Randy Pausch
Lecture: Time Management
The Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
Randy Pausch ABC Special about the "Last Lecture", April 2008
The "Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch
Remembering Randy Pausch
Time is all that matters.
University of Virginia - Nov. 28, 2007— In October 1998, Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor Randy Pausch lectured on time management at the University of Virginia, where he had taught for nine years.
That day, Pausch began by explaining that his interest in time management was piqued "when I realized that I wasn't going to find a way to make more time."
On Nov. 27, just more than 10 years later, Pausch returned to U.Va. to reprise that lecture.
He still has not found a way to make more time. In fact, he now considers himself an authority about what to do with limited time.
In 2006, Pausch, 47, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In August, doctors told him that he had "three to six months of good health left."
In September, Pausch delivered a lecture titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" as part of the "last lecture" series at Carnegie Mellon in which faculty are asked to give a hypothetical final talk. The lecture became a worldwide phenomenon, although he has said he intended it for his children.
A Webcast of the presentation was downloaded more than a million times, spawning articles in newspapers around the country. Pausch gave a mini-version on "Oprah," was named "Person of the Week" by ABC's World News, and is collaborating with Wall Street Journal columnist Jeff Zaslow on a book based on the lecture.
On Tuesday, U.Va. computer science professor Gabe Robins introduced Pausch as the perfect mentor – a combination of Yoda, Captain James T. Kirk and Jim Carrey.
"He has raised the level of fun in education to new dimensions," Robins said. "Randy Pausch's impact will continue to touch many people for years to come."
Many people had to be turned away from hearing the lecture. Speaking to a capacity crowd in Old Cabell Hall, Pausch mentioned his health only briefly while offering pragmatic advice on how to manage what he called "the only commodity that matters — time."
Those in attendance, who included many colleagues, and students and others who have never known him, gave him a standing ovation when he walked onstage and listened quietly for an hour and a half with occasional chuckling to the advice that came with such a deadline. Pausch, known for his humorous delivery, did not disappoint, peppering his suggestions with funny stories and pictures from his life — like the one of him "delegating" to his infant daughter holding her own bottle.
Pausch said he was giving the talk at U.Va. because he told Robins he would and he was still physically able. Later he mentioned that one of his most important pieces of advice is to keep a promise, although trying to renegotiate is permissible. He was able to fulfill his top priority of spending time with family, as well, he said, because he was visiting his U.Va. "family," for one thing, and for another, he brought his sister, his niece, who is a fourth-year student at the University, and his nephew, whom he recommended as a future graduate student in history, to the Grounds.
Urging the audience to balance work and family life, he said people with partners and children are often good models for time management, because they have a more immediate sense of the cost of time.
Pausch, a father of three, talked about how to set goals, how to avoid wasting time, how to delegate and how to deal with stress and procrastination. One of his goals for passing along this advice, he said, is to allow time for having fun.
A master multi-tasker, he said a speaker-phone is a must to free up your hands, as are two or three computer screens – it's the big desk you need, he declared. His latest time-saver is making necessary phone calls while riding his bicycle for exercise, talking via a headset.
If you can't pull off that feat, make calls right before lunch to help keep them short. "You may think you're important, but you're not as important as lunch," he said.
Pausch also talked about managing e-mail and eliminating time-wasting television.
"Americans are very, very bad at dealing with time as a commodity. We're really good at dealing with money as a commodity," said Paush, whose ground-breaking research includes the founding of "Alice," a computer animation design tool that was born at U.Va.
Pausch told the audience to "find your creative time and defend it ruthlessly."
Pragmatic proverbs and technological time-savers were not all the former professor had to offer. He described two other items he has kept on his clean, sparse desk at work: a box of tissues (originally for stressed-out graduate students during times when they felt particularly overwhelmed and were most likely to cry) and a box of thank-you cards to express one's gratitude at a moment's notice. Being thoughtful and compassionate toward others is a high priority on his list, and not without its place in time management.
"When you get good at time management," he said, "you realize that it's a collaborative thing. I want to make everybody more efficient. How do we all, collectively, get more done?"
Pausch said that he intends the advice on time management "as a gift" to show people how to make more time in their lives.
Toward the close of his talk, which included specific tasks to get people on the right track to managing their time, Pausch suggested revisiting the topic in 30 days — by watching the talk or reading a detailed outline of it, posted online at www.randypausch.com — to measure any progress made.
"Time management makes you figure out what's important and what's not," he said. "Time is all we have. You may find one day that you have less than you think."
That day, Pausch began by explaining that his interest in time management was piqued "when I realized that I wasn't going to find a way to make more time."
On Nov. 27, just more than 10 years later, Pausch returned to U.Va. to reprise that lecture.
He still has not found a way to make more time. In fact, he now considers himself an authority about what to do with limited time.
In 2006, Pausch, 47, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In August, doctors told him that he had "three to six months of good health left."
In September, Pausch delivered a lecture titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" as part of the "last lecture" series at Carnegie Mellon in which faculty are asked to give a hypothetical final talk. The lecture became a worldwide phenomenon, although he has said he intended it for his children.
A Webcast of the presentation was downloaded more than a million times, spawning articles in newspapers around the country. Pausch gave a mini-version on "Oprah," was named "Person of the Week" by ABC's World News, and is collaborating with Wall Street Journal columnist Jeff Zaslow on a book based on the lecture.
On Tuesday, U.Va. computer science professor Gabe Robins introduced Pausch as the perfect mentor – a combination of Yoda, Captain James T. Kirk and Jim Carrey.
"He has raised the level of fun in education to new dimensions," Robins said. "Randy Pausch's impact will continue to touch many people for years to come."
Many people had to be turned away from hearing the lecture. Speaking to a capacity crowd in Old Cabell Hall, Pausch mentioned his health only briefly while offering pragmatic advice on how to manage what he called "the only commodity that matters — time."
Those in attendance, who included many colleagues, and students and others who have never known him, gave him a standing ovation when he walked onstage and listened quietly for an hour and a half with occasional chuckling to the advice that came with such a deadline. Pausch, known for his humorous delivery, did not disappoint, peppering his suggestions with funny stories and pictures from his life — like the one of him "delegating" to his infant daughter holding her own bottle.
Pausch said he was giving the talk at U.Va. because he told Robins he would and he was still physically able. Later he mentioned that one of his most important pieces of advice is to keep a promise, although trying to renegotiate is permissible. He was able to fulfill his top priority of spending time with family, as well, he said, because he was visiting his U.Va. "family," for one thing, and for another, he brought his sister, his niece, who is a fourth-year student at the University, and his nephew, whom he recommended as a future graduate student in history, to the Grounds.
Urging the audience to balance work and family life, he said people with partners and children are often good models for time management, because they have a more immediate sense of the cost of time.
Pausch, a father of three, talked about how to set goals, how to avoid wasting time, how to delegate and how to deal with stress and procrastination. One of his goals for passing along this advice, he said, is to allow time for having fun.
A master multi-tasker, he said a speaker-phone is a must to free up your hands, as are two or three computer screens – it's the big desk you need, he declared. His latest time-saver is making necessary phone calls while riding his bicycle for exercise, talking via a headset.
If you can't pull off that feat, make calls right before lunch to help keep them short. "You may think you're important, but you're not as important as lunch," he said.
Pausch also talked about managing e-mail and eliminating time-wasting television.
"Americans are very, very bad at dealing with time as a commodity. We're really good at dealing with money as a commodity," said Paush, whose ground-breaking research includes the founding of "Alice," a computer animation design tool that was born at U.Va.
Pausch told the audience to "find your creative time and defend it ruthlessly."
Pragmatic proverbs and technological time-savers were not all the former professor had to offer. He described two other items he has kept on his clean, sparse desk at work: a box of tissues (originally for stressed-out graduate students during times when they felt particularly overwhelmed and were most likely to cry) and a box of thank-you cards to express one's gratitude at a moment's notice. Being thoughtful and compassionate toward others is a high priority on his list, and not without its place in time management.
"When you get good at time management," he said, "you realize that it's a collaborative thing. I want to make everybody more efficient. How do we all, collectively, get more done?"
Pausch said that he intends the advice on time management "as a gift" to show people how to make more time in their lives.
Toward the close of his talk, which included specific tasks to get people on the right track to managing their time, Pausch suggested revisiting the topic in 30 days — by watching the talk or reading a detailed outline of it, posted online at www.randypausch.com — to measure any progress made.
"Time management makes you figure out what's important and what's not," he said. "Time is all we have. You may find one day that you have less than you think."
Time of your life
By Steve Austin - The Cavalier Daily
As exams approach, students collectively wonder where the semester has gone. As they look to make every minute count before finals, others have an even greater reason to manage their time efficiently. Randy Pausch, a former University and Carnegie Mellon computer science professor, has been dealing with that very concern as his pancreatic cancer diagnosis gave him three to six months to live — more than three months ago.
After his September “Last Public Lecture” to family, friends and coworkers at Carnegie Mellon was viewed “over a million times” online, according to Pausch, he appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” was named “Person of the Week” on ABC World News and received $6.7 million for the rights to publish a book co-authored by himself titled “The Last Lecture.” He brought a revised “Time Management” talk to Grounds yesterday to an Old Cabell Hall filled to capacity.
When he appeared on Oprah’s show in October, Oprah praised Pausch’s optimistic candor, saying the point of death was for people to value life. Keeping true to this idea, Pausch’s talk only briefly mentioned his medical condition and focused on life — not death.
“The lecture on ‘Oprah’ was good advice but more general,” Pausch said following his presentation at the University. But “both lectures were meant to help people enjoy their lives more.”
Pausch opened his University lecture with a short explanation of his condition, noting he was told Aug. 15 he had three to six months to live. When he spoke last night, he was at three months and 12 days.
“At this point, I’m an authority on what to do with limited time,” Pausch said.
Pausch never dwelled on his illness, instead using jokes throughout his speech.
“I continue to be in relatively good health,” Pausch said. “Chemotherapy — I highly recommend it.”
Pausch called his lecture a “pragmatic” means to managing one’s time through everyday changes. With his speech peppered with “Saturday Night Live” references, inside jokes to his family in the audience and several Disney World mentions (Pausch was at one point a Disney Imagineer), Pausch kept the mood light.
Throughout the talk, he stressed the value of time. As he said, it is “the only commodity that matters.”
Pausch said few people have ever said time and money were equivalent, though he noted time is even more important, as “you can’t ever get it back.” He then asked audience members if any of them felt they have enough time. No hands went up.
“We just have too many things to do and not enough time to do them,” Pausch said.
With too little time already, the universal problem for everyone is wasting even more time, Pausch said. Because lost time is such a large problem, managing one’s priorities has a number of benefits.
“Being successful doesn’t make you manage your time well,” Pausch said. “Managing your time well makes you successful.”
Pausch asked members of the audience how many of them had to-do lists with them at the lecture. The majority raised their hands, yet Pausch said there is more to to-do lists than simply listing tasks. People need to break them into smaller, manageable parts, a point he illustrated by discussing how he convinced his children to clean their rooms by isolating messy areas one by one.
Borrowing from Stephen Covey’s “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” he also stressed that lists should be ordered first by importance, then by when they are due.
With so many things to do in life, Pausch said one must avoid time-hogging distractions at all costs.
“How do you keep these unimportant things from sucking away your life?” Pausch asked. “You learn to say ‘no.’”
He covered e-mail inboxes, office space, telephone usage and interactions with others as he offered ways to avoid distractions in everyday activities. His tips ranged from the subtle — calling people right before lunch or the end of the workday to make sure they want to keep the conversation short — to overt action, such as walking out of the room when someone doesn’t get the hint they are no longer welcome.
“You don’t find time for important things, you make it,” Pausch said.
Pausch also said procrastination is another way to waste time because “we’re all essentially deadline-driven.” Pausch said procrastination usually occurs because of a fear of embarrassment, fear of failure or a simple fear of asking.
He explained that ultimately, maximizing time is just the means to an end.
“The end is maximizing fun,” he said.
Computer Science Prof. Gabriel Robins, once mentored by Pausch at the University, was instrumental in arranging the opportunity for University students to hear Pausch’s advice.
Afterward, Robins called it one of the greatest lectures he had ever heard — “a lecture that keeps on giving.”
Word spread in advance about the lecture so that 30 minutes before its start, the line was out the door.
Robins explained that despite significant interest in the lecture — evidenced by people traveling from other states to hear the speech — the task of “getting Randy away from his family” to give the presentation was daunting.
Pausch was not entirely without his family though. His nephew, a William & Mary sophomore, and niece, fourth-year Education student Laura Woolley, were in attendance.
Woolley said life with a time-managing guru in the family is unique.
“I definitely feel pressure to follow all the instructions,” she said, adding jokingly, “there’s always the possibility he might check in.”
But Pausch does not spend all his time lecturing about time management.
“He’s spending time where he needs to spend time … with his family,” Woolley said, mentioning their recent Thanksgiving together.
Pausch listed his current priorities as his family, medical treatment and planning for his family’s future without him.
“Time is all we have,” Pausch said. “And you may find one day you have less than you thought.”
After his September “Last Public Lecture” to family, friends and coworkers at Carnegie Mellon was viewed “over a million times” online, according to Pausch, he appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” was named “Person of the Week” on ABC World News and received $6.7 million for the rights to publish a book co-authored by himself titled “The Last Lecture.” He brought a revised “Time Management” talk to Grounds yesterday to an Old Cabell Hall filled to capacity.
When he appeared on Oprah’s show in October, Oprah praised Pausch’s optimistic candor, saying the point of death was for people to value life. Keeping true to this idea, Pausch’s talk only briefly mentioned his medical condition and focused on life — not death.
“The lecture on ‘Oprah’ was good advice but more general,” Pausch said following his presentation at the University. But “both lectures were meant to help people enjoy their lives more.”
Pausch opened his University lecture with a short explanation of his condition, noting he was told Aug. 15 he had three to six months to live. When he spoke last night, he was at three months and 12 days.
“At this point, I’m an authority on what to do with limited time,” Pausch said.
Pausch never dwelled on his illness, instead using jokes throughout his speech.
“I continue to be in relatively good health,” Pausch said. “Chemotherapy — I highly recommend it.”
Pausch called his lecture a “pragmatic” means to managing one’s time through everyday changes. With his speech peppered with “Saturday Night Live” references, inside jokes to his family in the audience and several Disney World mentions (Pausch was at one point a Disney Imagineer), Pausch kept the mood light.
Throughout the talk, he stressed the value of time. As he said, it is “the only commodity that matters.”
Pausch said few people have ever said time and money were equivalent, though he noted time is even more important, as “you can’t ever get it back.” He then asked audience members if any of them felt they have enough time. No hands went up.
“We just have too many things to do and not enough time to do them,” Pausch said.
With too little time already, the universal problem for everyone is wasting even more time, Pausch said. Because lost time is such a large problem, managing one’s priorities has a number of benefits.
“Being successful doesn’t make you manage your time well,” Pausch said. “Managing your time well makes you successful.”
Pausch asked members of the audience how many of them had to-do lists with them at the lecture. The majority raised their hands, yet Pausch said there is more to to-do lists than simply listing tasks. People need to break them into smaller, manageable parts, a point he illustrated by discussing how he convinced his children to clean their rooms by isolating messy areas one by one.
Borrowing from Stephen Covey’s “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” he also stressed that lists should be ordered first by importance, then by when they are due.
With so many things to do in life, Pausch said one must avoid time-hogging distractions at all costs.
“How do you keep these unimportant things from sucking away your life?” Pausch asked. “You learn to say ‘no.’”
He covered e-mail inboxes, office space, telephone usage and interactions with others as he offered ways to avoid distractions in everyday activities. His tips ranged from the subtle — calling people right before lunch or the end of the workday to make sure they want to keep the conversation short — to overt action, such as walking out of the room when someone doesn’t get the hint they are no longer welcome.
“You don’t find time for important things, you make it,” Pausch said.
Pausch also said procrastination is another way to waste time because “we’re all essentially deadline-driven.” Pausch said procrastination usually occurs because of a fear of embarrassment, fear of failure or a simple fear of asking.
He explained that ultimately, maximizing time is just the means to an end.
“The end is maximizing fun,” he said.
Computer Science Prof. Gabriel Robins, once mentored by Pausch at the University, was instrumental in arranging the opportunity for University students to hear Pausch’s advice.
Afterward, Robins called it one of the greatest lectures he had ever heard — “a lecture that keeps on giving.”
Word spread in advance about the lecture so that 30 minutes before its start, the line was out the door.
Robins explained that despite significant interest in the lecture — evidenced by people traveling from other states to hear the speech — the task of “getting Randy away from his family” to give the presentation was daunting.
Pausch was not entirely without his family though. His nephew, a William & Mary sophomore, and niece, fourth-year Education student Laura Woolley, were in attendance.
Woolley said life with a time-managing guru in the family is unique.
“I definitely feel pressure to follow all the instructions,” she said, adding jokingly, “there’s always the possibility he might check in.”
But Pausch does not spend all his time lecturing about time management.
“He’s spending time where he needs to spend time … with his family,” Woolley said, mentioning their recent Thanksgiving together.
Pausch listed his current priorities as his family, medical treatment and planning for his family’s future without him.
“Time is all we have,” Pausch said. “And you may find one day you have less than you thought.”
Book: "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch
The Disney-owned publisher Hyperion paid $6.7 million for the rights to publish a book about Pausch called The Last Lecture, co-authored by Pausch and Wall Street Journal reporter Jeffery Zaslow. The book became a New York Times best-seller on April 28, 2008. The Last Lecture expands on Pausch's speech. The book's first printing had 400,000 copies, and it has been translated into 46 languages. It has spent more than 85 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, and there are now more than 4.5 million copies in print in the U.S. alone. Despite speculation that the book would be made into a movie, Pausch had denied these rumors, stating that "there's a reason to do the book, but if it's telling the story of the lecture in the medium of film, we already have that."
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Voicemail - 000-000-0000
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with anyone at anytime for any reason. We hate spam even more than you do!
(B) Any correspondence to "Learn from the Giants" may be reproduced
in any format for the benefit of all our subscribers.
(C) If we have, by accident, published something you or your company holds a copyright for,
and you want it removed from this website, email us and
we will cheerfully comply with your request.
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All original content on this site is (c) 2010-2011 by James Edward Vaughan - All other content owned by the respective copyright holders.
"Learn From The Giants" has an affiliate relationship with some links on this site.
