“We cannot change the
cards we are dealt, just how we play the game.” —Dr. Randy Pausch
There is a line in the
song, “Do You Believe In Magic” that goes, “The magic is in the music, and the
music is in me.” For many people, that’s where their music remains, inside
bottled up. They take their music to the grave having never sung their song and
never experiencing the magic.
Dr. Randy Pausch was
not such a man. He died July 25, 2008, at the age of 48. He was a professor at
Carnegie Mellon University located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. That same year,
US News named Carnegie Mellon one of the America’s Best Colleges. The following
thoughts aren’t about one of the best colleges in America; they are about one
of the great men of our times, Randy Pausch.
Randy died before his
time. He would say he died at his appointed time. Pausch, who was a computer science professor
and virtual reality pioneer, died of complications from pancreatic cancer. His
fame is the result of his “Last Lecture.” This lecture was part of a long-standing
academic tradition at Carnegie Mellon.
After agreeing to give the speech but, a month before delivering it,
Pausch’s doctor told him that he was in the early stages of the terminal
disease.
The book, “The Last
Lecture,” based on Pausch’s last lecture became a No. 1 bestseller with over
8-million copies in print in 29 languages. More than 6 million people have
viewed highlights or the entirety of the 76-minute talk on how to make the most
of life.
On achieving goals, Dr.
Pausch said, “It’s not about how to achieve your dreams; it’s about how to live
your life. If you live your life the right way, the karma will take care of
itself; the dreams will come to you.”
Two of Pausch’s
thoughts stand out. First, “Life is not complicated, and it is not fair.”
Ancient Greek philosopher, Epictetus said, “See things for what they are.
Things and people are not what we wish them to be or what they seem to be. They
are what they are. When something happens, the only thing within your power is
your attitude toward it; you can either accept it or resent it.”
The second insight
deals with the brick walls we encounter the motivation for this article. “The
brick walls are not there to keep us out,” Pausch said, “The brick walls are
there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.
Brick walls,
roadblocks, obstacles, however, you describe adversity is the thing that stands
between you and success. Dr. Norman
Vincent Peal described obstacles as, “What you see when you take your eyes off
your goals.” Everyone at sometimes takes his or her eyes off their targets and
hits a brick wall. It is not that you encounter obstacles but how you respond
to them that determines failure or success.
It is easy to respond
by blaming circumstances or other people for our inability to penetrate the
brick walls. Individuals who react in this way we described as "victims.
Things happen to them. They usually have a love for the familiar. Status quo is
their watchword. They accept the way things are, even if they are bad. For
these people, the familiar is better than the unknown. These people are the OTHER people of which
Pausch spoke.
But the Pausch's of the
world welcome brick walls and relish the challenge of moving around, over,
under or through them. They know the goal they seek is on the other side of the
wall and nothing will keep them from achieving it.
If today was your last
day, would people be left with the impression that you are a Victim (you kept
the music within) or, would they know you sang your song?
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