About four years ago I had the pleasure of seeing an interview with Carnegie Mellon Professor, Dr Randy Pausch. I instantly had so much admiration for this man and found him to be incredibly inspirational, wise and entertaining all at the same time.
Sadly, he has since passed away from pancreatic cancer.
This video is his last lecture – Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. I realise that at just over an hour it’s a bit long for busy business people, but it’s really is worth making the time to watch this. When this lecture was given, Randy was terminally ill … but if he didn’t make mention of it at the start of his presentation, you’d probably never know. He truly is an amazing man.
So if you need a boost, motivation or an excuse for some time out, do yourself a favour and watch this.
“Most of the limitations you think you have are the ones you have decided on. They are often entirely self-imposed. You might think, ‘I can’t do this, I can’t do that, I would never do that, my parents could never do that, I never played baseball, I never climbed a mountain, I never, never, never’… It’s the old broken record in your head. Throw out that negative thinking right now! Learn to play a positive message in your head because it’s all about attitude.”
This is another of my favourite quotes … one of the philosophies I live by:
“Waiting is a trap. There will always be reasons to wait. The truth is, there are only two things in life, reasons and results, and reasons simply don’t count.”
“You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call failure is not the falling down, but the staying down.”
Mary Pickford
1893-1979, Actress and Producer
That’s a quote I agree with 100% – worth keeping in mind if you’re feeling a little timid about taking something on, or if you’re beating yourself up for ‘failing’.
Sometimes in business, and in fact, in life, things get a bit difficult and you may feel like giving up. For me, I often find this happends because I haven’t had a break for way too long. Simply taking a day or two off and heading to the beach or the mountains will fix that. That’s usually all it takes to renew me and I come back feeling refreshed and re-energised, rearing to go again.
However sometimes you might just need a bit of a lift during the day. If that’s the case, a short motivational video may do the trick. And if that’s what you’re looking for, this is one I highly recommend.
This guy, Nick Vujicic, is truly amazing and if he doesn’t give up, why should I?
“Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not.”
Thomas Huxley, 1825-1895, Biologist and Educator
I love this quote. It’s so true, yet often a challenge for a lot of people, whether in their business lives or in other areas.
When you set your goals or make plans for what you want to achieve, you then break it down into smaller steps and most importantly, TAKE ACTION. And that’s where a lot of people get stuck – they don’t take action.
If you really want to achieve something, you have to be disciplined and just do what needs to be done, whether you feel like it or not. To take this one step further, it often helps to start your day by doing the one thing that you don’t feel like doing but you know needs to be done. If you have to phone someone, phone them; if you need to send a letter, send it. After that, you may surprise yourself at how much more productive you’ll be.
And if you’re really procrastinating about a particular task, remind yourself of WHY you’re doing it; focus on the outcome and your goal. You can also try to remember how good you will feel once you’ve done it.
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