Randy Pausch and The Last Lecture
On Wednesday, I turned 28 years old. I had a fantastic day, with lots of love and surprises from friends and family.
In the last year or so, I have thought a lot about mortality. That’s sort of gruesome I know.
But it’s somewhat understandable when you realize that I started on blood pressure medication, had a colonoscopy (TMI, I know), an endoscopy, an ultrasound and CT scan on my torso, and started on heartburn medication.
Combine all that with the fact that I inherited the paranoia/anxiety gene from my mom, and that more than one personal acquaintance of mine was diagnosed with terminal cancer in the last couple years and you start to understand why I spent so much time thinking about mortality.
Let just say that making it to my 28th birthday seemed like quite the win!
One of the gifts I received for my birthday was a book called The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. It’s an easy read, and I am about halfway through it.
Randy Pausch was a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2006 and was given a terminal diagnosis in 2007. He ultimately passed away in 2008 at the age of 47. He left behind his wife and his three young children.
Sounds like the perfect book for me right? (I hope you sensed the sarcasm.)
Before Pausch passed away, he gave his “last lecture” entitled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” The lecture was recorded and became a hit online. He later wrote the book “The Last Lecture” which goes through a lot of what he talked about in his lecture and his backstory.
So far, I have found the book to be an enjoyable read. There are moments of sadness, and moments of extreme profundity, but mostly it’s a book that tells the story of an ordinary man and the many extraordinary lessons he learned in everyday living.
I think that’s part of what makes it so great. You know this man was on his deathbed, but the book talks about cancer and death much less than what you would expect. Instead, the book talks about living.
To give you a flavor of the book, I thought I would share some of the best quotes. Admittedly, I took these from the web, as I haven’t read them all yet because I haven’t finished the book. You can think of this as a “Quote of the Day” post on steroids.
“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”
“Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.”
“The key question to keep asking is, Are you spending your time on the right things? Because time is all you have. ”
“Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other.”
“Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.”
“Time is all you have and you may find one day that you have less than you think.”
“Too many people go through life complaining about their problems. I’ve always believed that if you took one tenth the energy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you’d be surprised by how well things can work out.”
“Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won’t make us happier.”
“Find the best in everybody. Just keep waiting no matter how long it takes. No one is all evil. Everybody has a good side, just keep waiting, it will come out.”
“People are more important than things.”
I hope you will pick up the book. It is truly inspiring, even if you’re paranoid of dying.
Oh, and the good news? All those tests came back negative and it appears that I am actually pretty healthy. And, I am down to half a dose of blood pressure medication.
28 looks like it is going to be pretty good.
You can watch Pausch’s last lecture here:
