A friend told me about Randy Pausch’s last lecture at Carnegie Mellon (a private research university in the USA) which he had listened to on the web. James said it was really good, and very worth a listen. Randy was dying of pancreatic cancer, when he delivered his last lecture in 2007.
He was a wonderful lecturer and his words were delivered with warmth, humour, and purpose. In "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," Pausch spoke about his childhood dreams, and how he had achieved some of those. He also spoke about enabling the dreams of others.
Randy’s final points
• Get a feedback loop and listen to it. The hard part is the listening to it. When people give you feedback, cherish it and use it.
• Show gratitude.
• Don’t complain. Just work harder.
• Be good at something; it makes you valuable.
• Work hard.
• Find the best in everybody. No one is all evil. Everybody has a good side, just keep waiting, it will come out
• And be prepared. Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity.
If you have time, it is really worth listening to or reading his complete last lecture. The video is about an hour long, and you can skim the transcript much quicker, but you will miss seeing Randy in action. You can find links to both versions at the end of this article.
This made me think if I had one hour to impart what I thought was most important for people to know, what would I say? What would you say? What is important? Obviously many people are asking this same question as there are many, many posts relating to his lecture on the web.
One town’s response to Pausch’s last lecture
A reporter from the Journal Sentinel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, visited its local barber shop and recorded what some of the customers would pass on to others. Some of the off the cuff words of wisdom are certainly worth repeating, and I have copied some of the responses below.
"I learned early in Scouts to leave your campsite cleaner than you found it. The same can be said about life: Leave the people and places around you better than you found them." Scott Walker
"We may be best remembered for our achievements but best judged on what we do for others." Dan Finley
"To be effective and to survive emotionally, cops need courage, compassion and a sense of humor. They can't afford to make do with only two of them." Edward A Flynn
“I would offer The Buddha's last words. He said: 'Diligently seek your own liberation.' I would probably add: 'Diligently seek everybody's liberation.' " Paul Norton
"Live everyday like there is no tomorrow, and give, give and give more. This world needs more givers, not takers. Just do it!" Bo Black
Our Town
Our Pat Holmes was a giver, a truly caring person and her “last lecture” was the eulogy she wrote before she died, which was read by Barbara at her funeral. She still had a message for us: love one another. She lived her message and asked that we try as well.
This is a huge ask with some people, but as Randy said, everyone has a good side. Some people just take a long time to show it.
Golden Rule
We all know the Golden Rule: “Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.” Sometimes it’s so hard to put ourselves in the shoes of others. How would we really want to be treated if we were in that particular situation? It’s easy to say, but we would never have gotten into that situation in the first place. That is not what the golden rule is about...What a different world this would be if we could only put this into practice.
Gandhi said, “Be the change you seek”.
Useful Websites
Last lecture transcript
http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/Randy/pauschlastlecturetranscript.pdf
Last lecture video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
http://www.jsonline.com/entertainment/29419214.html
http://agingreluctantly.com/2009/05/14/my-words-of-wisdom/
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