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Achieving Your Childhood Dreams: A Last Lecture

All over the country, universities put on what is called "The Last Lecture Series."

It's a unique program. Faculty members are invited to give a hypothetical final lecture, as if it were the last lecture they were ever going to be able to give before they die. They get to choose the content and it gives them and the audience a chance to hear what they feel is the most important thing they could share before they left.

Randy Pausch - Carnigie Mellon University This past week, 47-year-old Carnigie Mellon University professor, Rancy Pausch was invited to give one of these last lectures. Only in this case, it wasn't hypothetical. He has only a few months left to live.

His topic: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. (Or enabling The Dreams Of Others)

I heard about the presentation yesterday morning while driving in traffic on the way to Marina Del Rey. Excerpts of the presentation were presented in audio form and I could not resist finding a video of the presentation to watch in full. It's brilliant. It's motivational. It's inspirational. Randy Pausch is one of the creators of Alice, a 3D authoring system that teaches children how to program while having fun creating animations. "The best way to teach someone something is to make them think they're learning something else," he says.

He starts off the presentation describing what he was NOT going to talk about: Cancer, things more important than childhood dreams, like his wife and children, and spirituality & religion. However, he did say he had a recent deathbed conversion.... "I just bought a Macintosh." :)

Some of his advice:

Decide whether you are a Tigger or an Eeyore.
Never Lose The Child-Like Wonder
Help Others
Loyalty Is A Two Way Street
Never Give Up

This is NOT a short lecture. The speech itself is an hour and fifteen minutes long. In my opinion, it was 75 minutes very well spent. Gather your teenagers around the computer and make them watch it. It's some of the best "television" they're ever going to see. And a lesson in how to approach life.

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Posted by Jeff Turner on 09/22/2007 04:15 PM

Comments (32)

inspiration, motivation

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32 Comments on Achieving Your Childhood Dreams: A Last Lecture

Thanks Jeff ! I'm going to watch it right now. It's a tragedy that he is dying so young and I hope this lecture leaves a legacy that spreads out across the continent, and perhaps across the world.

09/22/2007 04:19 PM

by Jo-Anne Smith-Belleville, Quinte and Prince Edward Region Real Estate, Ont. (Royal Lepage Proalliance Realty, Brokerage)

Jo-Anne... I had never heard of Randy until yesterday morning. Now I find myself wondering what I've missed and looking at this Alice project with great interest. This was truly inspiring for me!

09/22/2007 04:25 PM

by Jeff Turner (Real Estate Shows)

That was very inspiring.

09/22/2007 05:44 PM

by Erica Ramus - Realty Executives Schuylkill - 570.622.6006

I was flipping through the channels on the TV yesterday and I caught the final 2-3 minutes of it. Sort of wished now I had seen it in it's entirety.

09/22/2007 06:09 PM

by Jay McGillicuddy~Real Estate Broker (Prudential Verani Realty)

thanks - I enjoyed that!

09/22/2007 06:22 PM

by Bill & Barbara Jo - Florida Realty Professional - AHWD (Charles Rutenberg Realty)

Jeff I could hug you; I just got a large mug of java and I'm ready to listen and now I'm parked for a return. Already smiling at his deathbed conversion :-)

09/22/2007 07:08 PM

by Carole Cohen Realtor®, ePRO (Howard Hanna Cleveland City Office)

Okay, inspiring for sure. I was struck by it for a specific reason. I have been reading the Gittomer book on Connections and the emphasis on doing for others instead of yourself....and Randy talks about bring something to the table of value...also in the book. I love the sense of fun and gratitude this guy has - second hug JT.

09/22/2007 07:51 PM

by Carole Cohen Realtor®, ePRO (Howard Hanna Cleveland City Office)

Jeff -- its very good. I have more to watch and I am sharing it w/my children.

09/22/2007 08:18 PM

by Aziz Abdur-Raoof,Howard Co. Real Estate Scoop (RE/MAX Rewards)

Erica... couldn't agree more.

Jay... it's a low key, feel good, make your day better kind of speech that forces you to take a step back and evaluate your own dreams and the actions you take the achieve them.

Bill & Barbara Jo... :)

09/22/2007 10:17 PM

by Jeff Turner (Real Estate Shows)

Carole... I have not read that book, but I am adding it to my list right now. If you say it's good, it's good! Thanks for the hug. :)

09/22/2007 10:21 PM

by Jeff Turner (Real Estate Shows)

Aziz... it is very good. No hype. No ego. Refreshing.

09/22/2007 10:22 PM

by Jeff Turner (Real Estate Shows)

You couldn't resist inserting the "Mac" part could you? And I guess Jesus knew what he was talking about when He instructed us to have "child-like faith" =D

09/22/2007 10:43 PM

by Lisa Hill (Daytona Beach Real Estate) (Adams Cameron and Company)

Lisa... no, I could not. :)

09/22/2007 11:50 PM

by Jeff Turner (Real Estate Shows)

Thanks for pointing this out Jeff. It was a beautiful thing to watch and a real lesson in living life.

09/23/2007 02:21 AM

by Darrel Quebedeaux (Evergreen Realty & Associates Inc.)

Wow - rarely do I actually watch the videos in blog posts - it was good and I'm still happy/crying. Thanks Jeff!

09/23/2007 09:47 AM

by Coeur d'Alene Real Estate - Come Live the Life Style - Christina Ethridge (David Swarat's North Idaho Dream Team (GMAC))

Thanks Jeff: I started to watch it but I am somewhere with a weak internet connection - from the comments, I want to be able to fully appreciate it. I wouldn't have found it without your post so thanks now for something I am sure will make a difference.

09/23/2007 02:38 PM

by Cathy Tishhouse Royal Oak Real Estate (RE/MAX Showcase Homes)

Hi Jeff,
I plan to come back later when I have more time and watch it in its entirety. I have seen excerpts on tv, which were excellent. Thanks for putting this here for us.

09/23/2007 08:24 PM

by Cynthia Tilghman, Realtor® Onslow County NC Home Specialist (Kingsbridge Realty, Inc)

Darrel... my pleasure

Christina... so happy you enjoyedit.

Cathy... I know you will be inspired. But, again, it's not a short speech. :)

Cynthia... my pleasure.

09/24/2007 08:17 AM

by Jeff Turner (Real Estate Shows)

Thanks for sharing this video. I did catch a few minutes of this on the evening news yesterday. The man is amazing. (not because he bought a MAC) Very inspirational.

Cancer Sucks.

09/24/2007 08:22 PM

by Bob Carney Licensed MD/PA Real Estate Agent (Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc.)

Bob... cancer sucks is right! We're losing a good one.

09/24/2007 08:56 PM

by Jeff Turner (Real Estate Shows)

Jeff, unfortunately for me, I cry at the slightest realization that something is going to be sad enough to make me cry. I started already. I hate that about me. I will make some time this week to watch this with my girls. How terribly poignant that this is indeed Randy's last lecture. Thank you for sharing this treasure with us.

09/24/2007 09:05 PM

by Palmetto Bay | Redland Real Estate | Maggie Dokic (EWM Realtors)

WOW.

09/24/2007 10:25 PM

by Bob Carney Licensed MD/PA Real Estate Agent (Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc.)

Maggie... how fortunate for you that you can feel things so deeply!

Bob... Yep. WOW!

09/24/2007 11:38 PM

by Jeff Turner (Real Estate Shows)

This was an extraordinary Celebration of Life. Thank You.

09/25/2007 01:27 PM

by Lola Audu~ Audu Real Estate~ Grand Rapids, MI Broker

Thank you very much for sharing, what would I need to do to download the speech to my computer so I could put it on a DVD? Thanks...some of my older relatives should watch this, but they don't have a computer/internet.

09/26/2007 03:54 PM

by Shane Sarae, Senior Mortgage Planner (Loan Network LLC)

Thanks for finding this and sharing

09/27/2007 02:12 AM

by Martin Rodriguez (SCV Loan Solutions)

I'm more of a Pooh or Kanga. But my husband has been both a tigger and eeyore in our marriage. Great post, I'm still listening.

Lexa

09/27/2007 11:28 PM

by Lexa Montierth (Currently Looking)

Jeff, You were right, very powerful. I think it's easy to get caught up in the day to day world of details and not step back to look at the big picture. This guy lived his life as though it were going to be short, have I done that? I don't think it's that simple to identify what my dreams are!! Maybe that's what a mid-life crisis is; looking back on your hopes and dreams and realizing that you haven't got forever to accomplish them. Take home lesson? Move your butt, smile, do unto others, giving is better than receiving.

09/28/2007 06:42 AM

by Sue Argue - NH Home Stager (Staged First Impressions)

Lola, Martin... you're welcome.

Shane... you'd need to use a piece of software to pull down the video to your hard drive. I'm not sure what will work on Google, but you may be able to find this on YouTube as well and there are many tools you can use to pull the video from youtube to your hard drive. Like this one from TechCrunch. You would then need to get it into a format compatible for playing in a commercial DVD application.

Lexa... :)

Sue... lots of take home lessons in this one. I plan on watching it again when I need a refresher on enjoying life.

09/29/2007 09:46 AM

by Jeff Turner (Real Estate Shows)

Diane Sawyer is in town interviewing him. I hope to get to an event since he is local here.

10/03/2007 04:24 PM

by Rochell Heininger (WebReach)

I'm from Pittsburgh so I've been following this story. He got to fullfill a dream with the NFL.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_530835.html

10/04/2007 08:54 PM

by Linda Davis (RE/MAX Realty Group)

Rochell and Linda, our Pitt connection... this is one I'll be coming back to when I need inspiration.