Can you find a role model in someone you’ve never met before and never heard of until about a day ago?I was randomly led to watching a speech given by Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon who has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has realistically about several months more to live. It’s a long speech, over an hour and split across 10 different segments on Youtube, but is one of the most inspirational ‘lectures’ I’ve heard for a while, with very little of the sappiness that might be expected. I mean, he starts the lecture with -
“If I don’t seem as depressed or morose as I should be, sorry to disappoint you.”
The speech goes on to show how he has gone to accomplish his childhood dreams. He has one of these personalities that is slightly geeky and extremely down-to-earth friendly, which absorbs the audience in a light-hearted way, given the situation.
My favorite quote from him: “Brick walls are there for a reason – they let us prove how badly we want something.” Yes, like these mind-numbing application essays that make me want to tear out my hair and throw my laptop down several flights of stairs.
Anyway, the speech did effect me quite a bit. The way Randy went about living his life and his attitude about things around him were quite inspirational. I sat there for a while afterwards, thinking about where my life is at this point, where I want it to go, and whether I want it to go where I am going.
It’s good to have these opportunities to reevaluate your priorities every once in a while.
1 response so far ↓
mindwellness // October 30, 2007 at 12:23 am
Some lessons from Randy Pausch’s last lecture that especially moved me:
1. Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things.
2. Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.
3. Never lose the child-like wonder.
4. If we do something which is pioneering, we will get arrows in the back. But at the end of the day, a whole lot of people will have a whole lot of fun.
5. Be good at something; it makes you valuable.
6. If you live your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself, and the dreams will come to you.
Check out the tribute quiz on the lecture at http://www.mystudiyo.com : you can add your own questions at the end of the quiz.
http://www.mystudiyo.com/activity.php?act=558