Randy Pausch - The Man Who Lived 30 Years After A Terminal Diagnosis
Life, Happiness, Honesty, Learning, Preparation
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In this week’s edition, I write about Randy Pausch, a professor who was knocked down by life with a short notice of death. He developed tumors in his liver and passed away in 2008. But he never stopped living. Even when he figured that he had six months to live, he knew that he was not going to waste this time feeling sad or weeping about his ensuing death. Cancer did not give him any new found respect for life like it does for others. He believed that he always lived his life the right way. The only thing he was thankful for was that the disease gave him an advance notice of death. He knew that he cannot change the cards he was dealt. All he could do is decide how to respond.
He needed to figure how to spend this limited time he had. He considered it as another engineering problem.
Engineering is not about perfect solutions but about doing the best you can with limited resources.
He solved this problem by delivering the last lecture, a speech at Carnegie Melon where he was a professor. He also wrote a book titled “The Last Lecture” (highly recommended). Through this lecture and the book, he was able to leave a legacy for his kids.
Learning To Live From Randy
He knew how to live his life. He learnt from his dad. He was always optimistic, embraced fun and set high standards for himself. Few strategies that he used to live his life:
He figured early in life that he was a good salesman. Someone told him that if you are a good salesman, sell something worthwhile. So, he chose education.
He never made a decision until he really had to. He always believed that one must play fair from a position of strength.
To learn anything, he always got down to the fundamentals. The fancy stuff never worked for him. He always insisted that he knows the best.
For him, life was not about achieving dreams. It was about living it in the right way. Karma takes care of the rest. He believed that dreams come to you.
He also believed that almost everyone has a good side. So he insisted to wait, the good side will come out.
He always had fun. He didn’t know how to live otherwise. He always said that telling people to have fun is like telling a fish the importance of water. He even wanted his tombstone to say “Randy Pausch: He lived thirty years after a terminal diagnosis.”
He was always prepared. Always carried $200 in his pocket no matter where he went.
He has some great lessons on avoiding failure.
To get lucky, you need to be prepared to grab opportunities.
Focus on the big picture, ignore the smaller issues.
It’s never about how hard you get hit. It’s always about how you keep moving forward.
He never liked to complain. Not the best strategy for him. He believed that whining would never help you achieve your goal and won’t make you happier.
Effective communication was always important for him. Let the others finish their sentences when they are talking. Simple yet efficient.
The most effective way to learn is to be curious according to him. ‘If you have a question, don’t just wonder. Open the encyclopedia, open the dictionary, open your mind.’
Resources To Learn More
Randy’s last lecture -
ABC Special About the Last Lecture -
Randy’s Lecture on Time Management and it’s transcript -
“Planning is very important, one of the time management clichés is: Failing to plan is planning to fail. Planning has to be done at multiple levels. I have a plan every morning when I wake up and I say, what do I need to get done today, what do I need to get done this week, what do I need to get done each semester.”
Before I end, I would highly recommend buying his book - The Last Lecture.
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