Inspirational Speech by Dr Randy Pausch On the Oprah Winfrey Show The Last Lecture Dr Pausch Pa
Summary
TLDRIn a deeply personal and inspiring talk, Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon professor battling terminal pancreatic cancer, shares life lessons and his journey with childhood dreams. He emphasizes the importance of perseverance, living with integrity, the value of experiences over material things, and the power of fun and gratitude. Pausch's message is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the pursuit of a meaningful life, regardless of the challenges faced.
Takeaways
- 😀 The speaker emphasizes the importance of maintaining a positive and hopeful attitude, even in the face of terminal illness.
- 💪 Despite the speaker's physical challenges due to cancer, he highlights his strength and the need to focus on what one can control, rather than what one cannot.
- 🌟 The script underlines the significance of pursuing childhood dreams and the value of the journey, even if the dream is not fully realized.
- 🏈 The speaker shares a personal anecdote about his childhood dream of joining the NFL, illustrating that the pursuit itself can be rewarding.
- 🏰 The story of the speaker's dream to work for Walt Disney Imagineering and the persistence required to achieve it, despite initial rejections, is a key point.
- 🧱 The metaphor of 'brick walls' as a test of desire and determination is a central theme in the script.
- 👨👩👧👦 The importance of having supportive parents who encourage creativity and personal growth is highlighted through the speaker's own experiences.
- 🚗 The speaker imparts a lesson on the value of experiences over material possessions, using the story of his new car and a memorable family outing.
- 🤝 The necessity of working well with others, living with integrity, and the power of a sincere apology are emphasized for achieving one's dreams.
- 🙏 The script stresses the power of gratitude, as demonstrated by the speaker's gesture of taking his research lab to Disney World as a token of appreciation.
- 🚫 The speaker discourages complaining and whining, advocating for spending energy on productive activities instead.
- 🌈 The overarching message is that leading a life with the right values and attitudes will attract dreams and opportunities, as karma takes care of itself.
Q & A
What is the 'last lecture' tradition mentioned in the script?
-The 'last lecture' tradition is an academic practice where a professor is asked to think about what they would say if they knew they were going to die and had one last lecture to give to their students.
What was the speaker's condition during the talk?
-The speaker was battling pancreatic cancer, which had returned after surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Doctors had told him there was nothing more they could do, and he had only months to live.
What did the speaker emphasize about his physical strength despite his prognosis?
-Despite being told he had only months to live, the speaker emphasized that he was physically very strong and probably stronger than most people in the audience.
What was the main focus of the speaker's talk at Carnegie Mellon University?
-The main focus of the speaker's talk was not about death but about life and how to live it, specifically focusing on childhood dreams and how to achieve them.
What was one of the speaker's childhood dreams that he did not achieve?
-One of the speaker's childhood dreams that he did not achieve was being in the National Football League.
What valuable lesson did the speaker learn from his coach, Jim Graham?
-The speaker learned that when someone is hard on you for hours, it's because they care and want to make you better.
How did the speaker's childhood dream of working for Walt Disney Imagineering eventually come true?
-The speaker's dream of working for Walt Disney Imagineering came true after he developed a valuable skill that Disney needed, and he was part of a team that worked on Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride.
What lesson did the speaker's father teach him about humility?
-The speaker's father taught him about humility by not mentioning his Bronze Star for valor received during World War II, even after 50 years of marriage.
Why did the speaker's parents let him paint his bedroom walls as a child?
-The speaker's parents let him paint his bedroom walls to allow him to express his creativity, believing it was more important than keeping the walls pristine.
What advice did the speaker give about how to achieve one's dreams?
-The speaker advised that to achieve one's dreams, one should work and play well with others, live with integrity, apologize sincerely when wrong, show gratitude, and avoid complaining and whining.
Who was the intended audience for the speaker's lecture at Carnegie Mellon University?
-The speaker wrote the lecture primarily for his three little kids, though it was delivered to an audience at Carnegie Mellon University.
Outlines
🎓 Facing Mortality with Hope and Dreams
The speaker begins by sharing his personal battle with terminal pancreatic cancer, emphasizing the reality of his situation rather than the hypothetical nature of the 'last lecture.' Despite the grim prognosis, he chooses to focus on life, specifically on the pursuit of childhood dreams. He reflects on his own happy childhood and the importance of maintaining a spirit of possibility, as exemplified by the moon landings. The speaker encourages the audience to strive for their dreams, even if they don't always come true, as the journey itself is rewarding. He shares his own unfulfilled dream of joining the NFL and the valuable life lessons he learned from the experience, such as the importance of hard work and the care shown through tough coaching.
🚀 Pursuing Dreams and Embracing Life's Journey
In this paragraph, the speaker continues to explore the theme of pursuing childhood dreams, recounting his aspiration to become a Walt Disney Imagineer. Despite initial rejections, his persistence and development of valuable skills eventually led to his involvement in the creation of 'Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride.' The speaker underscores the importance of perseverance in the face of obstacles, likening them to 'brick walls' that test our determination. He also shares anecdotes about his parents, highlighting the lessons of humility, the value of experiences over material possessions, and the importance of creativity and fun. The speaker concludes by emphasizing the significance of living with integrity, working well with others, and showing gratitude, using personal stories to illustrate these points.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Last Lecture
💡Elephant in the Room
💡Pancreatic Cancer
💡Childhood Dreams
💡Imagineering
💡Brick Walls
💡Humility
💡Integrity
💡Gratitude
💡Tigger and Eeyore
💡Karma
Highlights
Delivering a 'last lecture' at Carnegie Mellon University, the speaker candidly discusses facing terminal pancreatic cancer.
The speaker emphasizes the importance of living life fully despite the prognosis of terminal illness.
The talk focuses on life and achieving childhood dreams rather than dwelling on death.
The speaker reflects on the value of trying for one's dreams, even if they are not achieved.
The importance of hard work and persistence is highlighted through the speaker's journey to Imagineering at Disney.
The speaker discusses the significance of overcoming obstacles, like 'brick walls', to show determination.
The influence of supportive parents on the speaker's life and career is acknowledged.
The speaker's father's humility and valor during World War II serve as a lesson in humility.
The nurturing environment provided by the speaker's mother, who always kept him grounded.
The speaker shares the importance of creativity and self-expression, as encouraged by his parents.
The value of experiences over material possessions, as demonstrated by the speaker's story about his new car.
The speaker encourages embracing a 'Tigger' personality, characterized by energy, optimism, and fun.
The importance of working and playing well with others, and living with integrity.
The significance of a sincere apology, which includes acknowledging fault and making amends.
The speaker's belief in the goodness of people, even those we may not initially like.
The power of gratitude, as exemplified by the speaker's gesture towards his research team.
The speaker's stance against complaining and whining as unproductive uses of time and energy.
The broader message of the lecture, which is about living life the right way to attract dreams and success.
The personal significance of the lecture, intended for the speaker's children, to guide them in life.
Transcripts
so I'm reprising a talk that I gave in
September at Carnegie Mellon University
there's an academic tradition called the
last lecture hypothetically if you knew
you're going to die and you had one last
lecture what would you say to your
students well for me there's an elephant
in the room and the elephant in the room
is that for me it wasn't hypothetical
I've been fighting pancreatic cancer it
has now come back after surgery
chemotherapy and radiation and the
doctors tell me there's nothing more to
do and I have months to live these are
my most recent CT scans the pancreatic
cancer has spread to my liver they're
approximately a dozen tumors I don't
like this I have three little kids let's
be clear this stinks but I can't do
anything about the fact that I'm going
to die I'm pursuing medical treatments
but I pretty much know how this movie is
going to end and I can't control the
cards I'm dealt just how I play the
hands now if I'm not morose enough for
you I'm sorry to disappoint but I don't
choose to be an object of pity and in
fact although I'm going to die soon I'm
actually physically very strong in fact
I'm probably physically stronger than
most of the people in this audience
so today's talk is not about death it's
about life and how to live specifically
about childhood dreams and about how you
can try to achieve them my childhood
dreams your childhood dreams as a child
I had an incredibly happy childhood I
went back and raided the photo album and
I couldn't find any places where I
wasn't smiling right I just had a great
childhood and I was dreaming always
dreaming it was an easy time to dream
when you turn on your television set and
men are landing on the moon anything is
possible and we should never lose that
spirit so what were my childhood dreams
being in the National Football League
this is one of the childhood dreams I
didn't achieve all right and it's very
important to know that if you don't
achieve your dreams you can still get a
lot by trying for it there's an
expression i love experiences what you
get when you don't get what you wanted
now I played Little League football for
a long time and I had a phenomenal coach
coach Jim Graham and he was old school
when I was at a practice he rode me all
practice you know you're doing it wrong
go back do it again you're sloughing off
you owe me push-ups just for two hours
it was relentless and after practice one
of the assistant coaches came up to me
and he said yeah coach Graham Rohde
you're pretty hard and I said yeah he
said that's a good thing because it
means he cares when you're doing a bad
job and nobody points it out to you
that's when they've given up on you and
that's something that's really stuck
with me is when somebody is going to
ride you for two hours they're doing
that because they care to make you
better so next dream Walt Disney
Imagineering when I was eight my family
took the pilgrimage to disneyland in
california and it was this incredible
experience the rides and the shows and
the attractions and everything and I
said gosh I'd like to make stuff like
that when I get older so I graduated
from college and I tried to become an
Imagineer these are the people who make
the magic and I got a lovely rejection
letter and then I tried again after
graduate school and I've kept all of
these rejection letters over the years
they're very inspirational but then the
darndest thing happened you know I
worked hard and worked hard and I became
a junior faculty member and I
specialized in two
certain kinds of research that's me and
I developed a skill that was valuable to
Disney and I got a chance to go there
and I was part of an Imagineering team
and we work on something called
Aladdin's magic carpet ride and it was
incredibly cool however it took me over
15 years to do it and lots and lots of
tries and what I learned from that is
that the brick walls that are in our way
are there for a reason they are not
there to keep us out they are there to
give us a way to show how much we want
it if you have childhood dreams i
recommend you have good parents i lucked
out i have great parents this is my
mother on her 70th birthday I am the
blur in the back I have just been lapped
this is my father on his 80th birthday
there is this notion of have fun all the
time have a sense of fun and wonder that
should never go away all right my dad
what an incredible guy he fought in
World War two he was clearly part of the
greatest generation sadly my dad passed
away a little over a year ago and when
my mother was going through his things
that was when she discovered that in
World War two he was awarded the Bronze
Star for valor in 50 years of marriage
it had just never come up there's a real
lesson in humility that I can learn from
my father there now my mother mothers
are people who love you even when you
pull their hair and this was the kind of
relationship I had with my mother and my
mother speaking of humility was always
there to keep me in check when I was
going through graduate school and I was
taking really hard examinations I was
home pretty much complaining and whining
about how hard these PhD tests were and
she just patted my arm and she said we
know how you feel just remember that
when your father was your age he was
fighting the Germans in World War two
and then the day came when I got my PhD
and I was so proud and my mother
introduced me to everyone is this is my
son he's a doctor but not the kind that
helps people probably the most
wonderfully my parents did was they let
me paint my bedroom I said one day I
want to paint stuff on the walls and
they said okay so i had a rocket ship
and we live in a ranch so I wanted an
elevator I wasn't sure where it would go
and yeah you can tell the Nerds early so
that's the quadratic equation but the
great thing is that they let me do it
and they felt that letting me express my
creativity was more important than the
pristine nature of the walls and I was
really blessed to have parents who saw
it that way my parents taught me about
the importance of people versus things
so when I get older and I bought my
first car and I was so excited I have
this shiny new convertible this is my
niece and nephew Christopher and Laura
and every every month I'd take them for
a weekend so my sister and her husband
get a little break and we go off on
adventures I just showed up with my new
car and my sister is explaining to chris
and laura now it's uncle randy's new car
you can't get it dirty two-headed idea
and they're just cracking up laughing
because over her shoulder I'm casually
opening a can of soda and just emptying
it on the back seat and they come
running over mrs. what are you doing I
said it's a thing it's just a thing I'm
really glad I did that because at the
end of the weekend as i was driving them
home little chris who was about eight at
the time it had the flu and he threw up
all over the backseat of my car and I
don't care how much value you get out of
owning a nice shiny pristine thing it's
not as good as I felt knowing that i
made an eight-year-old boy not feel
guilty just because you've had the flu
next thing you better decide early on if
you're a Tigger or Annie or Tiggers are
energetic they're optimistic they're
curious they're enthusiastic and they
have fun and never ever underestimate
the importance of having fun I am dying
soon and I am choosing to have fun today
tomorrow and every other day I have left
if you want to achieve your dreams you
better work and play well with others
and that means you better live with
integrity simple advice that you'll find
hard to follow just tell the truth
second thing when you screw up apologize
there are a lot of bad apologies in
America a good apology has three parts
I'm sorry it was my fault how do I make
it right most people skip that third
part that's how you can tell sincerity
the last thing is that we all have
people that we don't like that have
things we don't like and what I have
found is no one is pure evil if you wait
long enough they will show you their
good side you can't make them do it in a
hurry but you can be patient show
gratitude when I got tenure as a young
faculty member there about 15 young kids
who've been working in my research lab I
took them all down to Disney World for a
week on my nickel where my colleagues
said this must have cost you an arm and
a leg how could you do it I said these
kids just work day and night for years
so that I could get the best job in the
world for life how could I not do it
when gratitude is a very simple thing
and it's a very powerful thing and
lastly I don't think complaining and
whining really solves the problem this
is jackie robinson first black major
leaguer had it in his contract not to
complain if people spit on him all right
now i don't care if you're Jackie
Robinson or if you're a guy like me
who's only got a couple of months to
live you can choose to take your finite
time and energy and effort and you can
spend it complaining where you can spend
it playing the game hard which is
probably going to be more helpful to you
in the long run now I told you this as
part of the lecture series at Carnegie
Mellon University and it's important for
you to know why I gave the talk okay the
talk isn't just about how to achieve
your childhood dreams it's much broader
than that it's about how to live your
life because if you lead your life the
right way the karma will take care of
itself the dreams will come to you if
you live properly the dreams will come
to you I think it's great that so many
people have benefited from this lecture
but the truth of the matter is that I
didn't even really give it to the four
hundred people at Carnegie Mellon who
came I only wrote this lecture for three
people and when no older they'll watch
it thank
Посмотреть больше похожих видео
What Oprah Learned from Randy Pausch's Last Lecture | Oprah's Lifeclass | Oprah Winfrey Network
7 Motivos para viver! #5Tenha um novo sonho!
How I Made My First $10 Million (COPY MY PLAN)
FIND YOUR PURPOSE - Best Motivational Video for 2022 | Goalcast
Anak Pemulung Bisa Membangakan Orang Tua Sampai S2 - Kick Andy Show
"I Went From 3rd Grade Dropout To ULTRA SUCCESSFUL" | Rick Rigsby
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)