"You Can't Control the Cards You're Dealt, Just How You Play the Hand"

Recently, someone brought the story of Randy Pausch to my attention. If you've not heard of him, it is indeed my pleasure to bring Randy to your attention.

Dr. Randy Pausch is a Professor of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He is a 46-year-old husband, and a father of three children, the oldest of whom is 5. He is extraordinarily intelligent, highly accomplished, and he is going to die within six months.

Randy was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in September, 2006. Pancreatic cancer is a particularly deadly form of cancer, and despite his highly aggressive treatment choices, Randy was unable to beat the cruel disease, and now faces certain death. If you'd like to learn more about Randy's battle, I highly recommend his own narrative of the experience.

If faced with such a devastating prognosis -- (as Randy puts it, "I know how this movie is going to end") -- many of us would find it difficult not to wallow in self-pity and wonder why such misfortune had found us. But not Randy. To quote him again, "You can't control the cards you're dealt, just how you play the hand".

Randy received a lot of publicity after a lecture he gave at Carnegie Mellon in September. The lecture -- ironically -- was part of an ongoing series at CMU in which various faculty members were asked to seriously consider what is truly important to them, and to then impart this wisdom in a hypothetical "last lecture". The difference for Randy was that his lecture was no hypothetical.

Pausch's "last lecture" was entitled Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. In this remarkable, roughly 90 minutes-long lecture, Randy speaks with passion, humor, and enthusiasm about the importance of allowing children to have dreams, and about the various steps one can and should take in life to achieve those childhood dreams. The ultimate lesson he offers though, is that how you achieve your dreams is not most important. What is truly important is how you lead your life. As he says, "If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you."

The following are some of the other suggestions that Dr. Pausch made about how to really achieve your childhood dreams -- or more accurately, how to live a good life such that you enable those dreams to come true:

• "When you're screwing up and nobody's saying anything to you anymore, that means they gave up...[and] that's a very bad place to be. Your critics are the ones telling you they still love you and care...When people give you feedback, cherish it and use it."
• "...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 stop the people who don't want it badly enough...brick walls let us show our dedication."
• "Don't bail [out]. The best of the gold's at the bottom of barrels of crap."
  
• "...I don't know how to not have fun. I'm dying and I'm having fun. And I'm going to keep having fun every day I have left. Because there's no other way to play it."
• "Never lose the childlike wonder. It's just too important. It's what drives us."
• "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."
• "Apologize when you screw up and focus on other people, not on yourself."
• "...When you do the right thing, good stuff has a way of happening."
  
• "Help others."
• "Never give up."
• "Show gratitude."
• "Don't complain. Just work harder."
• "Be good at something, it makes you valuable."
• "Work hard."
• "Find the best in everybody."
• "...Be prepared. Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity."
• "You can't get there alone. People have to help you and I do believe in karma. I believe in paybacks."
• "If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you."
  

If you'd like to watch this lecture for yourself, you can find it here.

If you don't have time to view the entire lecture, Randy appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show this week, and gave a shortened (but still powerful) version of the lecture that can be viewed here.

So perhaps this is the perfect way to begin my experiment in "the blogosphere". Maybe in this small way, I am beginning to realize some of my dreams. Regardless, I think Randy Pausch's story, his lecture, and the lessons he offers are incredibly inspirational. I can think of no better first "post" on my blog, and I hope that in some small way, I am paying tribute to him in the process.