...In The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, my favorite story was the story within Chapter 5 (The Elevator in the Ranch House). In this story, when Pausch was an adolescent, he asked his parents if he could paint his bedroom walls, and they agreed to let him do so. Even though his mother was reluctant into agreeing, she decided to because Pausch’s father loved the creative idea. Pausch decided to decorate his walls with items that matter to him. For two days, with the help of Pausch’s sister (Tammy) and his friend (Jack Sheriff, they painted most of the room. For example, he painted it with the quadratic formula and a large, silver elevator door. They painted a panel with floor numbers one through six, and the number “three” was illuminated. In addition, they drew a simple rocket ship, chess pieces, a submarine, and Pandora’s box (Greek mythology). Since it was the late 1970s, Pausch also wrote the words “Disco sucks,” but his mother painted over the word “sucks” because she thought it was vulgar language. Friends and family who came by the room were often impressed by the creative paintings. As the years passed, his mother never painted over the room, and it was always a treat when Pausch would come to visit his childhood. He was able to sleep in the same bunk bed his father...
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...The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch, had many themes throughout the book that were very important in my own life. Three of these themes are hard work, loyalty, and having a positive attitude. All of these ideas are virtues that I try to follow every day at school, work, home, and anywhere else I may be, like Pausch had done in his life. His life, however, was coming to a certain end by terminal cancer, when he gave his final lecture so he was able to reflect on what was important for him to say to those present at his speech and also his kids. Hopefully, I won’t have to die as young as he did, but the themes he expressed in his lecture are key to living a good life as I want to do. Hard work was a theme that was present throughout the lecture...
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...I loved Randy Pausch’s video The Last Lecture because he presented his lecture with so much enthusiasm, courage, and humility by making us understand how important his thoughts for how we should all live our lives each day and how we should always treat other people in our lives with respect, gratitude and kindness no matter what. I was very nervous while I was taking notes from both of the videos we had to view for the assignment. I waited until my youngest son went to school so that I would be able to stay-focused on the information that I needed to write notes from and have no distractions so my full attention would be only on the assignment. I watched Randy Pausch’s video several times, his compassionate tone and his humbleness helped me...
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...Robert B. Burnish The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch The Last Lecture is a New York Times best-selling publication co-authored by Randy Pausch, a lecturer of computer research, human-computer interaction, and conceive at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Jeffrey Zaslow of the Wall Street Journal. The publication was born out of a lecture Pausch provided in September 2007, Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. (Dann, 14-19) The publication has often been in evaluation with Mitch Albom's Tuesdays with Morrie, a publication on courses the scribe wise from his staining school professor. When inquired about his information of the publication, Pausch answered that he had not ever read that publication, and commented that he "didn’t understand there was a dying-professor part at the bookstore” with his usual sardonic wit. Speculation that the publication would be turned into a video was turned down by Pausch himself. Pausch consigned his "Last Lecture", titled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” at Carnegie Mellon on September 18, 2007. This converse was modeled after an ongoing sequence of addresses where peak academics are inquired to believe profoundly about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical "final talk," i.e., "what wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?" (Dann, 14-19) A month before giving the address, Pausch had obtained a prognosis that the pancreatic cancer, with which...
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...The Review on the Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. Randolph Frederick "Randy" Pausch (October 23, 1960 – July 25, 2008) was an American professor of computer science and human-computer interaction and design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pausch was the author or co-author of five books and over 70 articles. Pausch died from pancreatic cancer at his family's home in Chesapeake, Virginia on July 25, 2008, at the age of 47. The last lecture by Randy Pausch to the 400 students in Carneige Mellon University mainly focuses on how to live the prosperous life. It specifically talks about the childhood dreams and how to achieve those dreams and become successful in life. Following are the things that I have learned from the lecture. To achieve success in life we need to have dreams; be it a childhood dream or the dreams that we dream when we grow up but we always need to have dreams. And then we should work towards achieving those dreams. And when we work towards achieving those dreams we can never say that those dreams can be achieved at one go. We are going to face lot of failure and obstacles blocking our way. And then when we experience failure and other problems, complaining and wining is never going to solve our problem. Instead we should never think that it's the end of our dream and we should consider those failure as the inspiration to work harder and the we should keep on trying because everything is possible in life. Now to have...
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...Randy Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in September 2006. Pausch delivered his last lecture at Carnegie Mellon University (where he was a Professor) on September 18, 2007. In the seminar series, professors were challenged to deliver the message of a lifetime as if it was their last lecture. The irony makes his words that much more poignant. The Last Lecture has become one of the most viewed lectures on the Internet. There is no denying that the context makes the speech memorable, but that quality is enhanced by five timeless presentation techniques exhibited by Randy Pausch. Each of these helps you connect with your audience and help them remember your words into the future: Introduce the elephant in the room, define the scope, conclude strong, show enthusiasm- immerse yourself, get personal. Randy Pausch opens his lecture in the best way possible for this lecture, this audience, and this venue — by relieving stress. Following an easy joke about the title of the lecture series, he introduces the elephant in the room; that is, he spends a minute discussing his pancreatic cancer. Then, he raises the emotion in the room by doing a series of pushups. If he had not opened this way, the audience would have been distracted for the entire lecture, and unable to fully immerse themselves in the powerful lessons to come. From my point of view he made a good start to get the audience attention and gave the audience a reason to listen to his topic. I think the key point over here...
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...15/09/15 DREAMS AND EXPERIENCES This essay will cover two important points of Last Lecture by Prof. Randy Pausch that I found impressive, and the brief description of how I dream. As a conclusion, I will criticize myself on the basis of Last Lecture. First thing that I learned from Randy Pausch is the importance of being an imagineer. People have a tendency to stop imagining when they start to think any of their dreams will not come true anyway. But as we saw in the lecture, even though seems like childish and irrelevant, if you try hard you can make it possible. Pausch did his best to accomplish his dreams before he died. It means before we gave up from our dreams, we can do the same too. The other critic point about Last Lecture is, it was a pretty influential speech to encourage people to think about the brick walls in their lives. According to Pausch, these brick walls are there to prevent some people from achieving their goals, and for some people walls are there in order to show them how far they can go for their dreams. Pausch did great to break his walls that he met while he wanted to achieve his zero-gravity dream. So why do not we break our walls in front of us? After the Last Lecture, when I think about my dreams, I realize that I do not have too much of them. Because they are keep getting true. The reason behind this is, instead of long-term, I used to aim short-term achievements. Such as; being successful in high school, being successful is university, earning...
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...Personal Responsibility: the key to academic success Individuals that are being personally responsible take ownership of their actions and hold themselves accountable for their performance and the decisions they make. There are many factors that contribute to scholastic achievement, but each student has the power and capability to choose his or her own path that will lead to success or failure. Those students that look within and admit they have control of their accomplishments have a greater chance of reaching their academic goals than an individual that chooses to blame others when they are unsuccessful. Many students coming out of high school not emotionally or morally mature enough to manage the changes in their lives, especially those that live on campus. In addition to the day-to-day tasks, such as getting enough sleep, eating properly and arriving on time for their classes there are relationship issues and other distractions that cause a student to deter from academic studies. Ceplak (2012) repeated a student’s comments stating that the student liked school because of his classmates, socializing and friendships even though he received poor grades. An Individual that copes with his or her new found freedoms and all the distractions of college life are better equipped to do well and earn their Bachelor’s degree. Holding yourself responsible for your conduct and changing your behavior so school work is the primary concern are positive steps toward the personal responsibility...
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...Parents can also aid their children in developing independence by giving them chores around the house to complete on their own. The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow, addresses how Pausch expects his children to gain responsibility and respect for their mother by helping out around the the house when he is gone. By helping their mother, his children will become independent and respectful people. Having chores not only teaches responsibility but prepares children for life on their own. If a one learns to wash clothes, do dishes, and clean up, life alone own will be easier when it comes to completing these simple household tasks. In order for this introduction of chores to work, parents must stay true to it. They must never let their children forget a chore without punishment. When one completes their household tasks, parents should provide a reward such as money or extra...
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...There is an awesome sports car that is really fast, with a very powerful engine that has one driver, the only problem is that it has no brakes. This is what it’s like to have ADHD. Dyslexia is like taking a book, putting it into a blender and turning it on, then poring it out and then trying to read it. That’s what it’s like for me. I was born with ADHD & Dyslexia. Dyslexia is improved by constantly reading and repetitive review of sounds and blends. It takes serious concentration. ADHD quadruples the difficulty of this task because my mind needs so much control to focus. Both of these have challenged me every academic day, this isn’t something I can get rid of or wish away. Heaven knows I’ve tried. Are these going to stop me? NO, because I...
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...Randy Pausch gave advice to his students in the Last Lecture. Contemplating this lecture spurs the question, “What is good advice?” Good advice is a statement of truth which helps you understand and solve life’s problems. When you receive good advice, you should cherish that information forever. One piece of good advice is that no matter your circumstances, you should always look on the bright side. There is always a way to see the positive side of any given situation. Even if your condition appears horrible, you can take actions to make your life seem a little less daunting. If you keep a positive attitude, you will be grateful for the things you have, even if they are small. There were many pieces of good advice in the lecture....
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...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 with quotes that have been circulating around the web since his stunning lecture that touched so many people. It gave them courage to live a better life by treating others better and never give up on their dreams. The quotes I think applied to my life are as followed: “It’s not about how to achieve your dreams. It’s about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you.” I have read something like this in the book “The Secret” and I try to do in my life. Karma is a powerful force in the universe that many people do not think about. But when a person is thinking good things in their mind it seems to come out in our expressions and attitude to other person, which makes them happy to. Then in turn it comes back to that person like a circle, if you give the universe good thoughts and actions it returns it back to you. “If I could only give three words of advice, they would be, “tell the truth”. If I got three more words, I'd add: “All the time”. This is something I truly believe in. If you tell someone a lie when you mess up and they catch you, that person...
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...Vilma Torres Benjamin Franklin As we know Benjamin Franklin is known to be a very important person in American history. Benjamin Franklin was a successful person that never gave up and always followed his dream. Randy Pausch, author of “The Last Lecture” was also a person who never gave up and wanted to educate others. With this in mind we can see many similarities between Professor Randy Pausch’s last lecture and Benjamin Franklin’s life. The first example is when the professor says that you have to work hard to achieve your dreams. This has a lot in common with Benjamin Franklin because he always had to work hard to get what he wanted. Franklin liked to work long hours and he never complained. The second instance is when the professor says that you have to keep your dream no matter what happens. Benjamin Franklin, at the age of sixteen, wanted to be a printer. He focused on his dream and started to work little by little on his own company. When he started it was not easy. However, he followed his dream until he built his own printing company. The third similarity was when the professor said that brick walls are there not to make you sad but to show you how badly you want something. Benjamin Franklin faced a lot of brick walls when he was trying to discover the electricity. For example, he faced a lot of dangers in attempting to determine whether lightning was electricity or not. However he never got sad, he only worked harder. The fourth example is when the...
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...a big cause for most americans, “In economics, the majority is always wrong” (Galbraith). This could mean Galbraith is saying that the majority of people who don’t go to college, or only get a small portion of higher education are wrong. Whereas the few fewer percentage of people that stay in school longer have a better path to success. College is more than just paying the money, it is a long strenuous process and it takes a lot of hard work and dedication, Randy Pausch says in the last lecture, “The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people” (Pausch). He is saying that the people that fight hard for what they want in school or in the workforce will be less likely to fall into poverty. Randy also states, “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand” (Pausch). In this case he talks to one of the biggest issues in poverty, the unfairness of what people are or are not born into. Insular poverty and poverty alone are a big issue in this nation and the steep costs to get higher education and make your way into the workforce makes things even harder. Whether it is the price to go to college, the debt college could put you in, choosing to go into a four year school or a two year school, or how much more money you could...
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...to succeed as a leader, one must know his or her strengths and weakness. Secondly, we have finite amount of time and energy. If we have time to whine and complain about something then we definitely have time and energy to do something about it. In simpler words: Don’t complain, just work harder! Furthermore, look for the best in everyone. If you wait long enough, people will show you their good side, just keep waiting and be patient. But on the other hand, it is a leader’s responsibility to know how long, is long enough. Within the past year and half, I have learned that experience is the most precious thing you can offer someone. So do not be afraid of making mistakes and sharing your experiences. Last but not least, never give up! As Randy Pausch, the author of the book Last Lecture says, “Brick walls are there for a reason. And once you get over then, even if someone practically had to throw you over, it can be helpful to others to tell them how you did it.” And in order to be an excellent leader, I believe these concepts are valuable to have in handy. * Don’t cheat yourself- Seek first to understand and then to be understood. * Don’t complain; just work harder * Treat the disease, not the symptoms * Don’t be afraid of failure. Also, don’t scare others of failure either * Begin with end in mind, then develop a plan (be prepared) * NEVER GIVE UP * I can’t make it alone * Look for the best in everyone * Aim for excellence and success will...
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