Despite my empty mouth, the words are in my mind.

"When we’re connected to others, we become better people."

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 16:00:12 -0700

“When we’re connected to others, we become better people.”

- Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

"If I could only give three words of advice, they would be “tell the truth.” If I got..."

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:00:33 -0700

“If I could only give three words of advice, they would be “tell the truth.” If I got three more words, I’d add: “All the time.” My parents taught me that “you’re only as good as your word,” and there’s no better way to say it.”

- Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

"One thing that makes it possible to be an optimist is if you have a contingency plan for when all..."

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 16:00:34 -0700

“One thing that makes it possible to be an optimist is if you have a contingency plan for when all hell breaks loose.”

- Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

"A lot of people want a shortcut. I find the best shortcut is the long way, which is basically two..."

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 16:00:30 -0700

“A lot of people want a shortcut. I find the best shortcut is the long way, which is basically two words: work hard.”

- Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

"Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. And experience is often the..."

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:00:32 -0700

“Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.”

- Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

"It’s not how hard you hit. It’s how hard you get hit…and keep moving forward."

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:00:34 -0700

“It’s not how hard you hit. It’s how hard you get hit…and keep moving forward.”

- Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

"‘It took a long time, but I’ve finally figured it out. When it comes to men who are..."

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:00:10 -0700

“‘It took a long time, but I’ve finally figured it out. When it comes to men who are romantically interested in you, it’s really simple. Just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do.’”

- Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

Meet people properly: It all starts with the introduction. Exchange contact information. Make sure...

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 16:00:29 -0700

Meet people properly: It all starts with the introduction. Exchange contact information. Make sure you can pronounce everyone’s names.

Find things you have in common: You can almost always find something in common with another person, and from there, it’s much easier to address issues where you have differences. Sports cut across boundaries of race and wealth. Ad if nothing else, we all have the weather in common.

Try for optimal meeting conditions: Make sure no one is hungry, cold or tired. Meet over a meal if you can’ food softens a meeting. That’s why they “do lunch” in Hollywood.

Let everyone talk: Don’t finish someone’s sentences. And talking louder or faster doesn’t make your idea any better.

Check egos at the door: When you discuss ideas, label them and write them down. The label should be descriptive of the idea, not the originator: “the bridge story” not “Jane’s story.”

Praise each other: Find something nice to say, even if it’s a stretch. The worst ideas can have silver linings if you look hard enough.

Phrase alternatives as questions: Instead of “I think we should do A, not B,” try “What if we did A, instead of B?” That allows people to offer comments rather than defend one choice.

Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

"Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend..."

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:00:19 -0700

“Complaining does not 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 won’t make us happier.”

- Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

"Too many people go through life complaining about their problems. I’ve always believed that if..."

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 16:00:22 -0700

“Too many people go through life complaining about their problems. I’ve always believed that if you took one-tenth the energy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you’d be surprised by how well things can work out.”

- Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

"In the end, educators best serve students by helping them be more self-reflective. The only way any..."

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 16:00:15 -0700

“In the end, educators best serve students by helping them be more self-reflective. The 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?”

- Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

Here’s what I know: Time must be explicitly managed, like money. My students would sometimes...

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 16:00:00 -0700

Here’s what I know:

Time must be explicitly managed, like money. My students would sometimes roll their eyes at what they called “Pauschisms,” but I stand by them. Urging students not to invest time on irrelevant details, I’d tell them: “It doesn’t matter how well you polish the underside of the banister.”

You can always change your plan, but only if you have one. I’m a big believer in to-do lists. It helps us break life into small steps. I once put “get tenure” on my to-do list. That was naive. THe most useful to-do list breaks tasks into small steps. It’s like when I encourage Logan to clean his room by picking up one thing at a time.

Ask yourself: Are you spending your time on the right things? You may have causes, goals, interests. Are they even worth pursuing? I’ve long held on to a clipping from a newspaper in Roanoke, Virginia. It featured a photo of a pregnant woman who had lodged a protest against a local construction site. She worried that the sound of jackhammers was injuring her unborn child. But get this: In the photo, the woman is holding a cigarette. If she cared about her unborn child, the time she spent railing against jackhammers would have been better spent putting out that cigarette.

Develop a good filing system. When I told Jai I wanted to have a place in the house where we could file everything in alphabetical order, she said I sounded way too compulsive for her tastes. I told her: “Filing in alphabetical order is better than running around and saying, ‘I know it was blue and I know I was eating something when I had it.’ “

Rethink the telephone. I live in a culture where I spend a lot of time on hold, listening to “Your call is very important to us.” Yeah, right. THat’s like a guy slapping a girl in the face on the first date and saying, “I actually do love you.” Yet that’s how modern customer service works. And I reject that. I make sure I am never on hold with a phone against my ear. I always use a speaker phone, so my hands are free to do something else

…

Delegate. As a professor, I learned early on that I could trust bright, nineteen-year-old students with the keys to my kingdom, and most of the time, they were responsible and impressive. It’s never too early to delegate. My daughter, Chloe, is just eighteen months old, but two of my favorite photos are of her in my arms. In the first, I’m giving her a bottle. In the second, I’ve delegated the task to her. She looks satisfied. Me too.

Take a time out. It’s not a real vacation if you’re reading email or calling in for messages.

…

Some of my time management tips are dead-on serious and some are a bit tongue-in-cheek. But I beleive all of them are worth considering.

Time is all you have. And you may find one day that you have less than you think.

Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

"We just kept going. We recognized that there were things we could do that might help the outcome in..."

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:00:11 -0700

“We just kept going. We recognized that there were things we could do that might help the outcome in positive ways…and we did them. Without saying it in words, our attitude was, ‘Let’s saddle up and ride.’”

- Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

"No matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse. At the same time, it is often within..."

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 16:00:32 -0700

“No matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse. At the same time, it is often within your power to make them better.”

- Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

"The brick walls are there for a reason. They’re not there to keep us out. The brick walls are..."

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 16:00:26 -0700

“

The brick walls are there for a reason. They’re not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.

The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.

”

- Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

"Tenacity is a virtue, but it’s not always crucial for everyone to observe how hard you work at..."

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:56:54 -0700

“Tenacity is a virtue, but it’s not always crucial for everyone to observe how hard you work at something.”

- Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

"When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore,..."

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 20:40:42 -0700

“When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a bad place to be. You may not want to hear it, but your critics are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and want to make you better.”

- Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

"My dad gave me advice on how to negotiate my way through life. He’d warn me that even if I was..."

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 20:29:35 -0700

“My dad gave me advice on how to negotiate my way through life. He’d warn me that even if I was in a position of strength, whether at work or in relationships, I had to play fair. ‘Just because you’re in the driver’s seat,’ he’d say, ‘doesn’t mean you have to run people over.’”

- Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

I see masks that sunk their roots deep into the faces behind...

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 10:52:50 -0700

I see masks that sunk their roots deep into the faces behind them…

Ingredient Labels and Nutrition Facts: Why You Should Care

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 19:11:36 -0800

Ingredient Labels and Nutrition Facts: Why You Should Care:

#Uloop

Fulfilling my wish to write/do journalism on the side of my studies. Check it out!