What were your childhood dreams?
Professor Randy Pausch died today at age 47.
Didn’t see his famous YouTube video of his lecture on achieving your dreams? He did the lecture a month after he found out he was dying of cancer.
It’s inspiring. It probably will motivate you to reach for your dreams, or at least enjoy the ride more.
If you’re at work, beware, you may cry a bit. I did.
Here it is:
July 31st, 2008 at 4:34 pm
It’s a funny thing for me. I never really had any dreams or aspirations regarding my career or vocation until I was well into my twenties. I remember failing an English composition assignment in high school because I couldn’t think of a single thing I wanted to be when I grew up (I guess I was just too busy being a kid and exploring the marvels of the world around me). My teacher became so frustrated that I could not list a career plan for her essay that she assigned one to me: being an astronaut. She didn’t pause to consider the fact that my eyeglasses alone would have kept me from being an astronaut. As a kid, I would have loved to live on Mars (heck, I’d still be one of the first to volunteer today!), but I didn’t want to be an astronaut.
Hey! To all the rest of you out there–those of you who didn’t know exactly what you wanted to be when you grew up (and those of you who don’t yet know)–don’t be discouraged. Give yourself a chance to try different things, and perhaps you’ll find something you’ll love. If you don’t, just be thankful you have a job, and find some other way to reach for other (non-carreer-related) dreams!