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Randy Pausch: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Randy Pausch
Randy Pausch was a professor of computer science, human-computer interaction and design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pennsylvania. He initially taught at the University of Virginia - while there, he completed sabbaticals at Walt Disney Imagineering and Electronic Arts. He was also the co-founder of Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center, and the creator of the Alice software project.

He was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. He delivered his "Last Lecture", titled Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, to students at CMU on September 18, 2007. This speech was so popular that he was featured on Oprah and delivered a shorter, abridged version on this lecture on the show in October later that year. This eventually led to a New York Times best-selling book, The Last Lecture. Randy passed away on July 25, 2008.

I find this Last Lecture to be extremely inspiring, and has many great points on achieving your personal and career goals. He's very clever, a great storyteller, and a genuine person.

The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Here's the original full version, given to students at Carnegie Mellon:



Here's the shorter, abridged version as given on the Oprah show:



"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."





Time Management
Here is a lecture Randy gave on Time Management at the University of Virginia in November 2007, a more pragmatic lecture with concrete goals and tasks.



Reference:
Image: Randy Pausch, Wikipedia

  1. rkmittal saidWed, 17 Sep 2008 17:11:34 -0000 ( Link )

    Really inspiring!

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  2. chandra_avinash saidFri, 03 Oct 2008 07:48:55 -0000 ( Link )

    Very inspiring – his life and his courage are both remarkable!

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  3. MayMay saidFri, 03 Oct 2008 12:55:11 -0000 ( Link )

    Thanks for posting this, Tiffany! Very inspiring indeed!

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  4. lucyinthesky saidThu, 02 Apr 2009 22:16:59 -0000 ( Link )

    @oLahav – Great points, Oren. You’re right, he did a have a good life – and I suppose it can be contributed to following his passions.

    I think we all fail, at one point or another. Some talents may come more natural to others; some are born out of hard work, commitment, and getting back up each time you fall down. I’ve had people tell me to stop chasing my dreams, but that’s no way to live your life. It comes down to personal choice and what will make you happy. In reality it is good to have a steady job, and most people would suggest that you pursue your passions on the side. Either way, you should never give up on your dreams – just remember that they are always with you. I think it’s a very brave thing to go out and be vulnerable to your work. Better to be a dreamer than a critic, in my opinion…

    But yes – you should definitely look out for your personal welfare. We can’t escape from the fact that our world tends to be ruled by money. Sometimes it is ruled by our love for certain things though :)

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  5. riddi saidMon, 01 Jun 2009 04:04:58 -0000 ( Link )

    hmm it seems like a great video!!
    “i think it’s a very brave thing to go out and be vulnerable to your work. Better to be a dreamer than a critic, in my opinion…” i completely agree with this statement lucy. we often see our dreams crashing away and more often it is we who kill our dreams between the materialistic needs and dreams. may be the ones who come out of those dark voids of failures and choose to walk are the ones, we really listen up someday. for instance ‘a.r rehman’ the academy award winner for slumdog millionaire, to know his life and to see where he is today is amazing. i don’t think when he gave up his studies for his poor family n picked up music anybody could have ever thought that he would be the rehman some day, who is almost treated as a legend in indian music industry today.

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  6. Sureshbala saidThu, 04 Jun 2009 09:39:43 -0000 ( Link )

    Great videos….

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  7. sailawaymaj saidMon, 15 Jun 2009 16:25:23 -0000 ( Link )

    my childhood dream is to be a chinese acrobat. how am i meant to achieve this if i’m not chinese? also how am i supposed to pay for the flight? i’m flat out broke

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  8. oznuraycil saidSat, 23 Jan 2010 04:54:16 -0000 ( Link )

    I love it…

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