The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Chances are, you have already heard of Randy Paush, but I wanted to share his world famous speech anyway just incase someone out there has not. This is so awesome and can truly inspire anyone that watches it!
Randy Pausch’s “The Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” has been viewed over 10 million times on YouTube!
Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch (Oct. 23, 1960 – July 25, 2008) gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. In his moving presentation, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” Pausch talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals.
A lot of professors give talks titled “The Last Lecture.” Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can’t help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?
When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn’t have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave–”Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”–wasn’t about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because “time is all you have…and you may find one day that you have less than you think”). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.
In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.
Please take an hour of your life to watch this video… It will be well worth your time!
Here is a shorter 10 minute version of Dr. Randy Pausch on the Oprah Winfrey Show:
Randy Pausch on Good Morning America:
September 19th, 2009 at 8:05 am
Randy Pausch was truly inspirational during his last years after being diagnosed with cancer. His last speech was incredible.
July 9th, 2010 at 11:14 am
I’ve read some good stuff here. Definitely worth bookmarking for revisiting.