If you were on Digg or Slashdot yesterday, you might notice an article titled “Last Lecture“. Yes, it’s an eyeball-catching title, but it’s true. Prof. Randy Pausch from CMU gets incurable pancreatic cancer and is dying soon. He gave this lecture and talked about his childhood dreams several days ago at CMU, which was his “last lecture”.

Here are my understandings towards his lecture.

  1. Don’t panic, there are lots of brick walls in our life — all kinds of difficulties. Break them!

  2. How many dreams did you hold in your childhood? Can you write/have you written them down? How many items on that list are checked?

  3. Leave something for the world. All of us are dying anyway, but we can choose to leave a legacy or just die like an insect.

  4. Let our bodies to the dust, but let the souls be everlasting. Live free, and die with your own significance.

I strongly recommend this video for everyone, the “last lecture” from Prof. Randy Pausch.

And of course, the perfect Time Management talk.