Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

I just watched Randy Pausch's last lecture on www.youtube.com. It was a very interesting speech to watch and listen too. The first thing I noticed about Mr. Pausch was his humorous personality. It was sort of weird to me because before I watched the lecture, I knew about how he only had so long to live. So the first few minutes it seemed like he was in an upbeat mood and he was telling jokes. So right off the bat, I was intrigued with this man.

Mr. Pausch lectures about how although he has ten tumors in his liver, he still is going to keep having fun everyday. It is admirable to watch him talk because you tend to forget he is a dying man. The speech is based on: his childhood dreams, enabling the dreams of others, and lessons learned: how you can achieve your dreams or enabling the dreams of others. One of his dreams, among others, was playing in the National Football League. His little talk about this interested me because I thought it was relative to me in that how I want to be a basketball coach. He talks about something I have previously heard from my old high school basketball coach and that has stuck with me. He says "if you see yourself screwing up and no one is bothering to tell you anymore, that's a very bad place to be". It makes sense because you should only should start worrying when no one is trying to help or correct you because them saying something to you shows they care.

Mr. Pausch also talks a lot about the "headfake". This means that the best way to teach someone something is to make them think they are learning something else. I have thought about this concept a lot in how I would like to teach basketball when I coach. I believe basketball is a way to teach kids important lessons without them consciously knowing they are. So, his little spiel on that was fascinating. He also mentions people who help us. These are: teachers, mentors, parents, colleagues, and friends. Everyone should have people they can count on to help them through situations and be there for them.

Throughout his speech Mr.Pausch refers to the brick wall. This means it is a stoppage point in what you are trying to achieve. Near the end of his lecture he mentions that brick walls let us show our dedication. He is saying that anything good comes with hard work. Mr. Pausch mentions some final lines of advice to close his lecture. Some that stuck out to me included: don't complain- just work harder, be good at something- it makes you valuable, and find the best in everyone because no one is all evil, just be patient with them. It is eye-opening to hear him talk because you know he is talking about doing the right them and you know it can be done because he proves it. Overall, watching this speech was definitely influential and I'm glad I was able to learn about Randy Pausch.