The Last Lecture

The Last Lecture is a college professor’s final message to the world before his impending death of cancer at a relatively young age, offering meaningful life advice, significant words of wisdom, and a great deal of optimism and hope for humanity.

Randy Pausch had a lot of dreams growing up. All of us do. Unfortunately, not all our childhood dreams come true. In fact, most of us don’t end up becoming what we thought we would when we were kids. Still, Randy managed to accomplish much of what he wished for.

Even though he didn’t become an astronaut due to poor eyesight, he developed an experiment with his students that eventually happened on NASA‘s “Weightless Wonder,” a special simulation plane. However, this opportunity didn’t come easy, as they rejected him first. Still, he kept insisting on how he would document this experience for positive publicity. Eventually, NASA accepted him.

Another dream that seemed unattainable was becoming Captain Kirk. Of course, this never happened the way he thought it would, but Randy received a visit from the actor himself, asking him to visit his lab. Pretty close, right? Still, the man had even more dreams, such as becoming a Disney Imagineer. Although he applied for the job numerous times, they still rejected him.

Then, in 1995, he managed to convince the company to take him in as an expert in computer science. Not long after, he became the Imagineer he always wanted to be. For Randy, this was another dream come true. The lesson here is to never give up on your dreams. Even if they don’t come true the way you expect them to, sometimes you may be surprised about how well things turn out for you if you just keep on pushing hard.

Randy was a tough audience for his students. He often used a firm approach to encourage his class to become better and better. When his students presented projects in his “Building Virtual Worlds” class, he was receiving incredible projects. Still, he was always telling them to do better next time. By constantly pushing them harder, he helped make their dreams come true. The best part is that he was happy about it, and he made a habit out of it. Randy found that by helping others, he felt just as rewarding as if he was helping himself. He says the best ways to help his students included honest feedback, tough love, and tons of support. Therefore, he was hard to please. On top of that, his feedback always relied on data, so it was hard to contradict. By the end of the semester, each student would know their best qualities, where they need improvement, and what…