Randy Pausch

Last week I wrote about Randy Pausch and how he encouraged us to not be afraid to dream. Rather, he said, “Dream big.” Another of Pausch’s important messages was about attitude toward life in general. Even though Randy Pausch died of pancreatic cancer at age 47, a little less than two years after being diagnosed, he was an inspiration for finding purpose and happiness in each day.

When Pausch spoke of his cancer, he said:

We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.

Pausch believed that we can choose to be happy. He gave this advice to parents:

As I see it, a parent’s job is to encourage kids to develop a joy for life and a great urge to follow their own dreams. The best we can do is to help them develop a personal set of tools for the task.

His advice to everyone was:

. . . there’s a decision we all have to make, and it seems perfectly captured in the Winnie-the-Pooh characters created by A. A. Milne. Each of us must decide: Am I a fun-loving Tigger or am I a sad-sack Eeyore? Pick a camp.

Here’s another moving Randy Pausch video that reminds us to live each day fully.

What do you think about Randy Pausch’s inspiration for finding purpose and joy in each day? What about the “great Tigger/Eeyore debate”?

“We Cannot Change the Cards” Word-Art Freebie

Here’s a word-art freebie from another Randy Pausch quote. The quote is related to this Friday’s blog post.

To download word art, click here, then right click on the image and choose “Save Picture As . . .”

What if My Child Doesn’t Win the Olympics? Is It Alright to Dream?

It’s the start of a new Winter Olympic cycle, and athletes of all ages are renewing their Olympic dreams. But how many athletes actually win the Olympics? Is it alright for your child to have such dreams even if they don’t come true?

I think the Olympic-dream question could be answered with Randy Pausch’s words: “Dream big. Dream without fear.” Pausch, who was a computer-science professor at Carnegie Mellon University and an award-winning teacher and researcher, would seem an unlikely choice to answer a question about having Olympic dreams.

Yet, Randy Pausch is probably the perfect choice. Before he died from pancreatic cancer in July 2008, Pausch inspired millions of people with the YouTube video of his last lecture as well as The Last Lecture book, which came after and added to the actual lecture given at Carnegie Mellon.

Randy Pausch became a hero to millions for his optimistic fight against terminal cancer, his work promoting pancreatic-cancer research, and his message about living each day and living your dreams. I think Pausch also answered the Olympic-dreams question with this quote:

Give yourself permission to dream. Fuel your kids’ dreams, too.

Paush talked a lot about fulfilling his childhood dreams. Although there’s wisdom throughout his lecture and book, I think one of my favorite chapters in the book is the one about a dream he never fulfilled: “I Never Made It to the NFL.”

Pausch said:

. . . even though I did not reach the National Football League, I sometimes think I got more from pursuing that dream, and not accomplishing it, than I did from many of the ones I did accomplish.

Pausch emphasized the life lessons, skills, and character development he gained from pursuing his dream of making it to the NFL. He talked about what he learned from his youth-league coach. Pausch said:

Coach Graham worked in a no-coddling zone. Self-esteem? He knew there was really only one way to teach kids how to develop it: You give them something they can’t do, they work hard until they find they can do it, and you just keep repeating the process. . . . he made me realize that if I work hard enough, there will be things I can do tomorrow that I can’t do today.

Pausch also discussed something necessary in any sport—working on fundamentals. He said:

Fundamentals. That was a great gift Coach Graham gave us. Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. As a college professor, I’ve seen this as one lesson so many kids ignore, always to their detriment. You’ve got to get the fundamentals down, because otherwise the fancy stuff is not going to work.

Probably the following quote about why we as parents encourage our children in sports also answers the question of whether our children actually need to have the best objective result in the end:

What we really want them [our children] to learn is . . . teamwork, perseverance, sportsmanship, the value of hard work, an ability to deal with adversity.

And that may be the best answer. It’s the intangible results and the character development that come from following Olympic dreams that are the most important. Whether or not the dreams come true in the end, the benefits of sincerely pursuing dreams make it all worthwhile.

Here’s the famous YouTube video of The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, presented in September 2007. The YouTube video has had over 11 million views. If you haven’t had the opportunity to see the video, it will be an inspiring hour and 16 minutes of your time.