THE EDITOR Letter from By Debby Zelman Rapoport W Quotes by Randy Pausch hen dusting off some motivational books on my shelf, I came across The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch, and when flipping through it, I remembered how inspirational it was. Randy Pausch, the positive, energetic college professor, became widely known for his “Last Lecture” that was delivered at Carnegie Mellon University on September 18, 2007. The book, based on the lecture, was co-written by Pausch and Wall Street Journal reporter Jeffrey Zaslow in 2008. In the lecture, Pausch talks about his childhood dreams (and how he achieved them), enabling the dreams of others, and lessons learned: How you can achieve your dreams or enable the dreams of others. When Pausch wrote his lecture, he did so as a lasting legacy for his children after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. We’re all here for a finite amount of time, and when applying these lessons, we can truly live out our dreams. “It’s not about how to achieve your dreams, but how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the Karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you.” “The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.” • Life is precious. • Don’t compare your life to others, you have no idea what their journey is all about. • Invest your energy in the positive, present moment. • Don’t take yourself so seriously, nobody else does. • Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip. • Dream more while you are awake. • Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. • Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present. • No one is in charge of your happiness except you. • Smile and laugh more. • You don’t have to win every argument. • Agree to disagree. • Call your family often. • Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6. • Try to make at least three people smile each day. • What other people think of you is none of your business. • Your job will not take care of you when you are sick. Your family and friends will. Stay in touch. • Do the right things. • However good or bad a situation is, it will change. • No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up. • Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful. • Never stop believing in your dreams. • Be good at something – It makes you valuable. • Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. • Never lose the child-like wonder. It’s what drives us. • Have fun. • It’s not what you say, but how you say it. • You can have your cake and eat it too. • Work and play well with others. • Apologize when you screw up. • Never give up. • Show gratitude. • Find the best in everybody. • We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand. • Don’t complain. Just work harder. • Get out of your comfort zone. • Luck is where preparation meets opportunity. • People are more important than things. • You can always change your plan but only if you have one. • Time is all you have and you may find one day that you have less than you think. • The best is yet to come. March 2016 n Beachwood Buzz 3