Randy Pausch was a professor of Computer Science, Human Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University.  From 1988 to 1997, he also taught at my graduate school alma mater, the University of Virginia.

You may know Randy from his famous Last Lecture video called “Really Achieving Your Childhoold Dreams.”  The lecture was recorded on September 18, 2007 in front of 400 people at Carnegie Mellon University.  This inspirational video went viral on YouTube and has been viewed over 13 million times!

If you have not seen it, do yourself a favor and spend one hour gaining a greater appreciation for how blessed we all are in life.

Better yet, read the story behind the story.  The National Bestseller co-authored with Wall Street Journal columnist Jeffrey Zaslow titled The Last Lecture offers amazing lessons on life.

I often reference Randy’s book in my own lectures to job seekers.  While there are countless lessons from this book and video, one chapter is my favorite.  It is titled “The Happiest Place on Earth” and tells the story of Randy’s dream to get a job with the Walt Disney Imagineering Team.

Randy dashed off letters of applications to Disney (with a PhD from Carnegie Mellon in hand) and received some of “the nicest go-to-hell letters” he ever received.

Randy did not give up.  He finally discovered who he needed to contact at Disney, set up a lunch interview (in California!), and spent eighty hours of homework preparing for that one meeting.

He received his dream offer to conduct a sabbotical project on the Disney virtual reality Aladdin ride.  His “once in five careers opportunity” though was shot down by his faculty dean at the University of Virginia.  He did not give up and escalated his childhood dream to another dean, and received approval.  Randy completed his job of a lifetime.

There are three career lessons I took away from this heart-warming story:

1. Set A Goal

Whatever it is, whenever it is.  Write it down and make it happen!

2. Be Persistent

Randy did not give up even after countless letters of rejection.  He was persistent but professional at all times.

3. Prepare for the Moment

When you have that one shot to meet with the right person for a new job, go overboard in your preparation.  Don’t forget Randy spent 80 hours preparing for a lunch interview and drove across country for that one opportunity.

On July 25, 2008 Randy Pausch lost his battle to pancreatic cancer.

His legacy lives on.

Create your own legacy by helping others every single day.

Live out your childhood dreams, and enable the dreams of others.

Your thoughts?

Thanks for sharing.

About the Author

Brent Peterson, PMP, MS, MBA, is the founder of Interview Angel Inc, a company that offers a comprehensive guide and toolkit for job seekers to use in interviews.

The purpose of Interview Angel is to take the fear out of job interviews.  Customer testimonials for the Interview Angel product are posted online for additional reference.

Brent’s first customer was a father who purchased Interview Angel as a graduation gift for his daughter.  Since then, clients have included government workforce centers, business school programs, a corporation going through a merger, and Goodwill Industries.