Posted by Bud Ward on Wed, Jul 30, 2008 @ 10:00 PM
I first heard about Randy Pausch a few months ago when he was the subject of one of Diane Sawyer's specials. For those of you who don't know, he was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who passed away last week from pancreatic cancer. Randy was born in Baltimore, MD and spent his childhood in Columbia, MD. He became famous because of the lecture he delivered at Carnegie Mellon's traditional "Last Lecture." During the presentation, he recounted many events in his personal and professional life that highlighted important messages that he wanted to convey. His style is a mix of comedy, honesty, humility, wisdom, and intelligence. He discusses the achieving childhood dreams, enabling the dreams of others, and how we might we might do both. Some of his key points include:
Decide if you are "Tigger" or "Eeyore"
Never lose the child-like wonder
Help others
Loyalty is a two-way street
Never give up
How to get people to help you
Show gratitude
Don't complain, just work harder
Be good at something: it makes you valuable
Find the best in everybody; no matter how long you have to wait for them to show it
Be prepared: "luck" is where preparation meets opportunity
Two other ideas that Randy presents are the "brick wall" and the "head fake." Brick walls are those obstacles in life the slow us down from achieving our goals. In his view, they give us an opportunity to show how badly we want something. When you come across a brick wall, you have to decide if you are going through it or if you will let it stop you from achieving your goals.
The "head fake" is indirect learning that happens without our knowledge. Childhood sports are a great example of the head fake. Kids learn how to play the sport as expected, but the head fake is that they also learn about teamwork, leadership, motivation, and other important life skills.
Dr. Pausch has inspired millions of people worldwide. I've included the full video of his lecture below. I hope that you find it inspirational as well. If you would like to learn about Randy Pausch click here.
Posted by Bud Ward on Fri, Jul 11, 2008 @ 09:10 PM
Verizon Wireless has an upgrade program called "new every two" that gives customers discounts when upgrading their cell phones. The purpose of the program is to encourage people to stay with Verizon and to get them excited about using the service again.
This concept can also be applied to staying active. When I was finishing college about fifteen years ago, I wanted to find new ways to stay in shape. My goal was to try something new every couple of years. I used to joke that I was doing this to "prove that I wasn't getting older". Of course, the reality is that we do get older no matter how hard we try to deny it. However, this doesn't mean that we can't still be active and function at high levels.
Over the last fifteen years, I've participated in indoor soccer, outdoor soccer, martial arts, distance running, and yoga. There have been a few injuries over the years and I still get sore for a day or two after particularly physical soccer games, but I enjoy being able to play. I've always used weight training a core component of my exercise program, but the variety of other activities has helped keep me motivated to stay in shape.
Variety in exercise serves that same purpose as Verizon's "new every two" program. It encourages you to stay with the program and it gets you excited about it. Many people perform the same exercise "routine" for years without any significant changes. The same exercises, the same resistance, the same days of the week, etc. A routine is just that . . . Routine. It is not exciting - it's just part of the routine in our life. When the schedule gets hectic, the exercise "routine" is often the first thing to get cut from our to do lists.
If you really want to stay active throughout your life, you have to commit to it and make it a non-negotiable part of your schedule. Decide to try something new every so often to keep things interesting. Choose activities that you enjoy and are likely to continue. Of course, always make sure you prepare for any new activity appropriately with medical clearance.