The Last Lecture

by Randy Pausch

“All right,” I said. “That is what it is. We can’t change it. We just have to decide how we’ll respond. We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”

“Just because you’re in the driver’s seat,” he’d say, “doesn’t mean you have to run people over.”

Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome.

It just proves that if you can find an opening, you can probably find a way to float through it.

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

“When you’re screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they’ve given up on you.”

You may not want to hear it, but your critics are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and want to make you better.

But I was hugely impressed. Kirk, I mean, Shatner, was the ultimate example of a man who knew what he didn’t know, was perfectly willing to admit it, and didn’t want to leave until he understood. That’s heroic to me.

“I don’t believe in the no-win scenario.”

The brick walls are there for a reason. They’re not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.

“You probably have three to six months of good health.” That reminded me of my time at Disney. Ask Disney World workers: “What time does the park close?” They’re supposed to answer: “The park is open until 8 p.m.”

“Even if the scan results are bad tomorrow,” I had told her, “I just want you to know that it feels great to be alive, and to be here today, alive with you. Whatever news we get about the scans, I’m not going to die when we hear it. I won’t die the next day, or the day after that, or the day after that. So today, right now, well this is a wonderful day. And I want you to know how much I’m enjoying it.”

I was a kid who needed to have his lunch box dropped in a puddle.

People are more important than things. A car, even a pristine gem like my new convertible, was just a thing.

“...The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”

Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want something.

OK, maybe this makes me quirky. But if your trashcan or wheelbarrow has a dent in it, you don’t buy a new one. Maybe that’s because we don’t use trashcans and wheelbarrows to communicate our social status or identity to others. For Jai and me, our dented cars became a statement in our marriage. Not everything needs to be fixed.

Through the whole ordeal, I don’t think we ever said to each other: “This isn’t fair.” We just kept going. We recognized that there were things we could do that might help the outcome in positive ways...and we did them. Without saying it in words, our attitude was, “Let’s saddle up and ride.”

Time must be explicitly managed, like money.

Ask yourself: Are you spending your time on the right things?

Time is all you have. And you may find one day that you have less than you think.

He figured that if he was ranked in the bottom 25 percent, he must have been at the 24 percent or 25 percent level (rather than, say, in the bottom 5 percent). So in his mind, that meant he was almost in the next higher quartile. So he saw himself as “not so far from 50 percent,” which meant peers thought he was just fine.

“I know you’re smart. But everyone here is smart. Smart isn’t enough. The kind of people I want on my research team are those who will help everyone else feel happy to be here.”

Luck is indeed where preparation meets opportunity.

When you use money to fight poverty, it can be of great value, but too often, you’re working at the margins. When you’re putting people on the moon, you’re inspiring all of us to achieve the maximum of human potential, which is how our greatest problems will eventually be solved.

Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won’t make us happier.

But I did think it’s always best to try to treat the disease first. Her symptoms were stress and anxiety. Her disease was the money she owed.

“You don’t ever have to worry about what I’m thinking. Good or bad, I’ll let you know what’s in my head.”

It’s not just whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the cliché.

EXPERIENCE IS what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.

So at the end of each semester, I’d present one team of students with a stuffed animal—a penguin. It was called “The First Penguin Award” and went to the team that took the biggest gamble in trying new ideas or new technology, while failing to achieve their stated goals. In essence, it was an award for “glorious failure,” and it celebrated out-of-the-box thinking and using imagination in a daring way.

Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.

I hope that once in a while I come into their minds, swinging that sledgehammer, reminding them of the frustrated masses, yearning for simplicity.

SHOWING GRATITUDE is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other.

As I see it, if you work more hours than somebody else, during those hours you learn more about your craft. That can make you more efficient, more able, even happier. Hard work is like compounded interest in the bank. The rewards build faster.

I’ve found Thin Mints are a great communication tool. They’re also a sweet reward for a job well done.

Another way to be prepared is to think negatively.

One thing that makes it possible to be an optimist is if you have a contingency plan for when all hell breaks loose. There are a lot of things I don’t worry about because I have a plan in place if they do.

APOLOGIES ARE not pass/fail. I always told my students: When giving an apology, any performance lower than an A really doesn’t cut it.

Proper apologies have three parts: 1) What I did was wrong. 2) I feel badly that I hurt you. 3) How do I make this better?

Students would say to me: “What if I apologize and the other person doesn’t apologize back?” I’d tell them: “That’s not something you can control, so don’t let it eat at you.”

That’s what amazes me about lying. Most people who have told a lie think they got away with it ...when in fact, they didn’t.

My message is this: There is more than one way to measure profits and losses. On every level, institutions can and should have a heart.

No job should be beneath us. And if you can’t (or won’t) sort mail, where is the proof that you can do anything?

The reason I tell this story is to emphasize how sensitive you need to be when crossing from one culture to another— in my students’ cases, from school to their first job.

And he said: “Because you’re such a good salesman, and if you go work for a company, they’re going to use you as a salesman. If you’re going to be a salesman, you might as well be selling something worthwhile, like education.”

It’s interesting, the secrets you decide to reveal at the end of your life.

I should have been telling that story for years, because the moral is: If you want something bad enough, never give up (and take a boost when offered).

Sometimes, all you have to do is ask.

Sometimes, all you have to do is ask, and it can lead to all your dreams coming true.