Steve Jobs on Life Lessons: Follow Your Dreams
What Jobs talks about
In this interview-style recording, Steve Jobs talks through his early life, including being adopted, skipping a grade, and moving from San Francisco to Los Altos. He frames his childhood as shaped by being around older kids and by an early shift from prankster to serious student.
He also identifies several turning points: meeting Steve Wozniak, helping create Apple, leaving Apple in 1985, and later working on Pixar and NeXT. Along the way, he mentions the challenges of learning manners, making the Mac, collaborating with others, and being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
The conversation ends with Jobs offering advice: be creative and follow your dreams. The recording is notable as a simple, personal portrait of Jobs’s life story rather than a product-focused talk.
An interviewer asks the questions; Jobs answers throughout.
In his words
“Let's go invent tomorrow rather than worrying about yesterday.”
“Be creative, follow your dreams”
“Meeting Steve Wozniak because he is, like, the other cofounder of Apple”
“If it wasn't for missus Hill, I would be a prankster today probably in jail”
“I would wanna be with kids my own age”
Key points
- He says being adopted and skipping a grade shaped his early life.
- Mrs. Hill helped him change from a prankster into a serious student.
- Meeting Steve Wozniak was a major turning point.
- Creating Apple opened the door to the Mac, iPhone, iPad, and more.
- Leaving Apple in 1985 let him explore Pixar and NeXT.
- He describes learning manners, making the Mac, and working with others as major challenges.
- His advice is to be creative, follow your dreams, and invent tomorrow.
Full transcript
Hi, Steve Jobs. How are you? I'm fine. How are you? Good. You're on time perfectly for the interview. It's 04:00 exactly. Of course, I am. So the park, it's beautiful. I see why you picked it as the interview place. Yeah. It's just that I've gotten used to this setting over the years, and I really like it here. It's just so amazing. Yeah. Alright. So if you don't mind, let's sit on the bench and start the interview. Alright. Okay. So for the first question, tell me about your early life. My early life. So I was born 02/24/1955. I was adopted the same day I was born.
Wow. I skipped fifth grade in 1966 because I was just so smart and talented. And there was only one... There was just one really weird thing. It was at fourth grade and the years before that, I was a prankster and got in trouble a lot. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. And my best friend for a long time was an adult named Larry Lang. Yeah. So I was in the gifted class in sixth grade, and the problem was that I was never with kids my own age. You know, I was with kids older than me, And I never got to be with kids my own age, and they didn't... And the kids older didn't have the same interests That's as me.
Yeah. And we lived in San Francisco, California at the time. Mhmm. But in 1967, we moved to Los Altos. So when you were 12, you moved? Yes. Okay. So for the second question, what has been a turning point in your life? A turning point, one of them, is in fourth grade, I turned from being a prankster into a very smart, serious student. So why was this a turning point? Because if it wasn't for missus Hill, I would be a prankster today probably in jail. So And the second turning point, I think, is meeting Steve Wozniak because he is, like, the other cofounder of Apple, a really nice man, and the print...
The main engineer of Apple at the time. And one other one is when Apple Corporation was created 01/03/1977, because if not, there wouldn't be any iPads, iPhones, Macs, any of that amazing stuff. Yeah. Yeah. I I see what you're talking about. And my last turning point that I'm going to talk about today is when I resigned from Apple in 1985. Why was this a turning point? Just because then I got to explore other stuff like Pixar and NeXT and all of these different computers and new technology. Interesting. Okay. So for the next question, what has been the biggest challenge you ever faced?
Well, one of them is learning matters known as making fits or not wearing the appropriate clothes to a meeting, making the Mac, working with others, and being diagnosed with cancer in the pancreas Oh. In 2003. So how is learning Mainers a challenge? Because I had a lot... I was crying a lot if I didn't get my way, and I wouldn't wear the right clothes to meetings or interviews. So that really had an effect on what the people thought of me. And what about making the Mac? Well, everyone knows it's the best computer around. Yeah. So that that just can say it all.
So let's go on to the next question. What has been the... Your greatest lifetime achievement? The greatest lifetime achievement probably, one, making the Mac. Yes. Of course. Two, learning manners. Three, being the cofounder of Apple and being worth $265,000,000. That that must be something special. Buying Pixar and making it successful. I bought it in 1986, and now it's really a nice company. Wow. That's interesting. Now for the second last question, if you could change one thing about your life, what would you change and why? I would probably change that. When I was in the gifted class, I would wanna be with kids my own age.
Mhmm. I would want this because then I could have more friends my own age, and I could be more social, and they would have the same interest as me. Yeah. That would be nice. Okay. And for the last one, this is probably one of the most important for the people who's watching. What advice would you give to others? I would give to others probably be creative, follow your dreams, and here is a quote by me. Let's go invent tomorrow rather than worrying about yesterday. Oh, that's nice. Okay. Oh, let's shake hands. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Bye.
Transcribed from the audio by speech recognition (Deepgram). Timestamps link to the video above. Errors are possible.