Book Notes: The Last Lecture

The Last Lecture
Randy Pausch w/ Jeffrey Zaslow

- "All right," I said. " That is what it is. We can't change it. We just have to decide how we'll respond. We cannot change the cards that are dealt, just how we play the hand."

- When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody's bothering to tell you anymore, that's a bad place to be. You may not want to hear it, but your critics are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and ant to make you better.

- The second kind of head fake is the really important one - the one that teaches people things they don't realize they're learning until well into the process.

- Don't complain, just work harder --- Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won't make us happier.

- Watch what they do, not what they say. --- My colleague told me: "It took a long time, but I've finally figured it out. When it comes to men who are romantically interested in you, it's really simple. Just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do."

- If other people owe you an apology, and your words of apology to them are proper and heartfelt, you still may not hear from them for a while. After all, what are the odds that they get to the right emotional place to apologize at the exact moment you do? So just be patient.

-...emphasize how sensitive you need to be when crossing from one culture to another--- If you can find your footing between two cultures, sometimes you can have the best of both worlds.