Pausch on Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Pausch on How to Achieve Your Childhood Dreams

• We can't control the cards we're dealt, but only how we play them.
• Focus not on problems or death, but on how to live.
• Never give up dreams, childlike wonder, and enthusiasm.
• We benefit and learn from pursuing dreams, even if we never achieve them.
• Experience is what we get when we don't get what we wanted.
• If no one tells us when we're doing a poor job, that means others have given up on us.
• When someone pushes us, it's because they care that we are our best.
• Rejection letters are inspirational -- one more avenue explored.
• "Brick walls" are there to give us a chance to show how much we want "it."
• Have fun all the time, every day. Consciously choose to enjoy life.
• Humility is important.
• Expressing creativity is more important than pristine surroundings -- let kids paint their dreams on their bedrooms walls, and forget the resale value.
• No whining, no self-pity. ("When your father was your age, he was fighting the Germans.")
• Value people over things.
• Choose to be a "Tigger," not an "Eeyore."
• Work and play well with others: tell the truth, apologize when wrong, and look for the best in others.
• A true apology says, "I'm sorry. It was my fault. How can I make it right?"
• No one is pure evil -- be patient, and the good side will show itself.
• Show gratitude: It's simple and powerful.
• Don't complain -- just work harder.
• If we live life the right way, dreams will come to us, and karma will work itself out.

Randy Pausch died yesterday at the age of 47.