Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 02:57:00 GMT

Just finished watching the last lecture by Randy Pausch titled Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. Randy was an inspiring lecturer at Carnegie Mellon University. In addition to teaching Computer Science curriculum, he is also widely known for leading the team of researchers that created Alice, a revolutionary way to teach computer programming. This lecture is not about computer science, virtual reality, or any other high tech topics. It's about things that matter to every one of us. If you have 70 minutes, it's well worth watching. Given the impact it had on me in only 70 minutes, I can only imagine the impact he has had on his students.

The Dip

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 20:24:00 GMT

The Dip is a sub 100 page book by Seth Godin that offers tremendous insight into challenges that we all face every day. It is not a "How To" book or a book offering a specific recipe for success. Instead this book offers a healthy dose of motivation and some foundational concepts that are applicable to everyday life. It doesn't matter if you live by day in corporate america or spend your nights tending bar, you should be able to relate to the content in this book.

To get things started, it is paramount to set the terminology straight. There are basically two kinds of curves present in almost everything we do.

The Cul-de-sac
This is a type of curve where no matter how hard you try to push forward, you keep hitting a dead end. A situation or job that will not get better regardless of the amount of effort expended.

The Dip
This is a type of curve where near term satisfaction and accomplishments are present shortly after embarking on the journey. Once this initial high has plateaued, the participant is in store for a sizable dip that takes a significant amount of effort and perseverance to fight through. This dip is long enough that the vast majority of people in it will quit before making it out on the other side. Society depends on this. If everyone made it out, there would be no scarcity on the other side. For the scarce few that make it out on the other side, tremendous rewards await them.

While describing these types of curves, Seth mentions that it's important to identify which type of curve you are facing. If you are facing a cul-dec-sac, quitting is not only a good idea, it is the right thing to do. Every minute spent in a cul-de-sac situation is a minute that can't be spent elsewhere. If you find yourself in a dip situation, it is clear that there is light at the end of the tunnel and your perseverance will likely pay off in a big way. It's your job to see through on this. Quitting at the bottom of the dip is a waste of your time and effort.

This book challenges conventional wisdom, especially ideas like "Quitters never win, winners never quit". According to Seth, winners quit all the time, they just quit the right things. This is an important concept and one with concrete examples that occur frequently. If you find something that is a cul-de-sac or a dip that you are not willing to see through, the best action is to not start.

Finally, the book is filled with witty one liners and ideas that spark the imagination. A couple of my favorites are listed below.

Being the best in the world is seriously under rated

The Problem with Infinity is that there is just too much of it

The Wrongest Advice: Being well rounded is the secret to success.
If you had a life threatening illness, would you be seeking a well rounded doctor or one that is highly skilled in the one area you care about? Almost no one would be looking for a doctor that was good at golf, martial arts, and restoring antique cars.

Unruly Rambling - motivation tag

Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

The Dip