#1440 The Last Lecture

Have you seen Randy Pausch’s “Last Lecture” YouTube video?

Over 21 million people have watched it and, if you’re one of them, you know just how magnetically inspiring Randy is.

If you *haven’t* seen the video yet and don’t know who Randy Pausch is, you can watch it here.

And…

Here’s the short story...

Randy was a Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. When it became terminal, he gave his “last lecture.” The talk was recorded. It went viral. He wrote a great book that extended the ideas from that talk.

That book, as you’d expect, is called The Last Lecture.

As we discuss in the Notes, the book features fifty-three micro chapters—each telling a different story from Randy’s life. It’s packed with wisdom.

In the introduction to his book, Randy tells us that he (at the time he wrote the book shortly before he passed away) was the father of three young children.

He recorded his last lecture and wrote the book as a way to teach his kids the things he wished they could have learned from him if was able to be with them as they grew up.

Goosebumps as I typed that.

Today’s +1 is simple yet demanding.

If you have kids (and/or if you aspire to have kids and/or if you did have kids)….

What would YOU want to teach your kids if YOU only had weeks to live?

Seriously.

We don’t need to go on a mini-retreat to script the lecture or write the book per se (although that might be a wise idea)…

What IMMEDIATELY arises for you?

What one or two or three things would you DEFINITELY want your kids to know about how to live a good, noble, Heroic life?

Let’s pause for another moment while you connect with your daimon.

And…

Let’s consider those three things now…

If I only had a week to live, I’d want to make sure my kids knew THESE three things about what I think would help them live a noble life:

1. ___________________________________
2. ___________________________________
3. ___________________________________

Beautiful.

Bless you and your wisdom. 🙏

Now for the MUCH more challenging question…

Are you LIVING IN INTEGRITY with that wisdom?

Because…

As you know…

Our kids are “reading the book” that is our lives and learning how we think they should live ALL DAY EVERY DAY.

Note: If that isn’t a sobering wake up call, I don’t know what is.

Let’s make sure we’re giving them the lectures (by our embodied demonstration of the wisdom we cherish!!) that we hope they embody in the years and decades ahead.

Memento Mori, Hero.

Today’s the only day we’re guaranteed.

Let’s show up and act like we mean it.

For our kids and their kids and everyone we love.

P.S. I write every one of these +1s thinking of my kids and yours. Here’s to raising the next generation of Heroes that can change the world. 🙏