Blog Post #7

Randy Pausch's Last Speech


This post if about Mr. Pausch and his very last speech to an audience at Carnegie Mellon Hall. This particular speech was about achieving your childhood dreams and never letting that brick wall get in your way. He talks about how being in football really helped to understand that going through the fundamentals and learning something first, then doing it is the best way to do anything. Mr. Pausch talks about how his coach would get onto him and just bark down his back at practice, but it only made him want to do better no matter what. With his students, as with football, his motto is "experience is what you get, when you didn't get what you wanted".

I noticed throughout the entire speech, one of the things he said constantly was "strive to achieve your childhood dream". This is one thing many people either stop trying to do, or they never even bothered to think about it. If a person really tries to achieve their dreams, then they can enable the childhood dreams of others simply by telling their story. When he says "help with others, and you will have connections as long as you need them", I completely agree. Helping others with a project and collaborating and making friends can get you strong connections with others who can help you. If you have let yourself get out there and keep up with good karma, it will eventually come back around, you just have to be patient and wait for people. They will come to you when need be.

Mr. Pausch actually helped out with the Aladdin virtual ride in Disney, and the main point he makes about that is to have FUN!! Decide if you are going to be all serious about it, or if you are going to be a person who is excited about your passion and be ready for anything that may get put in your hands. With students, co-workers, or teachers be willing to experiment and work together. When you are wrong admit it and apologize. Never lie about anything you can't do, tell people how it is and be earnest about. This will get you places and people will want to work with you.

The best piece of advice that Randy Pausch gave was to never let the bar settle anywhere. Tell the students "hey, you did a good job...but, I know you can do even better". He says when he told his own students this after their first virtual world project, he was shocked what they cam back with again and again. Even though they blew his mind away the first time, every time after that was even better than the last. Mr. Pausch even mentions "they never complained, mainly because I told them not to, but they only kept working harder. And that is what makes your dreams come true". I truly enjoyed this video and really do believe in striving to achieve any dreams you may have. Be honest, hard working, never complain, help others and make connections, and most importantly...have FUN with what you do.