The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
There are many New York Times bestsellers out there with lessons about how you should live your life. They talk of ways to succeed, how to optimize the time you have, and how to be happy. In some ways, The Last Lecture is one of those books. I'm not really normally one for taking other people's advice, but I decided to read it, if not just for the fact that the author is a Carnegie Mellon Computer Science professor. And being in that field myself, I thought I might find some of his points interesting. Surprisingly, what I received wasn't how to be successful at computer science, but a myriad of advice on how to live a full life.
For those of you don't know, The Last Lecture is a book by Randy Pausch that could be considered an extension of his 'last lecture' at Carnegie Mellon. Professor Pausch was a an HCI specialist, a Disney Imagineer, co-founder of the Entertainment Technology Center at CMU, and founder of the Alice project. Having been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Professor Pausch decided to give a last lecture and to write this book so that he could pass on his advice to his kids. Whether he realized it or not, his life lessons would end up reaching not just his own children but so many others as well.
Despite having just graduated college, I'm the type of person that has thought a lot about how I want to live my life, and this means that I don't really take other people's advice well, especially if it doesn't align with what I believe. However, while I did not agree with all of Professor Pausch's words of wisdom, I felt that some stuck with me more so than others, either because I found them to be valuable or they helped me re-evaluate my own opinion on the subject. So I've summarized here a few lessons of note that I found throughout this book. They're not explicitly outlined, but this is just my interpretation. Of course, if you want the full experience, I would highly recommend reading it.
Lesson #1: Brick walls are there to show us how much we really want something and to keep those who don't want it enough out. (AKA pursue your dreams no matter how big they are)
This was a recurring theme throughout Pausch's many anecdotes. From the stories of his wife to his "first penguin" award to accomplishing his childhood dreams list. Having encountered many challenges throughout his professional and personal life, Pausch really believed that these obstacles were there to determine how badly we want something. If we want it badly enough, we will be able to scale the brick wall. This allows those of us who really want the item to achieve it, while keeping all other people who don't deserve it as much because they don't want it out. While I'm a big supporter of this kind of determinism, I would personally like to add that it's also important to know when you should turn away from the brick wall. In many ways, Randy is right. It's meant to show us whether we want it or not, and if a brick wall stands in our way, we should learn to recognize just how far we're willing to go to scale it.
Lesson #2: The Head Fake.
I'm not sure if this is really a lesson, but I liked Pausch's idea of "the head fake". The setup for this concept comes from his love for football, which I likewise share so I appreciated his football analogies. He basically said that in football, or any organized sport really, there's two head fakes. The first is the actual one in the game, the one where a player looks in one direction but goes the other. The second is the personal growth one. While parents sometimes send kids to play team sports to develop a skill in the sport, most often than not it's for other reasons. First, it's good exercise. Second, they get to make new friends. And third, it teaches them important soft skills like hard work and sportsmanship. That, in my opinion, is pretty brilliant.
Lesson #3: Play well with others.
I never went to Carnegie Mellon, nor do I plan on taking Pausch's Building Virtual World's course, but from the description of it, I feel like this class should be taught everywhere. It takes a bunch of students in different majors who don't know each other and forces them to find a way to work together. Two weeks later, they swap partners. It's almost like a sink or swim situation. If you find a way to get along, you'll swim. If you don't, you'll sink. In our education system today, I feel like there's not enough opportunity for collaboration. Or when there is, it's always a disaster. I've had so many friends who tell me they hate working in groups. This is a bit of a problem when most of our future careers will involve, if not depend on, how we collaborate with others. With the Internet and social media, people rarely interact in person anymore, and I think that makes it so much more important we understand how. It's important as human beings that we find ways to relate to each other. As Pausch says, "sports cut across boundaries of race and wealth. And if nothing else, we all have the weather in common". Besides, if you help someone out, they might just come through for you too.
Lesson #4: It's all about your attitude and perspective.
There are many segments in Pausch's book that relate to this lesson. There's a fantastic one about him in a convertible just enjoying life, despite the fact that he knows he will soon die from his disease. Another one about winning large stuffed animals, with a little patience and some extra cash in hand. Another about pouring soda on the backseat of his brand new car to show his niece and nephew what really mattered to him in life. Another about the birth of his child on New Year's Eve, that could have gone badly if he and his wife hadn't both been strong for each other and their baby. Each of these stories, although different in their own right, reflect Pausch's attitude on life. And the better his attitude, the more he understood what was important, the better the ending to all of these stories.
Lesson #5: Judge people not by their words but by their actions.
This lesson is a little unorthodox from the other ones I've put together, as it only really shows up in one story directed to Pausch's daughter Chloe regarding how she should view her future romantic suitors. And I think this can be something applied to everyone, not just potential romantic partners. And not just to be applied to how we view others, but something everyone should use to view themselves. How do your words compare to your actions? I know it's kind of lame for me to be writing this out on a blog seeing as I'm only using words, but hey if I can get you to think about it, that's an action, right?
This post is getting kind of long so I think it's time to wrap it up. Overall, I found The Last Lecture to be a solid book. There were times that I found Professor Pausch's attitude to be a little... full of himself. But hey the guy has had years of experience in his field and he has admitted to being a recovering jerk, so at least he's honest about his mildly arrogant personality. And I respect him for admitting that. All in all, a pretty entertaining read. I think if you're looking for some inspiration, The Last Lecture will do you much more good than any self help book. If it doesn't get you to re-evaluate your views on life, maybe you'll just learn something cool about computer science or football.
For those of you don't know, The Last Lecture is a book by Randy Pausch that could be considered an extension of his 'last lecture' at Carnegie Mellon. Professor Pausch was a an HCI specialist, a Disney Imagineer, co-founder of the Entertainment Technology Center at CMU, and founder of the Alice project. Having been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Professor Pausch decided to give a last lecture and to write this book so that he could pass on his advice to his kids. Whether he realized it or not, his life lessons would end up reaching not just his own children but so many others as well.
Despite having just graduated college, I'm the type of person that has thought a lot about how I want to live my life, and this means that I don't really take other people's advice well, especially if it doesn't align with what I believe. However, while I did not agree with all of Professor Pausch's words of wisdom, I felt that some stuck with me more so than others, either because I found them to be valuable or they helped me re-evaluate my own opinion on the subject. So I've summarized here a few lessons of note that I found throughout this book. They're not explicitly outlined, but this is just my interpretation. Of course, if you want the full experience, I would highly recommend reading it.
Lesson #1: Brick walls are there to show us how much we really want something and to keep those who don't want it enough out. (AKA pursue your dreams no matter how big they are)
This was a recurring theme throughout Pausch's many anecdotes. From the stories of his wife to his "first penguin" award to accomplishing his childhood dreams list. Having encountered many challenges throughout his professional and personal life, Pausch really believed that these obstacles were there to determine how badly we want something. If we want it badly enough, we will be able to scale the brick wall. This allows those of us who really want the item to achieve it, while keeping all other people who don't deserve it as much because they don't want it out. While I'm a big supporter of this kind of determinism, I would personally like to add that it's also important to know when you should turn away from the brick wall. In many ways, Randy is right. It's meant to show us whether we want it or not, and if a brick wall stands in our way, we should learn to recognize just how far we're willing to go to scale it.
Lesson #2: The Head Fake.
I'm not sure if this is really a lesson, but I liked Pausch's idea of "the head fake". The setup for this concept comes from his love for football, which I likewise share so I appreciated his football analogies. He basically said that in football, or any organized sport really, there's two head fakes. The first is the actual one in the game, the one where a player looks in one direction but goes the other. The second is the personal growth one. While parents sometimes send kids to play team sports to develop a skill in the sport, most often than not it's for other reasons. First, it's good exercise. Second, they get to make new friends. And third, it teaches them important soft skills like hard work and sportsmanship. That, in my opinion, is pretty brilliant.
Lesson #3: Play well with others.
I never went to Carnegie Mellon, nor do I plan on taking Pausch's Building Virtual World's course, but from the description of it, I feel like this class should be taught everywhere. It takes a bunch of students in different majors who don't know each other and forces them to find a way to work together. Two weeks later, they swap partners. It's almost like a sink or swim situation. If you find a way to get along, you'll swim. If you don't, you'll sink. In our education system today, I feel like there's not enough opportunity for collaboration. Or when there is, it's always a disaster. I've had so many friends who tell me they hate working in groups. This is a bit of a problem when most of our future careers will involve, if not depend on, how we collaborate with others. With the Internet and social media, people rarely interact in person anymore, and I think that makes it so much more important we understand how. It's important as human beings that we find ways to relate to each other. As Pausch says, "sports cut across boundaries of race and wealth. And if nothing else, we all have the weather in common". Besides, if you help someone out, they might just come through for you too.
Lesson #4: It's all about your attitude and perspective.
There are many segments in Pausch's book that relate to this lesson. There's a fantastic one about him in a convertible just enjoying life, despite the fact that he knows he will soon die from his disease. Another one about winning large stuffed animals, with a little patience and some extra cash in hand. Another about pouring soda on the backseat of his brand new car to show his niece and nephew what really mattered to him in life. Another about the birth of his child on New Year's Eve, that could have gone badly if he and his wife hadn't both been strong for each other and their baby. Each of these stories, although different in their own right, reflect Pausch's attitude on life. And the better his attitude, the more he understood what was important, the better the ending to all of these stories.
Lesson #5: Judge people not by their words but by their actions.
This lesson is a little unorthodox from the other ones I've put together, as it only really shows up in one story directed to Pausch's daughter Chloe regarding how she should view her future romantic suitors. And I think this can be something applied to everyone, not just potential romantic partners. And not just to be applied to how we view others, but something everyone should use to view themselves. How do your words compare to your actions? I know it's kind of lame for me to be writing this out on a blog seeing as I'm only using words, but hey if I can get you to think about it, that's an action, right?
This post is getting kind of long so I think it's time to wrap it up. Overall, I found The Last Lecture to be a solid book. There were times that I found Professor Pausch's attitude to be a little... full of himself. But hey the guy has had years of experience in his field and he has admitted to being a recovering jerk, so at least he's honest about his mildly arrogant personality. And I respect him for admitting that. All in all, a pretty entertaining read. I think if you're looking for some inspiration, The Last Lecture will do you much more good than any self help book. If it doesn't get you to re-evaluate your views on life, maybe you'll just learn something cool about computer science or football.
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