Randy Pausch: 'The last Lecture'- Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Today was an eventful day for me. I spend time, seeing and listening to Prof. Randy Pausch. It's been a wonderful experience for me and i wanted to share the same. Guess i may have discovered this lecture a bit later than the millions prior to me, but what the heck..better late than never!!!!

 As part of a book review of the 'Leadership Talent Group' at my company, one of the members had suggested this book as good reading. Hence we were asked to go through the book and give our comments by the 19th of Dec. I started searching for this book on the internet. I found the video instead. I assumed that this would be some boring management  lecture with umpteen numbers and theories. But once i started playing the video, i was enthralled with the speaker's way of addressing the audience. He was jovial, funny and had a dark sense of humor. Right at the beginning, he spoke about his medical condition, warned folks of topics that he wouldn't discuss and cracked jokes on his condition. It was 'fun' to hear about his experiences in life and at work.

As an official introduction...Randy Pausch was a professor of Computer Science, Human Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University. From 1988 to 1997, he taught at the University of Virginia. He was an award-winning teacher and researcher, and worked with Adobe, Google, Electronic Arts (EA), and Walt Disney Imagineering, and pioneered the non-profit Alice project. (Alice is an innovative 3-D environment that teaches programming to young people via storytelling and interactive game-playing.) He also co-founded The Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon with Don Marinelli. (ETC is the premier professional graduate program for interactive entertainment as it is applies across a variety of fields.)

On September 18, 2007, computer science professor Randy Pausch stepped in front of an audience of 400 people at Carnegie Mellon University to deliver a last lecture called “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” When Randy Pausch was asked to give such a lecture, he didn’t have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," the humorous and heartfelt talk was videotaped, and unexpectedly spread around the world via the Internet. Tens of millions of people have since viewed video footage of it.

But throughout the lecture that i viewed, i never once heard or saw him putting on a gloomy face and talking of doomsday. Instead, he appreciated all of his colleagues, his family, his students and all those who had touched his life in one way or the other. The lecture he gave—“Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”—wasn’t about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of his childhood dreams and where they led him, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because “time is all you have...and you may find one day that you have less than you think”). It was about living and believing in your Karma. As he stated, "It's not about how to achieve your dreams, it's about how to lead your life, ... If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself, the dreams will come to you.” Oh my..I respect him for his spirit and his zest for living. All of these qualities came across in that motivating lecture. I was delighted with the fact that he loved cuddly toys.LOL! Was nice to see some of them on stage with him during the lecture.

Randy lost his battle with pancreatic cancer on July 25th, 2008. He's an inspiration to all those who want to live each day of their life with joy and purpose.

 I admit..i was sad and cried after seeing that video. It touched my soul! I am sure he's in heaven right now and selling 'education' to one and all.

The link to his video is as below.

http://blip.tv/gabrielrobins/last-lecture-by-randy-pausch-sept-2007-475910

Am convinced that i need a copy of his book. It's inspiration all along...The book, titled "The Last Lecture," was a #1 New York Times bestseller, and also topped bestseller lists in USA Today, Publisher's Weekly, and other publications around the world. It was co-written by Jeffrey Zaslow of the Wall Street Journal (a 1980 Carnegie Mellon alumnus).

Prof's Quotes- I collated all from a website. I couldn't let go of any of them. They are practical and inspiring for any individual.

• "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.”
• "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand"
• “The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people."
• “It's not about how to achieve your dreams, it's about how to lead your life, ... If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself, the dreams will come to you.”
• “The key question to keep asking is, Are you spending your time on the right things? Because time is all you have. ”
• “Look, I'm going to find a way to be happy, and I'd really love to be happy with you, but if I can't be happy with you, then I'll find a way to be happy without you.”
• “Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other.”
• “If I only had three words of advice, they would be, Tell the Truth. If got three more words, I'd add, all the time.”
• “Time is all you have and you may find one day that you have less than you think.”
• “Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress. When you're pissed off at someone and you're angry at them, you just haven't given them enough time. Just give them a little more time and they almost always will impress you.”
• “Luck is where preparation meets opportunity. ”
• “When you're screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they've given up on you.”
• “No matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse. ”
• “Follow your passions, believe in karma, and you won't have to chase your dreams, they will come to you.”
• “Its important to have specific dreams. Dream Big. Dream without fear.”
• “You may not want to hear it, but your critics are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and want to make you better. ”
•  “It's not how hard you hit. It's how hard you get hit...and keep moving forward.”
• “A lot of people want a shortcut. I find the best shortcut is the long way, which is basically two words: work hard.”
• “The questions are always more important than the answers.”
• “Too many people go through life complaining about their problems. I've always believed that if you took one tenth the energy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you'd be surprised by how well things can work out.”
• “My colleague told me: "It took a long time, but I finally figured it out. When it comes to men who are romantically interested in you, it's really simple. Just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do.”
• “Find the best in everybody. Wait long enough, and people will surprise and impress you. It might even take years, but people will show you their good side. Just keep waiting.”
• “A good apology is like antibiotic, a bad apology is like rubbing salt in the wound.”
• “Find the best in everybody. Just keep waiting no matter how long it takes. No one is all evil. Everybody has a good side, just keep waiting, it will come out.”
• “Don’t complain; just work harder.”
• “You can always change you plan, but only if you have one.”
• “Be good at something. It makes you valuable. Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome.”
• “People are more important than things.”
• “One thing that makes it possible to be an optimist is if you have a contingency plan for when all hell breaks loose.”
• “Give yourself permission to dream. Fuel your kids' dreams too. Once in a while, that might even mean letting them stay up past their bedtimes.”
• “Another way to be prepared is to think negatively. Yes, I'm a great optimist. but, when trying to make a decision, I often think of the worst case scenario. I call it 'the eaten by wolves factor.' If I do something, what's the most terrible thing that could happen? Would I be eaten by wolves? One thing that makes it possible to be an optimist, is if you have a contingency plan for when all hell breaks loose. There are a lot of things I don't worry about, because I have a plan in place if they do.”
• “Never make a decision until you have to". He'd also warn me that even if I was in a position of strenght, whether at work or in a relationship, I had to play fair. "Just because you're in the driver's seat, doesn't mean you have to run people over.”
• “All my adult life I've felt drawn to ask long-married couples how they were able to stay together. All of them said the same thing: "We worked hard at it.”
• “Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won't make us happier.”
• “I’ve never understood pity and self-pity as an emotion. We have a finite amount of time. Whether short or long, it doesn’t matter. Life is to be lived.”

“Randy Pausch on 'time management'

• Time must be explicitly managed, like money.
• You can always change your plan, but only if you have one.
• Ask yourself: Are you spending your time on the right things?
• Develop a good filing system.
• Rethink the telephone.
• Delegate.
• Take a time out.
• Time is all you have. And you may find one day that you have less than you think.”

• “The person who failed often knows how to avoid future failures. The person who knows only success can be more oblivious to all the pitfalls. ”

• “No job is beneath you. You ought to be thrilled you got a job in the mailroom And when you get there, here's what you do: Be really great at sorting mail. ”

• “Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. You’ve got to get the fundamentals down because otherwise the fancy stuff isn’t going to work.”

• “Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome.”

• “Never lose the child like wonder. It’s just too important. It’s what drives us. Help others.”

• “I know you're smart. But everyone here is smart. Smart isn't enough. The kind of people I want on my research team are those who will help everyone feel happy to be here. ”

• “My coach knew there was only one way to develop (self esteem): You give children something they can't do, they work hard until they find they can do it, and you just keep repeating the process.”

• “When there’s an elephant in the room, introduce him.”

• “When we're connected to others, we become better people.”

You can also utilize the following links if you need to hear more from Randy. I had written to Dr. Gabriel Robins who's Prof for Computer Science at Univ. of Virginia, asking for permission to download some photographs from his site that's dedicated to Prof. Pausch. Dr Robins is a close friend of Prof Pausch. Dr Robins was extremely nice. He send me a great mail giving his approval plus sending some additional links. Thanks a lot Gabe!!! Sharing those links...

Time Management talk at:
http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/Randy/Time_Management_Randy_Pausch_UVa_2007b.wmv
 ( If the URL above does not work, please try http://tinyurl.com/5w74py )

Randy's Oprah talk/interview from:
 http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/Randy/Randy_Pausch_on_Oprah_Show_Oct_22_2007.wmv
( If the URL above does not work, please try http://tinyurl.com/65hy94 )
Randy's ABC Special with Diane Sawyer- http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/Randy/Randy_ABC_2.wmv
You can find more material about Randy at this website- http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/Randy/

“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture