Here are some of my "aha" moments captured in this second week.
Experience is What You Get:
Quote: "Visualize yourself at age seventy (or one hundred if you are an optimist). The setting can be an awards dinner, or if your tastes are slightly more morbid, your own funeral. Which role from your life do you want the speaker to mention first? Second? Third? What do you want them to say? How do you feel about the areas that have been left out? In this exercise are the sparks of a calling." (Stars and Stepping Stones: Jeff Sandefer)
Quote: "setting priorities that allow you to accomplish as much as possible. It is about choosing how to spend your last minute in the day or your last dollar or your last bit of energy." (Stars and Stepping Stones: Jeff Sandefer)
Quote: "Stars and steppingstones are about finding a purpose in your life: understanding what is fundamentally important, setting lifelong goals, arranging steppingstones to reach those goals, and making course corrections when reality intervenes." (Stars and Stepping Stones: Jeff Sandefer)
Quote: "Now, here’s the part you may not have thought about—I certainly hadn’t until a few years ago: After the Lord charges us to anxiously pursue good causes, the next verse begins: “For the power is in them” (D&C 58:28). Think about that. The Lord hasn’t just told you to pursue good causes, He has equipped you with power to do so. You—you personally—are full of divine capacities to do good that you probably don’t even fully appreciate." (What Is Your Calling in Life?: Jeffery Thompson)
Quote: "experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted" (Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture: Randy Pausch)
Quote: "Never lose the childlike wonder. Loyalty is a two way street. Never give up. You get people to help you by telling the truth. Apologize when you screw up and focus on other people, not on yourself. Don’t complain. Just work harder. And be prepared. Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity." (Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture: Randy Pausch)
Quote: "Remember brick walls let us show our dedication. They are there to separate us from the people who don’t really want to achieve their childhood dreams. Don’t bail. The best of the gold’s at the bottom of barrels of crap." (Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture: Randy Pausch)
Quote: "Find the best in everybody…. you might have to wait a long time, sometimes years, but people will show you their good side." (Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture: Randy Pausch)
Quote: "Experiments are not all successes. You are testing something out. Like a 300 page book. It can be intimidating and you may not be sure you want to make that kind of commitment. Instead, commit to reading the first 10 pages to see if it is something that is worth your time. Then you end up reading ten, then twenty books this way. You can try anything for a day. You are failing but with a little bit of experience attached each time. Quoting Thomas Edison: “I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that do not work.” (Treat Life As An Experiment: Tom Kelley)
Thoughts:
Randy Pausch, like many others, was a dreamer. Not all dreamers are successful however. The thing that made Randy achieve his dreams is summed up in one of his statements, "experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted". To Randy there were no bad experiences, just learning opportunities. Every moment was a teaching moment. Even brick walls were opportunities. What an amazing way to view life.
I think that dreaming is important but it is not enough to reach success. My father is a dreamer but is easily distracted by the next "big opportunity". Dreamers need focus and dedication. They need to be ready to make it to the other side of the brick wall. I have never been much of a dreamer. That is probably why it has taken me so long to decide on what sort of education I wanted to achieve. The closest thing I can think of that was sort of a childhood dream was to be a teacher. It wasn't anything I was particularly passionate about rather it was something I could answer when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. Cake decorating is something I have discovered as an adult and is really the first thing I have found that I am passionate about. I think this is something that will help me achieve this dream. It is something I am focused on and I am not likely to become distracted by other dreams.
I loved Tom Kelley's talk on treating life as an experiment. It goes along with Randy's thoughts on experience. I want to work on changing my views on failure. Experiments are worth the time you give them even if they turn into experience.
Experience is What You Get:
Quote: "Visualize yourself at age seventy (or one hundred if you are an optimist). The setting can be an awards dinner, or if your tastes are slightly more morbid, your own funeral. Which role from your life do you want the speaker to mention first? Second? Third? What do you want them to say? How do you feel about the areas that have been left out? In this exercise are the sparks of a calling." (Stars and Stepping Stones: Jeff Sandefer)
Quote: "setting priorities that allow you to accomplish as much as possible. It is about choosing how to spend your last minute in the day or your last dollar or your last bit of energy." (Stars and Stepping Stones: Jeff Sandefer)
Quote: "Stars and steppingstones are about finding a purpose in your life: understanding what is fundamentally important, setting lifelong goals, arranging steppingstones to reach those goals, and making course corrections when reality intervenes." (Stars and Stepping Stones: Jeff Sandefer)
Quote: "Now, here’s the part you may not have thought about—I certainly hadn’t until a few years ago: After the Lord charges us to anxiously pursue good causes, the next verse begins: “For the power is in them” (D&C 58:28). Think about that. The Lord hasn’t just told you to pursue good causes, He has equipped you with power to do so. You—you personally—are full of divine capacities to do good that you probably don’t even fully appreciate." (What Is Your Calling in Life?: Jeffery Thompson)
Quote: "experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted" (Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture: Randy Pausch)
Quote: "Never lose the childlike wonder. Loyalty is a two way street. Never give up. You get people to help you by telling the truth. Apologize when you screw up and focus on other people, not on yourself. Don’t complain. Just work harder. And be prepared. Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity." (Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture: Randy Pausch)
Quote: "Remember brick walls let us show our dedication. They are there to separate us from the people who don’t really want to achieve their childhood dreams. Don’t bail. The best of the gold’s at the bottom of barrels of crap." (Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture: Randy Pausch)
Quote: "Find the best in everybody…. you might have to wait a long time, sometimes years, but people will show you their good side." (Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture: Randy Pausch)
Quote: "Experiments are not all successes. You are testing something out. Like a 300 page book. It can be intimidating and you may not be sure you want to make that kind of commitment. Instead, commit to reading the first 10 pages to see if it is something that is worth your time. Then you end up reading ten, then twenty books this way. You can try anything for a day. You are failing but with a little bit of experience attached each time. Quoting Thomas Edison: “I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that do not work.” (Treat Life As An Experiment: Tom Kelley)
Thoughts:
Randy Pausch, like many others, was a dreamer. Not all dreamers are successful however. The thing that made Randy achieve his dreams is summed up in one of his statements, "experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted". To Randy there were no bad experiences, just learning opportunities. Every moment was a teaching moment. Even brick walls were opportunities. What an amazing way to view life.
I think that dreaming is important but it is not enough to reach success. My father is a dreamer but is easily distracted by the next "big opportunity". Dreamers need focus and dedication. They need to be ready to make it to the other side of the brick wall. I have never been much of a dreamer. That is probably why it has taken me so long to decide on what sort of education I wanted to achieve. The closest thing I can think of that was sort of a childhood dream was to be a teacher. It wasn't anything I was particularly passionate about rather it was something I could answer when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. Cake decorating is something I have discovered as an adult and is really the first thing I have found that I am passionate about. I think this is something that will help me achieve this dream. It is something I am focused on and I am not likely to become distracted by other dreams.
I loved Tom Kelley's talk on treating life as an experiment. It goes along with Randy's thoughts on experience. I want to work on changing my views on failure. Experiments are worth the time you give them even if they turn into experience.
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