Randy Pausch (1960 – 2008)
Professor of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States and a best-selling author, who achieved worldwide fame for his speech The Last Lecture at Carnegie Mellon University, after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and having only a few months to live.
Get a feedback loop and listen to it. ... When people give you feedback, cherish it and use it.
Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity.
The best way to teach somebody something is to have them think they're learning something else.
Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you. He said, when you are pissed off at somebody, and you're angry at them, you just haven't given them enough time. Just give them a little more time — and they'll almost always impress you. And that really stuck with me. I think he's absolutely right on that one.
Never lose the child-like wonder. It's just too important. It's what drives us.
The key question to keep asking is, Are you spending your time on the right things? Because time is all you have."
Respect authority while questioning it.
What he said was: "You obviously don't know where the bar should be, and you're only going to do a disservice by putting it anywhere." And boy was that good advice.
Look, I'm going to find a way to be happy, and I'd really love to be happy with you, but if I can't be happy with you, then I'll find a way to be happy without you."
Its important to have specific dreams. Dream Big. Dream without fear."
So what is today's talk about then? It's about my childhood dreams and how I've achieved them — I've been very fortunate that way; how I believe I've been able to enable the dreams of others, and to some degree, lessons learned: I'm a professor — there should be some lessons learned — and how you can use the stuff you hear today to enable your dreams or enable the dreams of others. And as you get older you may find that enabling-the-dreams-of-others thing is even more fun.
Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcomed.
When you're screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they've given up on you."
Apologize when you screw up.
The questions are always more important than the answers."
It's not how hard you hit. It's how hard you get hit...and keep moving forward."
Time is all you have and you may find one day that you have less than you think."