Randy Pausch

Many universities have what’s commonly known as the “Last Lecture” series. Students are asked to nominate their favorite professors to speak during the lecture series. The faculty member speaks on whatever topic they wish. The intention is that the faculty will cover topics that are near and dear to their hearts given the premise that this is their last lecture.

Randy Pausch was an extremely accomplished young man and popular computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Randy Pausch was invited to be the inaugural speaker at CMU’s “Last Lecture” series when it was discovered that he had a terminal case of pancreatic cancer. His lecture is extremely entertaining once you get through the lengthy introductions. The lecture eventually found its way to YouTube and went viral. The lecture became so popular that he was invited to perform a condensed version on the Oprah television show.

You can find the lecture at the following website.
http://www.cmu.edu/uls/journeys/2007-2008/randy-pausch/index.html

The first 8 minutes are laborious introductions, but are necessary to set the stage. The next 1 hour and 17 minutes is the lecture by Randy Pausch. The last 20 minutes are emotional tributes to Randy Pausch. I HIGHLY recommend this video. It is really worth watching.

If you don’t have the time or inclination to watch, here are my notes from Randy Pausch’s last lecture –

Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you; even the dim and objectionable

Instead of “no”, say “I don’t know, but tell me more”

Be careful what you wish for

Help others

Let your kids paint their bedrooms

Respect authority while questioning

Integrity in everything you do

Find someone better than you to hand over your favorite project to

Decide if you are Pooh’s friend Tigger, or are you Eeyore

Loyalty is a two way street

Never give up

You can’t get there alone

Tell the truth

Be earnest

Apologize when you screw up

Focus on others

Brick walls let us show our dedication

Brick walls are there to find out how badly we want something

Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted

Get a feedback loop from others and listen to it

Show gratitude

Don’t complain; just work harder

Be good at something

When they are still talking to you, even negatively, there is still hope for you

When they don’t talk to you anymore, that’s when they’ve given up on you