The last lecture - Essay Example

The last lecture by Randy Pausch "Time is all you have. And you may find one day that you have less than you think." The last lecture – Time Management by Randy Pausch is a really inspiring and worth listening talk that he gave at the University of Virginia in 2007. Pausch talks about life in general and how important it is for us to value time. He talks about valuing time as much as we value money. Time is the most essential element. It is one of those things that not even the richest can buy nor can it come back at any point in life.

Time only leaves memories that we can cherish afterwards but we cannot have that time back. Time once gone, never comes back. So it is very essential that we learn how to manage time properly in order to achieve what we want and plan what we can achieve.Randy Pausch was a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His speech that he made on September 18, 2007 ‘’ The Last Lecture’’ received worldwide fame and is till now inspiring people to achieve their childhood dreams, to manage their time well and much more.

Pausch was diagnosed with cancer in August 2006, he was told that although he has the option of chemotherapy on regular basis but he still has only 3 – 6 months of good health. Pausch seems to be a very optimistic person. Instead of focusing on his terminal illness and getting depressed about it all the time, he decided to contribute back to his college in particular and the community in general. In his talk on Time Management, first he talked about clarifying the goals and objectives of our tasks , dealing with difficult projects that are more time consuming and ugly looking.

Pausch talked about using technology in more efficient way so as to save our time, for example, in his talk he discussed about speaker phones that could be of great advantage if we use it for time saving purposes. Setting up proper plans and goals to achieve ones task can help in proper time management. As he says ‘’ failing to plan, is planning to fail’’. One way to do this is to make a to- do list, that will help in keeping a track on where you are and what you are going to do in next few days, months and years.

Randy Pausch gives an excellent example by indicating that lack of time management is like famine in Africa. It is not actually the time which is short; it is the management of time which is short.Pausch gave a whole lot of tips for managing time properly and to make the most of our time. Below is a list of some of these tips.Be assertive; learn to say no. if something cannot help you with your goals, discard it instead of wasting time thinking why it is here. Try to cut things as short and precise as possible.

Make your phone calls short and explain your point as soon as the person picks up the phone. Monitor yourself. Ask question is it what I really need to be doing at this moment? Could it be done by somebody else? Avoid procrastination; do not do things at the last minute.if u r youngest u will be pampared in first half of ur childhood and in second half u wil be scolded for being spoild child.in ur early teens u have to prove that u r respectful to ur siblings and their in-laws and in ur adulthood u have to serve them and their kids in betwen all this ur designation is no more then a "Chottha" who works as waiter in a hotel or an asistant at a workshop!

Prepare an agenda for your work. Last but not the least, Pausch pointed out that one must enjoy what he / she is doing. If a person is not happy with what he / she have been doing then it surely is a waste of time.ReferencePaush. R. (2007). The Last Lecture. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTugjssqOT0