THE LAST LECTURE - ACHIEVING YOUR CHILDHOOD DREAMS

Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch gives a lecture on fulfilling childhood dreams. It was his last lecture.



When there's an elephant in the room, introduce it. Randy Pausch has tumors in his liver and understands we can not change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.

What we're not talking about

• Cancer
• Things more important than childhood dreams: my wife and kids
• Spirituality & Religion
• My deathbed conversion

Today's Talk

• My childhood dreams
• Enabling the dreams of others
• Lessons learned: how you can achieve your dreams or enable the dreams of others

My Childhood Dreams

• Being in zero gravity
• Playing in the NFL
• Authoring an article in the World Book encyclopedia
• Being Captain Kirk
• Winning stuffed animals
• Being a Disney Imagineer

The Vomit Comit
Pausch won a contest that allowed students to go on the plane, but under no circumstances were faculty allowed.

Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things

Pausch got around this by finding out that the students are allowed to bring a local journalist. He resigned as faculty advisor and got a press pass to be a journalist. He told NASA that many journalists would be able to film their virtual reality submission that all the students would be trying out. The theme is to have something to bring to the table that would make you more welcome.

Football
Dream: play in the NFL

• Coach Graham
• practice with no football
• fundamentals
• him riding me all practice

Paush remembers one practice when the coach really rode him all day. Another coach told him that he should remember that when you're screwing up and they don't say anything anymore, they gave up. Your critics are the ones telling you they love you and still care.

Coach Setliff

• Power of enthusiasm
• To this day, I am most comfortable on a football field

I Never Made it to the NFL

• But football got me where I am today
• Fundamentals & Hard Work
• "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted"
• Most of what we learn, we learn indirectly (or by "head fake")

Being an author in the World Book Encyclopedia
Pausch was able to write an article about virtual reality in the World Book

Meeting (Being like) Captain Kirk
It's cool to meet your boyhood idol.

Being an Imagineer
Pausch was rejected by Disneyland when he applied for a job.
1991: VR on Five Dollars a Day

Jon Snoddy

• I had to brief the Secretary of Defense
• Disney's Aladdin project
• Lunch with Jon . . .
• But you're in the business of telling stuff, and we're in the business of keeping secrets
• He taught me: "wait, and people will surprise you."

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Have you ever heard the story of the boy who got everything he ever wanted? What happened? He lived happily ever after.

Working on Aladdin VR

• a once in five careers opportunity
• Forever changed me
• real people, real HCI issues
• how to put engineers & artists together

Really being an Imagineer . . . and I said "no."

Enabling the Childhood Dreams of Others
. . . or, "Boy, am I glad I became a professor!"

Building Virtual Worlds

• 50 students from art, design, drama, and CS
• Randomly chosen teams, change per project
• Two weeks to design, implement, and test
• Five projects during the semester

The First Year

• Listed in Five Departments (I love CMU!)
• Content: Anything you want
• No shooting violence
• No pornography
• They blew me away w/first assignment
• I called Andy van Dam
• The first show
• in McConomy for its A/V
• President Cohon's reaction

BVW was a pioneering course

• And as they say . . .

The Dream Fulfillment Factory
Don Marinelli (Drama) and Randy Pausch (CS) created Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center or ETC

• Artists + Technologists working in small teams to make things
• 2 yeaer professional degree: Masters of Entertainment Technology
• Two kindred spirits: try things a new way; we're both a little uncomfortable in academia
• CMU is the only place I know where this could happen

Right Brain/Left Brain
Don & I shared an office for six years

Co-Director Credit for the ETC's Success
About 60% to Don and 40% to Randy

The ETC is to "masters degrees" as Cirque Du Soleil is to "circus"

ETC Curriculum: First Draft
Project course each semester

Actual
First Year Fall
The Visual Story
Improvisational Acting
Intro to Entertainment Technology
Building Virtual Worlds

First Year Spring
ETC Interdisciplinary Project Course II
Elective

Second Year Fall
ETC Interdisciplinary Project Course III
Elective

Second Year Spring
ETC Interdisciplinary Project Course IV
Elective

Key to the ETC's Success: Freedom

• No deans to report to
• License to "Break the mold"
• Project-based curriculum
• Intense, fun student experience
• Field trips!

Edutainment

• Developed with FDNY
• Networked simulation to train 1st responders to chemical spills and terrorist attacks

Companies guaranteed hiring our students
Don has taken the ETC global: Australia, Korea, Singapore

Keys to the ETC's Success: Focus on People and Learning to work in Groups

Alice
The Infinitely Scalable Dream Factory
And I guess this makes me the mad hatter . . .

• Novel way to teach Computer Programming
• Kids make movies and games; the "head fake" is that they are learning to program
• Over 1 million downloads, 8 textbooks, 10% of US colleges using right now

Alice is my Professional Legacy

• Helping millions of kids have fun while learning something hard
• v3.0 will release in 2008, in Java, with characters from the best selling PC game in history: The Sims
• Can't mention everyone, but . . .
• Dennis Cosgrove is building it
• Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, Don Slater are developing the pedagogy
• Caitlin Kelleher is going to hit the home run with middle schoolers

Lessons Learned
The Roles of Parents, Mentors, and Students

My Mom

• The theory qualifier
• My son, the doctor . . .

Other people who help us

• Teachers
• Mentors
• Friends
• Colleagues

Andy van Dam

• Mythical creature
• Dutch uncle-d me my sophomore year - he once told Randy, "it's such a shame that people perceive you as so arrogant, because it's going to limit what you're going to be able to accomplish in life."
  
• Made me go to graduate school - "become a professor because you're such a good salesman, you might as well sell something worthwhile."
  

My "Bosses": Respect authority while questioning it

We learn from our students

• The best "head fake" of all time - Caitlin's idea about storytelling in Alice

President Cohon's Advice

• Tell them about having FUN
• Like a fish talking about importance of water

Decide if you're Tigger or Eeyore

Never lose the Child-like Wonder

Help others
Danny Profitt: Forgotten more than I'll ever know
MK Haley: Limit ease of my large family theory, "It's kind of fun to do the impossible", "Professor boy"
Jessica Hodgins: The best gift ever

Loyalty is a two-way street
Dennis in the dunce cap labeled "Brat 6"

Never Give Up

• Brown University - didn't get in.
• Carnegie Mellon for Graduate School - didn't get in.
• Meeting with Nico

How to Get People to Help You
You can't get there alone, and I believe in Karma
Tell the truth
Be earnest
Apologize when you screw up
Focus on others, not yourself (an example . . .)

Don't bail; the best gold is at the bottom of barrels of crap

Get a feedback loop; and listen to it!

Show Gratitude

Don't complain; just work harder

Important Advice

• Be good at something: it makes you valuable
• Work hard . . . "what's your secret?"
• Find the best in everybody; no matter how you have to wait for them to show it
• Be prepared: "luck" is where preparation meets opportunity

Today's Talk

• My childhood dreams
• Enabling the dreams of others
• Lessons learned: how you can achieve your dreams or enable the dreams of others

How to achieve your dreams

• Have you figured out the head fake?
• Have you figured out the second head fake?

It's not about how to achieve your dreams, it's about how to live your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you.

This talk wasn't for you guys. It was for Dylan, Logan, and Chloe (my kids).

Randy Pausch Lecture on Time Management

MONK #3

It's the end of Monk. It turned out that I got booked on the final episode of Monk. There was a little catered lunch that we got access to, but other than that, the mood was pretty quiet. I wondered if the crew had already had their new gigs lined-up, but you just never know. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I also wondered if the actors were glad they could move-on, or if they began to worry that a steady paycheck was no longer coming - other than the royalties of course.

I played an orderly in a hospital and it was a very simple matter of doing some crosses or walking down the hall. It was a medium-sized call since there were actually some non-union folks that were booked.

This guy Matthew and I started talking and he had an interesting idea about a booking service that was specifically designed for older actors. I thought it was a good idea, but like all ideas, it call comes down to whether it can actually work or not. I told him I would email him so we can shoot some ideas around.

Afterwards, I went to Jansen's and we went to Ashley and her roommates apartment to eat dinner and watch The Hangover.

HAPPY FOR NO REASON

Marci Shimoff, author and motivational speaker, interviews a variety of people to explore the state of happiness.

Studies show we have a happiness set-point. It is similar to our weight. We have a certain range that we fluctuate through in our life.

Happiness Set-Point
The range of happiness we return to no matter what happens to us.
50% Genetics
40% Intentional Activities
10% Life Circumstances

Research in neuroplasticity has demonstrated that the brain changes as we change our habits. Therefore, we can change the brain to be more happy. However, to cultivate feelings of happiness, you must exercise the brain consistently. Much like a jogger can't expect that six months of exercise will generate a lifetime of benefits, one can not expect similar results with the brain.

Raising our happiness set-point is based on practicing new habits of thoughts, feelings and behaviors that support a higher level of happiness.

Negativity Bias
The evolutionary wiring of our brain for survival pre-disposes us to look for the negative in our lives.

Amygdala - Hippocampus (think of these two parts as a circuit)
The hippocampus registers the context of experiences like the slither in the grass that might indicate danger. The amygdala is kind of like the alarm bell ready to ring. The hippocampus keeps the amygdala in check, but chronic stress sensitizes the amygdala and weakens and eats away at the hippocampus. Clearly, our brain can change because of how we react to events.

Step 1: Take responsibility for our own happiness
Empower yourself rather than feeling like a victim. Blame is the expression that you are not responsible for your personal well-being. Blame activates the sympathetic nervous system which causes decay in the body. It also causes mental habits which are linked to our emotional experiences. Blame causes anger, anger causes other changes, causes our focus to narrow. When our focus narrows, we are in a position of fear and helplessness. We can't always control what happens in our lives, so changing our perspective of an event can help change our happiness set-point.

Paraympathetic Nervous System: Calm
Sympathetic Nervous System: Stressed

When you're feeling love, appreciation or gratitude, your heart rhythm will be coherent - smooth and even.
When you're feeling angry, frustrated, or upset, your heart rhythm will be incoherent - erratic.

Our bodies are actually designed to support our happiness. Our immune system reflects our state of being. A robust immune system releases feel good chemicals while a weak one will release bad ones. Simple ways to strengthen and stimulate the para-sympathetic wing of the autonomic nervous system. You can focus on exhaling or just relaxing which activates the para-sympathetic wing.

I'll Be Happy When . . .
Many people get stuck in this myth thus living a life of deferred happiness. We overestimate the happiness we think we'll have by getting the things we want.

The Myth of More
More money does very little to increase our happiness when the basics of food, clothing and shelter are met.

Step 2: Practice forgiveness
Forgiving allows you to heal from a hurt. If you continue being angry, the neuro circuits will begin to get used to this. You can continue to be a loving person even if painful things have happened to you in the past.

Step 3: Focus on gratitude
Another way to heighten your happiness set-point is to focus on things you can be grateful for rather than the negative things in your life. Interestingly, positive emotions seem to act like Teflon while negative experiences tend to stick.

Step 4: Don't believe everything that you think
People with OCD who had brain lesions were shown these brain scans and told that whenever they had an episode, they should think of the scans and realize it's just brain activity. Over time, the lesions went away. You can acknowledge dark thoughts, but allow them to go away. What will be left is the lightness of being.

Step 5: Practice meditation and mindfulness
Living in the moment and being mindful leads to less judgment. It also allows you to be more engaged and therefore be more happy. In a dolphin study, some trainers were mindful while another were mindless. The dolphins swam faster and stayed longer with the mindful trainers. Mindfulness is attractive.

Engaging compassion meditation engages the insula which is a part of the brain that is the point of mind/body connection. Practitioners show measurable changes in the brain and levels of happpiness.

Step 6: Live a life inspired by purpose
Your intent to do what is meaningful leads to amazing results. Your mission in life is where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet. When you find it, it will resonate with the core meaning of your life. A teen study showed that those who gave time to serve others were healthier and happier 60 years later.

Step 7: Cultivate nourishing relationships
Tribes in Africa who live in remote areas show a level of happiness similar to people in the Forbes 1000. It's not about money, it's about family social connections. It's the only way people survived in the past. Emotional or social contagion is the transmitting of an idea or an emotion from one individual to another. Healthy connections release healthy chemicals while the opposite is also true. It's been said we become the average of the five people we associate with the most. How nourishing are they?

Rather than pursuing happiness, practice happiness. People believe that they have to be successful to be happy, but it's also true that being happy also leads to being successful.

NORTH SD COUNTY

I drove moms to Pauma today since she loves the $.05 machines down there. I began to wonder if she would have just as much playing these machines if she owned one. Is it the thrill of winning money and gaining it from luck or is it just the actual act of winning that one gets their blood pumping?

It's an easy question to answer for me because I can relate it to poker. Lots of people usually start playing poker for fun and when you move online, you usually start by playing for play money. Then you start to accumulate play money and at some point, you begin to wonder what the point is. So you deposit some money in your account and start to play for real. The interesting thing is that even if you're playing for pennies, it's still real money and it's enough to get you nervous.

I suppose part of the fun for moms is just getting out of the house and doing something different. Unfortunately for me, my live poker bankroll was too low to feel comfortable playing 3-6 limit with kill. I think my roll needs to be close to $1k to play comfortably without the nagging feeling that I could go broke with just one hand. So I spent the day just walking around, watching some poker and going to the car to watch some videos I put on Jared's PSP.

CHUCK #3

I was a little worried getting a 1:30PM call because my last two experiences with Chuck have always been long and late calls. But crew call wasn't much earlier so it turned out to be a pretty chill experience this time around.

I got to the WB at a perfect time and got to Stage 10 right on time. The 2nd 2nd made the non-union folk wait for union check-in which to me, is pretty ridiculous. I hated it when I was non-union and I hate it now even if I'm union. How much trouble is it to check people in whether they are union or non-union? I might feel different if it's a huge call, but there weren't that many extras today.

We shot all the scenes at the Buy More store. In the scene, Chuck's girlfriend is kidnapped and he must give back some kind of mask or technology to the kidnapper. The big treat was that Kristen Kreuk was on set as a new Buy More Nerd Herd member. She was totally dolled-up with what seemed like way too much make-up to me. But she looked incredible and was much more petite than I thought she'd be.

We were wrapped before lunch so I had a chance to have dinner with Gisele at some kind of bbq restaurant in Burbank. We spent much of the time analyzing her front tooth and Filipino dentists. I don't like them and I was insistent that her dentist messed-up her crown because of her ethnicity. It's a terrible generalization but I have been very unsatisfied with every Filipino dentist I've had in my life.

LIE TO ME #2

I didn't get much sleep last night, so when I got to stage 16 on the Fox Lot, I set my chair up quickly to try to snooze and catch some zees. However, we were immediately taken to wardrobe and apparently, I was the new face in the crowd. Everyone else was recalled from last week.

According to the extras, I replaced a Chinese guy who ended up being the stand-in for Kato on the Green Hornet. We weren't sure who was playing Kato so I looked it up and it turns out to be Jay Chou, a Hong Kong kung fu star who isn't known here. We'll see if the movie turns him into a star.

I did some simple crosses for a few scenes. For lunch, they set a screen up to watch the episode that was premiering tonight. That allowed me to nap and when I woke up, we were wrapped.

Then I cruised over to Jansen's to let the traffic die down.