Today is the first anniversary of Randy Pausch‘s death.

His knowledge, legacy, and wisdom live on in the millions of people worldwide who were his students, or watched his Last Lecture, or read his book.

I believe in wakes and not in funerals, and appreciate the world is a better place because Randy was here:

The Corrs Little Wing (Jimi Hendrix Cover)

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble Little Wing (Jimi Hendrix Cover)

I still watch his now world famous “Last Lecture, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” If you you haven’t watched it lately, you should:

Life Lessons from Randy:

• You’ve got to get the fundamentals down because otherwise the fancy stuff isn’t going to work.
• When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your critics are your ones telling you they still love you and care.
• Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.
• Head fake learning is absolutely important, and you should keep your eye out for them because they’re everywhere.
• The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough.
• It’s pretty easy to be smart when you’re parroting smart people.
• It’s very important to know when you’re in a pissing match. And it’s very important to get out of it as quickly as possible.
• And he (Andy Van Dam) said, Randy, it’s such a shame that people perceive you as so arrogant. Because it’s going to limit what you’re going to be able to accomplish in life.
• You just have to decide if you’re a Tigger or an Eeyore.
• I have a theory that people who come from large families are better people because they’ve just had to learn to get along.
• Loyalty is a two way street.
• You can’t get there alone. People have to help you and I do believe in karma. I believe in paybacks. You get people to help you by telling the truth. Being earnest.
• I’ll take an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short term. Earnest is long term.
• Apologise when you screw up and focus on other people, not on yourself.
• Don’t bail. The best of the gold’s at the bottom of barrels of crap.
• Get a feedback loop and listen to it. Your feedback loop can be this dorky spreadsheet thing I did, or it can just be one great man who tells you what you need to hear. The hard part is the listening to it.
• Don’t complain. Just work harder. That’s a picture of Jackie Robinson. It was in his contract not to complain, even when the fans spit on him.
• Be good at something, it makes you valuable.
• Find the best in everybody. Just keep waiting no matter how long it takes. No one is all evil. Everybody has a good side, just keep waiting, it will come out.
• Be prepared. Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity.
• If I only had three words of advice, they would be, tell the truth. If I got three more words, I’d add, all the time.
• Apologize when you screw up and focus on other people, not on yourself.
• When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your critics are your ones telling you they still love you and care.

• It’s not about how to achieve your dreams. It’s about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you.

One more song – for the man who achieved his childhood dream of experiencing zero gravity and really earned at least my heartfelt thanks: Jason Mraz’s awesome cover of Elton John’s Rocket Man.