|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
How to really achieve your childhood dreams
Tell the truth if you want help
THE ‘last lecture’ series at Carnegie Mellon University has a quixotic tradition. Distil a lifetime’s wisdom in a single lecture in the event of your being near death. The brief fit Randy Pausch’s case chillingly well. The 47-year-old professor of computer science had just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. His doctors said he had only three to six months to live. The professor, who had three small kids and a doting wife, took up the gauntlet and delivered a jaw-droppingly inspirational lecture on “How to really achieve your childhood dreams”.
A newspaper columnist who drove 300 miles to attend said: “It was like watching Babe Ruth hit his last home run, or Michael Jordan hitting his jump shot at the end of the NBA finals. It was electric in there. I knew it affected everyone that was there. But I could not have foreseen what followed, even in my wildest dreams.”
The journo wrote about the talk and put up excerpts on a website, starting the viral run that ended up with zillions of viewers watching the full speech on the World Wide Web in several avatars. In an age filled with questionable or cheesy self-help tomes, Pausch’s straight-from-the-soul swansong was expected to top best-seller charts: his life lessons had already been translated in 18 languages.
So what were his childhood dreams? “You may not agree with this list, but I was there. Being in zero gravity; playing in the National Football League; authoring an article in the World Book Encyclopedia. I guess you can tell the nerds early,” he said in the lecture.
Although he achieved most of his dreams, Pausch flashed his rejection slips onscreen and spoke about career setbacks: “Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls aren’t there to keep us out. They are there to show us how badly we want things… Don’t complain. Just work harder,” he added showing a slide of Jackie Robinson, the first black major league baseball player.
“It was in Robinson’s contract not to complain, even when fans spit on him.”
How do you get people to help you? “By telling the truth: by being earnest. I’ll take an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short-term,” Pausch says.
His paean to truth vibes with a similar trip Nachiketas made to the House of Death in Kathopanishad. His message was rousing: Get up! Stir yourself! Master your fear and
attain all-pervading bliss. A hard path, the sages say, sharp as a razor.
• VITHAL C NADKARNI for ET
A last lecture by Randy Pausch, computer scientist and professor at CMU, who has pancreatic cancer and expects to have only a few more months of healthy life. From this WSJ article:
He paid tribute to his techie background. “I’ve
experienced a deathbed conversion,” he said, smiling. “I just bought a
Macintosh.” Flashing his rejection letters on the screen, he talked
about setbacks in his career, repeating: “Brick walls are there for a
reason. They let us prove how badly we want things.” He encouraged us
to be patient with others. “Wait long enough, and people will surprise
and impress you.” After showing photos of his childhood bedroom,
decorated with mathematical notations he’d drawn on the walls, he said:
“If your kids want to paint their bedrooms, as a favor to me, let ‘em
do it.” While displaying photos of his bosses and students over the
years, he said that helping others fulfill their dreams is even more
fun than achieving your own. He talked of requiring his students to
create videogames without sex and violence. “You’d be surprised how
many 19-year-old boys run out of ideas when you take those
possibilities away,” he said, but they all rose to the challenge.
He also saluted his parents, who let him make his childhood bedroom his
domain, even if his wall etchings hurt the home’s resale value. He knew
his mom was proud of him when he got his Ph.D, he said, despite how
she’d introduce him: “This is my son. He’s a doctor, but not the kind
who helps people.”
You Tube Video => http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo You can watch the lecture here. And read about his cancer journey here
|
|
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0 Comment(s)
