I began writing my life lessons and funny anecdotes when I heard the story of Randy Pausch. He was a professor in his 40’s who found out he had pancreatic cancer. When he was diagnosed, he had three children under the age of 7. Doctors gave him less than a year. During those nine months, he gave an inspiring last lecture about life lessons. He even wrote a book. He never intended for the book to be big seller or for his life (or death) to be public. He wrote the book for three people – his children. He knew he wouldn’t be there to instill the lessons or tell the stories he thought they should hear. This man was not only inspiring to me, but got me thinking about the lessons I had learned throughout my life. It motivated me to write down stories I would like to pass on - stories that might otherwise be forgotten.
I would like to share a few of Randy Pausch’s lessons:
1. Encourage creativity. Pausch recalled how he liked to paint things on the wall of his bedroom. His parents were dismayed at first but soon relented after they saw how excited he became when he was painting. Pausch said he's lucky to have had parents who encouraged creativity and allowed him to express himself in unconventional ways.
2. Celebrate brick walls. "Brick walls are there for a reason," writes Pausch. "They give us a chance to show how badly we want something." Entrepreneurs and small business owners are faced with hurdles every day, some seemingly insurmountable. But if you're passionate about what you do, those brick walls are easier to scale and you have more fun on the climb.
3. Dream big. Pausch was attending camp in the summer of 1969 when men first walked on the moon. He remembers his camp counselors sending everyone back to their tents before the big event because it was getting late. Pausch thought to himself, "My species has gotten off of our planet and landed in a new world for the first time, and you people think bedtime matters?" When you put people on the moon, argues Pausch, you're inspiring everyone to achieve to their maximum potential. "Give yourself permission to dream. Fuel your kids' dreams, too. Once in a while, that might even mean letting them stay up past their bedtimes."
4. Be the first penguin. Create a culture that celebrates risk. Pausch writes: "[I] encouraged students to attempt hard things and not to worry about failing…failure is not just acceptable, it's often essential." To encourage this way of thinking, Pausch would reward the group of students who took the biggest gamble with a stuffed animal—a penguin. The idea came to him when he realized that when penguins jump into the water where there are predators, one has to go first. According to Pausch, "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."
5. Rediscover the lost art of thank-you notes. One chapter in The Last Lecture is dedicated to "the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other…showing gratitude." Pausch shows that magical things happen when you send old fashioned thank-you notes. "If you are a B+ student, your handwritten thank-you note will raise you at least a half-grade in the eyes of a future boss or admissions officer. You'll become an 'A' to them."
6. Have fun. Pausch's colleagues say they will remember him as a person who had fun. Pausch writes: "I don't know how not to have fun. I'm dying and I'm having fun. And I'm going to keep having fun every day I have left. Because there's no other way to play it."
I began writing my life stories several months ago. These stories were written for the children I hope to one day have. I hope to share some of these stories with you.
