Last week, I came across a video on Randy Pausch where I learned about successful living. Randy Pauch was a computer science Professor in the USA who delivered a lecture called “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” It was his last lecture after he learned that he had pancreatic cancer and had few months to live. He decided to give this last lecture as a legacy to his children and as a way of encouraging people to live their best lives. I read his book and decided to share some of the lessons I learned. Enjoy!

Address the Elephant in the room: there may be times when you find yourself in an uncomfortable situation where there are issues that have not been addressed. This could be due to the seriousness, the negative connotation or the discomfort such issues bring up. The best thing to do is to address them no matter how difficult they may be. Just as Randy Pausch says “when there is an elephant in the room, introduce it.” What I have learned is that when you introduce the elephant, it helps everyone in the long run and eventually, people will be glad you did.


There are no impossibilities: Although this is a cliché that has been used several times, it is true. No matter the obstacle that may be in front of you, take a step of faith. Sometimes the obstacles may seem too big or people might say it’s impossible but you could be the person to make it possible. I remember during my undergraduate studies, a senior colleague told me that it was impossible to graduate with a first class given that I had no previous knowledge of the course. According to my colleague, a “beginner” as it was called then, had never achieved such a feat in the department. Well, yours truly did it and the rest they say is history. Randy says “the brick walls are there for a reason. They are not there to keep us out. They are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.” How badly do you want to fulfill that dream?

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