The Last Lecture- Lessons in Living

What will you do if you have only a few months to Live? How will you make it count? How will you ensure that your legacy is left?

Author and the Professor, Randy Paush, summarized his life and his thoughts in a concise and crisp fashion in this book called - "The Last Lecture- Lessons in Living". He was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and knew that he has only a few months to live. In this book, he explained his mental agitation in handling the news, tried to make sense from his past experiences in life and give a message to the future. I became emotional reading the last chapter where he embraces her wife, Jay, after his last lecture, kisses her as she whispers in his ears- "Please don't die!!". What a dramatic, emotional and heavy moment!

We all know that we have a limited amount of time on this planet, yet we behave as if we are here for ever. Randy has come face to face with truth because of cancer and battled bravely with it. May his soul rest in peace.

Hope we all realize this universal truth that our time is limited and we should make every second and every minute count. :)

I would like to say to my Wife,  Anusha, "I love you"!
I love you Dad & Mom and I love you my Sisters!

Top ideas/inspirations from this book

• Advice on how to negotiate better: "Never make a decision until you have to"
• If you are in a position of strength, you have to play fair
• Just because you are in the driver's seat, doesn't mean you have to run people over
• Have something to bring to the table, that will make you more welcom
• Working on Fundamentals : 
• You have got to get the fundamentals right, because otherwise the fancy stuff is not going to work
• Good football analogy- How may are touching the ball at any moment?
• Only one! Hence we need to work on what the other 21 guys are doing :) 
• When you are screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they've given up on you
• AI - Watch the movie "Star Trek" & observe Kirk's leadership skills
• Kirk was the distilled essence of a dynamic manager- a guy knew how to delegate, had the passion to inspire and looked good in what he wore to the work
• Shanter, who played Kirk, was the ultimate example of a man who knew what he didn't know, was perfectly willing to admit it, and didn't want to leave until he understood. That's Heroic to me
• Kirk- "I don't believe in No-Win scenario"
• AI - Let other people finish their sentences while they are talking. Don't prompt or suggest words
• AI - If you don't know what should be the bar for your team, just say- 
• Guys, that was pretty good, but I know you can do better
• Randy on winning Stuffed animal- 
• I didn't want anyone to know how long it took me to be successful. Tenacity is a virtue, but it's not always crucial for everyone to observe how hard you work at something
• Randy's mantra: 
• 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 prove how badly we want something.
• Brick walls are there to stop people who don't want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people. 
• Sometimes the most impenetrable brick walls are made of flesh ( about other people as hurdles)
• Do your preparation or home work on the topic before you meet any expert. This projects a good image of you and shows your preparedness. Also, it is easy to look smart when you're parroting the smart people. So go out and get knowledge from all the smart people you know
• AI- Start my Imagineer team! 
• Be supportive to your wife. If you love her, support her
• Cars should be used as Utilitarian devices and not to show social status. If you have dents and still it runs fine, I would use them
• You buy new clothes when your old clothes wear out! 
• Time Management tips
• Time must be explicitly managed like Money
• Have to-do list with small tasks of steps. Ex: Don't put get healthy. Write- go to gym 1hr
• Ask- Am I spending time on right things?
• Learn to effectively Delegate
• Take time out (no emails or business calls!)
• Only way any of us can improve is if we develop a real ability to assess ourselves. If we can't accurately do that, how can we tell if we're getting better or worse?
• Getting people to welcome feedback is the hardest thing
• Give yourself permission to dream. Fuel your Kid's dreams too! 
• Somehow, with the passage of time and the deadlines that life imposes, surrendering became the right thing to do
• Don't complain, Just work harder
• If you put one-tenth of energy you put into complaining and applied it to problem solving, you'd be surprised by how well things can work out
• AI - Read life stories of Jackie Robinson & Sandy Blatt
• Complaining doesn't work as a Strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it wont make us happier
• Treat the Disease, not the Symptoms
• Ex: She would breathe out in meditation, telling herself that her money problems would one day be behind her
• Her symptoms were stress and anxiety. Her disease was the money she owed
• AI:How can I apply this and help my father?
• Team work-
• Find things you have in common
• Try for optimal meeting conditions. Ex: find lunch, coffee etc
• Let everyone talk
• Praise each other
• Check egos at the door
• Phrase alternatives as questions:
• AI : Ex: Instead of "I think we should do A, not B", say "What if we did A, instead of B?"
• AI: Important to Just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do
• This will help to understand the other person
• Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity
• It's not how hard you hit. It's how hard you get hit... and keep moving forward
• Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted
• Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other. Send handwritten - Thank you notes to express sincere gratitude
• Hard work is like compounded interest in the bank. The rewards build faster
• Go out and do for others what somebody did for you
• Be prepared and have contingency plans. Ex: Randy's friend having extra bulb in projector
• How do deliver apology: 
• Proper apology have 3 parts:
• What I did was wrong
• I feel badly that I hurt you
• How do I make this better?
• Bad apologies:
• I am sorry you feel hurt by what I've done
• I apologize for what I did, but you also need to apologize to me for what you've done
• More than one way to measure Profits:
• There is more than one way to measure profits and losses. One every level, institutions can and should have a heart
• No job is beneath you:
• AI: Work in different fields, part time over weekends to experience all jobs
• Ex: Be a teacher, be a cab driver, be a hard laborer, be a vegetable vendor, be a farmer
• It makes no sense to talk about rights without also talking about responsibilities
• When we're connected to others, we become better people
• Everyone has to contribute to the common good. To not do so can be described in one word: Selfish
• All you have to do is Ask
• Don't hesitate to ask for time of senior & important people
• AI: Create an yearly get together with close friends
• AI: Check out website: Stop sucking and live a life of Abundance
• Encourage kids to ask full sentence questions instead of they  saying just "why?"
• For kids: I want them to find their own path to fulfillment

Regards,

Vish