Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: Achieveing Your Childhood Dreams

This post is about the final lecture of Randy Pausch - a professor at Carnegie Melon University who passed away from pancreatic cancer on July 25, 2008. Though, at the time, Pausch had only a few months to live - the professor decided to do something uniquely inspirational with his remaining time. That "something" was to convey to the masses his thoughts and experiences on "achieving childhood dreams". Throughout the lecture, Pausch talks not only of his accomplishments in realizing his own dreams - he also discusses how a person can "enable the dreams of others". According to Pausch, "The inspiration and permission to dream is HUGE".

During the lecture, Pausch talks about how he pursued his own dreams (such as playing for the NFL, authoring an article for World Book Encyclopedia, and being an "Imagineer" for Disney). Though one of his childhood dreams wouldn't come to fruition (his wanting to play professional football for the NFL - though he would attribute the unfulfilled dream as being one that "got him where he is today"), Pausch's other dreams would not only be accomplished (to include his working on the Disney production of "Aladdin") - they would be actual testaments to possibility of dream fulfillment. Paush also talks about his overcoming "brick walls", which often stand in the way of a person trying to make a dream into a reality. According to Pausch, "Brick walls are there to show us how badly we want something".

In the latter half of the lecture, Pausch talks about how others can reach their childhood dreams. He mentions getting his university students to create "virtual worlds" filled with endless possibilities, his founding/implementation of the Dream Fulfillment Factory and ETC (Entertainment Technology Center) - which utilized a "project-based curriculum", and an "infinitely-scalable" way to teach computer programming to the masses - known as "Alice". Pausch also cites parents, mentors, and other students (peers) as having a massive influence on a person hoping to reach his or her childhood dreams.

In the final part of the lecture ("Lessons Learned"), Pausch gives his final thoughts on childhood dream accomplishment. He tells his audience to "never lose the child-like wonder". He also tells them that they should "help others" to accomplish their dreams and goals, as well as "find the best in everybody". After a brief recap of the lecture as a whole, the last thought Pausch gives to his audience (known as the "head fake") is that "it is not about how to achieve your dreams - it is about how to lead your life". He concludes by saying: "If you lead your life the right way, the dreams will come to you".

(Afterthought) After watching such a lecture, what can one say? Perhaps Pausch wants the viewer to say "little" and do "more" - especially when it comes to he or she realizing his/her own dreams, as well as the dreams of others.