Last Lecture

Randy Pausch's last lecture was really wonderful to watch. Knowing that it was literally his last lecture made his words even more impactful. He had some valuable words of advice for someone, like me, who is still working on making her dreams come true. Some of them have been achieved, I've met a wonderful man and married in the temple, and I have three beautiful children. Others, I'm still working on. One part from his transcript that I want to remember:

But remember, the brick walls are there for a reason.  The brick walls are not there to keep us out.  The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.  Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough.  They’re there to stop the other people.

I think this statement perfectly describes how he's been able to accomplish all of his childhood dreams. He told himself as a child that he was going to do something, then his brain spent the rest of his life trying to figure out how to accomplish it. Half the battle of accomplishing dreams if having the focus to do so. The other half is not letting those brick walls stop us from achieving our dreams.

I'm super impressed that Randy remembered so many of his childhood dreams. I can't say that I remember any of mine, other than having a family of my own. I knew that I always wanted to do something books, since that's pretty much my only hobby, but couldn't pinpoint what that was exactly. I never had any experience like Randy's of vising an amusement park and thinking "I want to build that!" One lesson that did impact me regarding this topic is that I need to do a much better job of recording my thoughts and pivotal life lessons. I'm not sure I could stand up and give a lecture like Randy's, simply because I think I'd struggle to come up with material for it!

Even though I can't recall any of my childhood dreams, I am certainly a dreamer. While it's been unfocused up until now, I think dreaming is essential to who we are. We're creative beings at heart, given the gift of creativity from the very One who created us. Part of that is dreaming up things to create. I'm not saying that every dream will be accomplish in this life, but that's why we have bucket lists. It gives us a place to put all of the dreams, so our brains can start finding creative ways to accomplish them.

An additional quote I want to remember from this week:

It is better to acknowledge conflicts now and think through principled resolutions than to take stopgap measures later. What will you do in the moment of truth? If you hold that your career and parenting responsibilities are equally important, how will you react when your largest customer demands a meeting the very evening of your daughter’s first dance recital? If you have already resolved your long-term priorities and steppingstones, it is likely that you have a plan that compensates in a principled manner. If not, you are faced with being untrue to one side or another. (Jeff Sandefer)