Professor Randy Pausch

This is Professor Randy Pausch's final lecture entitled, "How to Live Your Dreams." He had recently discovered that his battle with pancreatic cancer was lost, and he only had several months - possibly weeks - to live.

He's one of those rare individuals who should not be so rare. If there were more people like him, the world would be an infinitely better place.

Carnegie Mellon is hosting the entire lecture here.

He begins by saying, "If I don't seem as depressed or morose as I should be, sorry to disappoint you." And with that opening, he launches into a lecture that is filled with self-deprecating humor and absolutely no trace of fear or self-pity.

At the end of the lecture, he reveals that the lecture wasn't for the audience - but his three children. As his oldest son's just five, he's focusing on making videos during his remaining days so his younger kids will have something to remember their father.

"I find that I am completely positive. The only times I cry are when I think about the kids --and it's not so much the 'Gee, I'll miss seeing their first bicycle ride' type of stuff as it is a sense of unfulfilled duty -- that I will not be there to help raise them, and that I have left a very heavy burden for my wife."

His wife and children, he said, "mean everything to me. They give a purpose to life and a depth of joy that no job [and I've had some of the most awesome jobs in the world] can begin to provide.

"I hope my wife is able to remarry down the line. And I hope they will remember me as a man who loved them, and did everything he could for them."

Some highlights for me:

Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things. They're there to stop the other people.

Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you.

Respect authority while questioning it.

I don't know how to not have fun. I'm dying when I'm not having fun. I'm going to keep having fun every day that I have left. That is the only way I know how to play the game.

Never lose the child-like wonder. It's just too important. It's what drives us.

Help others.

How do you get people to help you: You can't get there alone, and I believe in Karma. Tell the truth. Be earnest (Hip is short term). Apologize when you screw up. Focus on others, not yourself.

Get a feedback loop; and listen to it.

Don't complain; just work harder.

Be good at something; it makes you valuable.

Find the best in everybody.