Delivered on a campus in California to an audience of a few thousands, yet it ended up inspiring tens of millions from both U.S. and worldwide; worshiped by Silicon Valley as the ultimate career talk, yet it embodied many aspects of life - chance, love, loss, and ultimately death. Short but smart, targeted yet universal, poignant and timeless – thus is Steve Jobs’ 2005 commencement address at Stanford. Some attribute its success to Jobs’ personal influence and charisma – they do add significant weight to the speech, undeniably. But close inspections from the lenses of rhetorical analysis allow us to appreciate this speech from a different perspective – in particular, how the speech was crafted into a fitting response to its rhetorical situation and how Jobs managed to strike a chord with his audience through the masterful use of logos, pathos and ethos, whether planned or not.
Steve Jobs 2005 Commencement Address at Stanford University, Steve Jobs talks about his experience when he had been diagnosed with cancer. The doctor had told him that he need to prepare to pass away soon. That same day, he went back to get a biopsy the doctor found that his cancer was curable. This experience made him realize every day is not promised. I agree with the point he made in his essay and feel that life is too short to be scared to be happy and accomplish your goals.
A human being has one life and one life only. The older I get the more I realize how precious my time is. An old friend of mine a mechanical engineer who has lived through the prime of his life reflected back on some marvelous experiences he had as a child where his parent would take him every week to watch the trains go by. His fascination with trains at an early age inspired him, later to have a successful career throughout his lifetime. As a child I had a strong love and a passion for science. I believed that my strong fascination and drive to explore new things will carry me far in whatever future career I go.
The author Andrew Curry thinks that workers today are unfulfilled because they would rather work a job they do not like and earn more money than work a job that they are passionate about and earn less. He also talks about how people seem to work more than relax in today's age like when he says “instead of working less, our hours have stayed steady or risen.” (Curry, Kirszner and Mandell 399) the evidence that he uses to connect his view is the amount of people who complain about their jobs. Nowadays everyone knows a person that constantly complains about his or her job but they still work that same job because of the financial gain. Many people today hate the job they work but that same job is the reason they have a car, house etc. furthermore
Steve Jobs’ assertion, “ 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,” is valid because by remembering that in the end, we will all die. We should not contain our way of thinking and how we want to live life. By remembering that life is short, our minds will begin to think differently and perceive life differently. Death will always remind us to live life and push the boundaries and not look back.
Co-founder and CEO of Apple Inc, Steve Jobs, in his commencement speech at stanford university, illustrates three distinguishable points of his life. Jobs’ is very successful in his approach to inspire the graduates by speaking on the experience and insight he has gained. Jobs has a simplistic yet elegant tone and diction to convey his hardships to communicate how much life has to give and teach us in an inspirational way.
Most people say life is extremely valuable and every day is a gift. Personally, I did not believe life was very valuable until I was medicated. With my mental illnesses every day of my life is a struggle, and I have to take medications to have normal brain functions like most people. Before I started taking Zoloft I thought it would be a magic pill that would immediately cure me and make me happy. The first few weeks I honestly thought I was dying, but I believed my doctors when they said the benefits would outweigh the side effects. After years of struggling with depression and anxiety I started believing I was functioning like a real human should.
There are many who argue about the value of life. According to Shakespeare's complex interpretation of life filled with disappointments through the thoughts of his character, Hamlet, "By sleep to say we end the heartache, and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep-" (Shakespeare, 3.1. 5-9) explains that death is a better option than a life filled with disappointment and hatred- the corruption and grief that Hamlet had to face. But some are grateful for life, such as Roger Ebert, who has gone through physical challenges and learned to be humble and optimistic by having learned to cope with his losses, by writing (Jones, 20). While there are grieving families from the 9/11 Terrorist attack losses, there is a man named David Gordenstein who decided to focus on what is left of his family and his wife's last quoted words, “Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do… It will make or break a company” (Ripley, 30). “[Gordenstein believes that] its message might help carry his family through [the loss of his wife]” (Ripley, 30).
Thomas Jefferson wrote, ''Determine never to be idle...It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.” In this quote Jefferson perfectly sums up life. Life and time should not be wasted by inactivity but instead should be spent with/on productivity. The purpose of life is to live and to be industrious. By constantly being active a person can accomplish many tasks and possibly goals. Being industrious and productive leads to performing well in life. Life has a time limit and therefore one should not waste it by being idle or unproductive.
One of the greatest stories about hard work and success came from the genius mind of a college dropout. Steve Jobs gave the commencement speech “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” in 2011 at Stanford University. Throughout his speech, Jobs’ main goal was to connect with the audience on different levels and build trust so they believe him when he says if a person works hard and always follow their dreams, they will be successful. He establishes the connection through his style of writing by using ethos, pathos, diction, and repetition.
In life, there is always going to be something that one needs to learn; things such as yourself, other people, or the environment around you, pretty much the of do’s and don’t of life. During your journey, you are the ultimate ruler of what happens and what does not happen, but along the way, people will try to guide you and give you the best advice that they can. This is what Steve Jobs did during his commencement speech; he took what he knew life had taught him and tried to teach others about the best life one can live. After listening to the full commencement speech, one can see that Jobs wants us to live our life the way we would like to, and to make sure it’s lived to the fullest.
When analyzing the question of the meaning of life, people are seeking valid insight towards how they should their lives. After examining whether there is a correct way for humans to live, I can merely conclude that there is no definite set of rules for every person to follow, for the reason that not all humans share the same one desire in life.
CEO of Apple Computer and Pixar Animation Studios, Steve Jobs, in his commencement address, You've got to find what you love, detailed his path to success in life, while overcoming many obstacles along the way. Jobs’ purpose was to convey to the graduating class that you don’t have to attend college in order be successful and you must live each day as if it is your last. He used a compelling tone in order to convey his message to the students through three significant life events he experienced.
For example he had all the money and he still wanted to work more on his inventions. For instance, when Steve jobs wad all the money he desired he still wanted to improve in his products. He was passionate about his customers and their ability to change the world using hi products (Forbes). Secondly, Steve jobs had a moto going through life. His moto to succeed was to “stay hungry and stay foolish”. As a leader you should stay passionate in your own work or your products (Forbes). Thirdly. Job was to into his work even when he was diagnosed with cancer and he refused to have surgery because he was so busy and invested in his products. After his cancer was getting in the way of his attendance at Apple Corporation he had to resign from his job. For all these reasons, Steve jobs used passion to succeed in his work and have the motivation to create his
Appreciate a job that can get someone paid for something that they have to do. It is better to work at a place that some individuals are not interested in than not having to work at all. “To work is a blessing,” is what Russel Honore’s father mentioned to him when he was younger (136). Russel Honore, author of, “Work Is a Blessing,” explains why he got a job he did not want, but appreciated it in a way to say it is better served for oneself with anything at any job. Honore also explains how his family lived through poverty during the Depression, and that it did not slow them down to quit their jobs. It was motivation to keep them working hard to have anything at all. As well as Bill Laitner, author of, “Heart and Sole: Detroiter Walks 21 Miles in Work Commute,” covers a story about James Robertson walking to and from work without any complaints about how tiring the long walk