The Last Lecture

Well, those of you who are actually reading this thinking I’ve written about my last lecture, forget it! :P

That would NOT come anytime soon ;)

But ya…I read this Randy Pausch book quite some time back..and thought I’d write about it..but then that never happened ;)

Nonetheless, I’ve got hold of this book yet again and so would not miss the opportunity now. Would brief you about this MUST READ novel; before I pass this on to someone else J

Though I would personally insist on everyone reading this themselves but I can’t help giving an account of the gist of this ‘no.1 best seller’ novel. There are quite a few things that I learnt from this book and would certainly share those with you.

Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon was asked to deliver his last lecture since he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He had the option of either spending time with his wife and three young children or he could spend the limited time preparing for a lecture that he knew would be video-taped!

Very unlikely, he chooses the latter! He says:”I was trying to put myself in a bottle that would one day wash up on the beach for my children. If I were a painter, I would have painted for them. If I were a musician, I would have composed music. But I’m a lecturer. So I lectured.”

This book is basically an account of Randy’s fifty-three “lectures”. I’d quote a few things I just LOVED!! :D

“The brick walls are there for a reason. They’re not there to

keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.”

“I watched Dr.Wolff use semantics to phrase whatever he could in a positive light. When we asked, “How long before I die?” he answered, ‘You probably have three to six months of good health” That reminded me of my time at Disney. Ask Disney World workers: “What time does the park close?” they’re supposed to answer: “The park is open until 8 p.m.”

“People are more important than things”

“The MOST formidable brick wall I ever came upon in my life was just five feet, six inches tall, and was absolutely beautiful. But it reduced me to tears, made me reevaluate my entire life and led me to call my father, in a helpless fit, to ask for guidance on how to scale it.

That brick wall was Jai, my wife.”

Once Jai hit one car with the other. The convertible got the worst of it but both the cars were running fine. Randy wasn’t angry at all but told her that they didn’t need to do repairs. They’d live with the dents. So he says:

“You appreciate the part of me that didn’t get angry because two “things” we own got hurt. But the flip side of that is my belief that you don’t repair things if they still do what they’re supposed to do. The cars still work. Let’s just drive them.”

“No matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse. At the same time, it is often within your power to make them better.”

‘There was one line in the film (Mr.Magorium’s Wonder Emporium), however, that remains with me. The apprentice tells the toymaker that he can’t die, he has to live. And he responds: “I already did that.” ‘

“As Jai was being rushed into surgery for an emergency C-section, she said to the doctor, “This is bad, isn’t it? I admired the doctor’s response. It was the perfect answer for our times:“If we were really in a panic, we wouldn’t have had you sign all the insurance forms, would we? We wouldn’t have taken that time.” The doctor had a point. I wondered how often she used her “hospital paper-work” riff to ease patients’ anxieties.”

“I really do feel I was able to pack a whole lot of life into the shortened lifespan I’ve been handed.

• Time must be explicitly managed, like money.
• You can always change your plan, but only if you have one.
• Ask yourself: Are you spending your time on the right things?
• Develop a good filing system.
• Rethink the telephone.
• Delegate
• Take a time out

Time is all you have. And you may find one day that you have less than you think.”

“Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.”

• Don’t complain, just work harder.
• Treat the disease, not the symptom
• Don’t obsess over what people think
• Look for the best in everybody
• Watch what they do, not what they say
• All you have is what you bring with you
• A bad apology is worse than no apology
• No job is beneath you
• Know where you are
• Never give up
• All you have to do is ask

“Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other. Go out and do for others what somebody did for you.”

“If I could give three words of advice, they would be” tell the truth.” If I got three more words, I’d add; “All the time.” My parents taught me hat “you’re only as good as you word,” and there’s no better way to say it.”

Hope you got to learn something from here! :)

P.S :You can also view the video at www.thelastlecture.com