Achieving your childhood dreams
INTRODUCTION.
In September 2007, Randy Pausch gave a speech titled “Achieving your childhood dreams” at Carnegie Mellon University. In his speech, Randy uses stories from his personal experiences to teach various lessons on how one can achieve their childhood dreams. He starts by listing his childhood dreams and proceeds to explain in short stories the journey towards achieving each one of his dreams, explaining the lessons he learnt that helped him achieve his dreams.
He demonstrates the importance of various principles he learnt along the way as he pursued each one of his dreams. He uses stories from his personal experiences and quotes numerous people he interacted with throughout his journey in his speech.
He concludes his speech by identifying two fakes in his lecture in a twist of the real purpose of the speech and the people who he prepared the speech for.
THINGS YOU NEED TO DO TO ACHIEVE YOUR DREAMS ACCORDING TO RANDY PAUSCH.
You have to know the fundamentals. Always have the basics of what your dream entails, and be sure to have a proper understanding of your dreams. “You’ve got to get the fundamentals down because otherwise, the fancy stuff isn’t going to work.”
Listen to constructive criticism. When you are doing something, and you receive positive criticism, it shows that there are people who care about what you are doing and want to see you achieve it. From the lecture, “When you see yourself doing something badly, and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your critics are the ones telling you they still love you and care. “
Be enthusiastic about your dreams. Always show interest and enjoy working on your dream. Be passionate.
Do not give up. Even when you face obstacles along the way always remember the obstacles only stop those who do not want something so badly. From the lecture, “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 they brick, walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough.”
Have a mentor. Always have someone who guides and offers excellent support on the journey towards. Make sure the person has your best interests at heart and that he/she demonstrates great qualities that will help you in the journey of pursuing and achieving your dreams.
Work well with other people. You cannot do it alone. Other people will play a role in helping achieve your dreams. You get people to help you by telling the truth, being earnest. I’ll take an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short-term. Earnest is long-term.
Never lose the childlike wonder. It is just so important. It is what drives us. Always believe in making the impossible happen just as much as you believed in it as a child.
Apologize when you screw up and focus on other people not yourself. When you are wrong always acknowledge your fault and ask for forgiveness do not try justifying your actions. Acknowledge you are wrong and ask what you can do to make it better.
Show gratitude. Being grateful is a very simple gesture that can go very far. “When I got tenure, I took all of my research team down to Disney World for a week.”
Do not complain, just work harder. Instead of focusing your energy and time complaining use the time and energy to work on your dreams.
Be prepared. “Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity.” Prepare well for your dreams, gather enough knowledge and skills about your dreams.
WHO WAS THE SPEECH REALLY MEANT FOR?
At the end of the speech, Randy asks his audience if they have figured out a second head fake? He says the speech was not meant for them; the speech was for his kids.