If you are a reader of this blog, you would probably have come across Dr Randy Pausch’s “The Last Lecture” in Aug 2008 entry. Then, I have given you a peep into the last few months of his lecturer with strong fighting spirit. Now, I hope to give you a more detailed insight into the life lessons from Dr Randy Pausch.
The main life lessons can be broken down into “Achieving your childhood dreams”, “Adventures and lessons learned”, “Enabling the dreams of others” and “How to live your life”. These sections interwove the life story of Dr Randy Pausch with life lessons that he dished out to his readers. While I loved along with the misadventures of Dr Pausch, he also led us to take a more light-hearted approach to the doldrums in life.
The section that I felt most enlightened was “How to live your life”. Just like many other self-help or personal management books, some of the advices can be rather commonsensical. Yet, we are amazed that we always fail to see the obvious.
Don’t Complain, Just Work Harder
Dr Pausch commented that if we took one-tenth the energy we put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, we would be surprised by how well things could work out. I am well-aware of the negative vibes generated but complaints seem to be an everyday affair. I am guilty as charged for complaining the inclement weather, the sardine-packed trains, the inconsideration of Singaporeans and many more.
Looking for the Best in Everybody
How often do we feel frustrated with people? Dr Pausch thought that we felt frustrated because we had not given people enough time. Almost everyone had a good side as long as we kept waiting.
The $100,000 Sale and Pepper Shaker
One of the favourite places of Dr Pausch was Disney Land at Orlando. All his dreams and his happy memories were created at Disney Land. Dr Pausch and his sister once broke a salt and pepper shaker newly purchased during his first visit to Disney Land. It was meant to be a gift for his parents to show their gratitude for the Disney Land visit.
The newly bought salt and pepper shaker broke when it slipped out of Dr Pausch’s hands as he stepped out of the store. Disney Land replaced a new one for him. When his parents learned of the gesture, they constantly brought other people to Disney Land as part of their volunteer work. They had all-in-all spent $100,000 in Disney Land just because Disney Land had replaced a $10 salt and pepper shaker.
Make a Decision: Tigger or Eeyore
Do you choose to be a fun-loving Tigger or a sad-sack Eeyore?
Emotional Premiums
Emotional premiums are paid for not with money but with time. Have you paid your emotional premiums?
Sometimes being so entrenched in the nitty-gritty of life, we inadvertently spend time chasing things that no longer matter to us. We forsake the things that matter in this mindless pursuit. We often take a lot of things for granted until we start to lose them. Dr Pausch’s short but fun-loving life should be inspirational. We should really take a step back and start looking around before it is too late.
No comments:
Post a Comment