Randy Pausch has an engineering problem – he has been diagnosed with cancer, and he has a limited time to impart a life worth of education to his children to his three young children. So he writes “The Last Lecture” – a series of lectures given to his students at Carnegie Mellon, which would also become his legacy of knowledge, that some day will be inherited by his children.

Lesson # 1 : (ed : Spend time with the family. You never know how long it will last. And take pictures of little things you do. After 25 years, you will forget it all.)

Lesson # 2 : When you are screwing up, and nobody says anything to you, that means they have given up on you.

Lesson # 3 : How to build your child’s self esteem : Give him things that he cannot do, he works hard until he learns how to do it, and you keep repeating this process.

Lesson # 4 : If you don’t know something, ask. Don’t be shy and vain.

Lesson # 5 : Life (sports, extracurriculars) provides opportunities to learn leadership, resilience

Lesson # 6 : If you really want something very hard, you have to be persistent.

Lesson # 7 : Use a positive vocabulary. Semantics can influence you life. Watch positive and inspirational movies, instead of tragedies.

Lesson # 8 : Not everything needs to be fixed.

Don’t complain, work harder.

Don’t obsess over what people think.

Don’t obsess over what reward you get.

Watch what people do, not what they say.

Get people’s attention. Don’t be a back bencher. Be the first to raise the hand. Its OK to be told no.

Immortalize great moments by distinct music and smell. This will help you reminisce the past.

Do something special in your life. Some great achievement. Something that your parents can be proud of, your children can look up to you for, your community celebrates, and you personally can cherish.

Material possessions can never make up for the love and time spent with the children.