility in
>this area. Don't force your kids to follow in your footsteps or to live
>your
>dreams. My father was a senator in Hawaii. His dream was to be a lawyer,
>but
>he only had a high school education. He wanted me to be a lawyer. For him,
>I
>went to law school. For me, I quit after two weeks. I view this a terrific
>validation of my inherent intelligence.
>
>
>
>Challenge the known and embrace the unknown.
>
>One of the biggest mistakes you can make in life is to accept the known
and
>resist the unknown.. You should, in fact, do exactly the opposite:
>Challenge
>the known and embrace the unknown. Let me tell you a short story about
ice.
>In the late 1800s there was a thriving ice industry in the Northeast.
>Companies would cut blocks of ice from frozen lakes and ponds and sell
them
>around the world. The largest single shipment was 200 tons that was
shipped
>to India. 100 tons got there unmelted, but this was enough to make a
>profit.
>These ice harvesters, however, were put out of business by companies that
>invented mechanical ice makers. It was no longer necessary to cut and ship
>ice because companies could make it in any city during any season. These
>ice
>makers, however, were put out of business by refrigerator companies. If it
>was convenient to make ice at a manufacturing plant, imagine how much
>better
>it was to make ice and create cold storage in everyone's home. You would
>think that the ice harvesters would see the advantages of ice making and
>adopt this technology. However, all they could think about was the known:
>better saws, better storage, better transportation. Then you would think
>that the ice makers would see the advantages of refrigerators and adopt
>this
>technology. The truth is that the ice harvesters couldn't embrace the
>unknown and jump their curve to the next curve. Challenge the known and
>embrace the unknown, or you'll be like the ice harvester and ice makers.
>
>
>
>Learn to speak a foreign language, play a musical instrument, and play
>non-contact sports.
>
>Learn a foreign language. I studied Latin in high school because I thought
>it would help me increase my vocabulary. It did, but trust me when I tell
>you it's very difficult to have a conversation in Latin today other than
at
>the Vatican. And despite all my efforts, the Pope has yet to call for my
>advice. Learn to play a musical instrument. My only connection to music
>today is that I was named after Guy Lombardo. Trust me: it's better than
>being named after Guy's brother, Carmen. Playing a musical instrument
could
>be with me now and stay with me forever. Instead, I have to buy CDs at
>Tower. I played football. I loved football. Football is macho. I was a
>middle linebacker--arguably, one of the most macho positions in a macho
>game. But you should also learn to play a non-contact sport like
basketball
>or tennis. That is, a sport you can play when you're over the hill. It
will
>be as difficult when you're 40 to get twenty two guys together in a
stadium
>to play football as it is to have a conversation in Latin, but all the
>people who wore cute, white tennis outfits can still play tennis. And all
>the macho football players are sitting
>
>around watching television and drinking beer.
>
>
>
>Continue to learn.
>
>Learning is a process not an event. I thought learning would be over when
I
>got my degree. It's not true. You should never stop learning. Indeed, it
>gets easier to learn once you're out of school because it's easier to see
>the relevance of why you need to learn. You're learning in a structured,
>dedicated environment right now. On your parent's nickel. But don't
confuse
>school and learning. You can go to school and not learn a thing. You can
>also learn a tremendous amount without school.
>
>
>
>Learn to like yourself or change yourself until you can like yourself.
>
>I know a forty year old woman who was a drug addict. She is a mother of
>three. She traced the start of her drug addiction to smoking dope in high
>school. I'm not going to lecture you about not taking drugs. Hey, I smoked
>dope in high school. Unlike Bill Clinton, I inhaled. Also unlike Bill
>Clinton, I exhaled. This woman told me that she started taking drugs
>because
>she hated herself when she was sober. She did not like drugs so much as
>much
>as she hated herself. Drugs were not the cause though she thought they
were
>the solution. She turned her life around only after she realized that she
>was in a downward spiral. Fix your problem. Fix your life. Then you won't
>need to take drugs. Drugs are neither the solution nor the problem.
>Frankly,
>smoking, drugs, alcohol--and using an IBM PC--are signs of stupidity. End
>of
>discussion.
>
>
>
>Don't get married too soon.
>
>I got married when I was 32. That's about the right age. Until you're
about
>that age, you may not know who you are. You also may not know who you're
>marrying. I don't know one person who got married too late. I know many
>people who got married too young. If you do decide to get married, just
>keep
>in mind that you need to accept the person for what he or she is right
now.
>
>
>
>
>Play to win and win to play.
>
>Playing to win is one of the finest things you can do. It enables you to
>fulfill your potential. It enables you to improve the world and,
>conveniently, develop high expectations for everyone else too. And what if
>you lose? Just make sure you lose while trying something grand. Avinash
>Dixit, an economics professor at Princeton, and Barry Nalebuff, an
>economics
>and management professor at the Yale School of Organization and
Management,
>say it this way: "If you are going to fail, you might as well fail at a
>difficult task. Failure causes others to downgrade their expectations of
>you
>in the future. The seriousness of this problem depends on what you
>attempt."
>In its purest form, winning becomes a means, not an end, to improve
>yourself
>and your competition. Winning is also a means to play again. The
unexamined
>life may not be worth living, but the unlived life is not worth examining.
>The rewards of winning--money, power, satisfaction, and self-confidence--
>should not be squandered.Thus, in addition to playing to win, you have a
>second, more important obligation: To compete again to the depth and
>breadth
>and height that your soul can reach. Ultimately, your greatest competition
>is yourself.
>
>
>
>Obey the absolutes.
>
>Playing to win, however, does not mean playing dirty. As you grow older
and
>older, you will find that things change from absolute to relative. When
you
>were very young, it was absolutely wrong to lie, cheat, or steal. As you
>get
>older, and particularly when you enter the workforce, you will be tempted
>by
>the "system" to think in relative terms. "I made more money." "I have a
>nicer car." "I went on a better vacation." Worse, "I didn't cheat as much
>on
>my taxes as my partner." "I just have a few drinks. I don't take cocaine."
>"I don't pad my expense reports as much as others." This is completely
>wrong. Preserve and obey the absolutes as much as you can. If you never
>lie,
>cheat, or steal, you will never have to remember who you lied to, how you
>cheated, and what you stole. There absolutely are absolute rights and
>wrongs.
>
>
>
>Enjoy your family and friends before they are gone.
>
>This is the most important hindsight. It doesn't need much explanation.
>I'll
>just repeat it: Enjoy your family and friends before they are gone.
>Nothing-not money, power, or fame-can replace your family and friends or
>bring them back once they are gone. Our greatest joy has been our baby,
and
>I predict that children will bring you the greatest joy in your
>lives--especially if they graduate from college in four years. And now,
I'm
>going to give you one extra hindsight because I've probably cost your
>parents thousands of dollars today. It's something that I hate to admit
to.
>By and large, the older you get, the more you're going to realize that
your
>parents were right. More and more-until finally, you become your parents.
I
>know you're all saying,"Yeah, right." Mark my words.
>
>
>
>Remember these ten things: if just one of them helps
>
>just one of you, this speech will have been a success:
>
>
>
>Live off your parents as long as possible.
>
>Pursue joy, not happiness.
>
>Challenge the known and embrace the unknown.
>
>Learn to speak a foreign language, play a musical
>
>instrument, and play non-contact sports.
>
>Continue to learn.
>
>Learn to like yourself or change yourself until you
>
>can like yourself.
>
>Don't get married too soon.
>
>Play to win and win to play.
>
>Obey the absolutes.
>
>Enjoy your family and friends before they are gone.
>
>
>
>Congratulations on your graduation. Thank you very much.
>
>
>
