watch steve jobs' 2005 stanford commencement address on youtube (opens in a new tab).
i still remember watching this for the first time in my room. i was surrounded by textbooks, assignments, and the overwhelming pressure to follow the "standard path": get good grades, get a safe job, settle down.
something about it resonated deeply. it gave me room to think about what i wanted to learn and build, even when i couldn't see where that curiosity would lead.
the title of this piece comes from apple's think different campaign. the video above is jobs' stanford address, a separate speech. i associate both with the same feeling: permission to take my curiosity seriously.
during college, i spent nights hacking together side projects, breaking code, and learning things that weren't on the syllabus. it felt risky. it felt lonely at times. there was no grade to tell me whether that time had been worthwhile.
looking back, what stays with me is the process: trying something, getting stuck, and learning enough to try again. i didn't need every experiment to become a company or change the world for it to matter.
i wouldn't prescribe the same path to everyone. a stable job, formal study, and an unconventional project can all be meaningful choices. for me, the important part was making some room for the things i wanted to understand.
if you're in that uncertain place, you don't have to decide your entire future at once. give the thing you're curious about a little time. build something small. see where the questions take you.
here's to the crazy ones.