Thursday, July 31, 2008

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

cheezo pointed me to this lecture by Prof Randy Pausch at CMU. This lecture was called the "The Last Lecture", as professor was suffering from an pancreatic cancer. Inspite of all the treatment given, he was told he had only 3 to 6 more months. He died on July 25, 2008.

Its an insiprational lecture, where professor presents insights into how he anaged to achieve all his childhood dreams, how one can enable others to achieve their dreams and some of the lessons he learnt in life. He comes across as a wonderful character, cheerful and full of energy. Couldn't believe when he actually did some push-ups in front of the audience!

My take backs from the lecture (there would be no point if I had not learnt anything from it ;-))

  • "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted"..how true !!
  • Prof. on obstacles (ref to as brick walls) that tend to discourage you from following your dreams: "Brick Walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things". So if the drive to achieve something is too strong, the better the chances of someone breaking the wall. He goes on to add that, the obstacles are there to keep the "others" away and to just let you in...so dont lose focus and keep pursuing !!
  • If you don't like someone, then you probably do not know him/her enough (or long enough). Everyone has a good side..you just have to wait to see it show.
Hope I have not missed out on anything...On the whole, an amazing lecture ! A must watch...





Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams


Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

No comments: