educators best serve students by helping them be more self-reflective. The only way any of us can improve—as Coach Graham taught me—is if we develop a real ability to assess ourselves. If we can’t accurately do that, how can we tell if we’re getting better or worse?

Randy Pausch

The key question to keep asking is, Are you spending your time on the right things? Because time is all you have.

Randy Pausch

live-life time inspirational

The brick walls are there for a reason. 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. They’re there to stop the other people.

Randy Pausch

perseverance strength inspirational

We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.

Randy Pausch

change positive life

It is not the things we do in life that we regret on our death bed. It is the things we do not.

Randy Pausch

regret bed life

Better to fail spectacularly than do something mediocre.

Randy Pausch

mediocre failing

Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other.

Randy Pausch

gratitude thank-you inspirational

Never give up: There are certain times that you think, 'OK, you have beaten me down to my knees. And now the challenge is, I am on my knees and you keep on beating me down. And the question is, are you going to keep beating me all the way to the ground or will I find a way to struggle my way back on to my feet.'

Randy Pausch

perseverance giving-up struggle

Be willing to apologize. Proper apologies have three parts: 1) What I did was wrong. 2) I'm sorry that I hurt you. 3) How do I make it better? It's the third part that people tend to forget. Apologize when you screw up and focus on other people, not on yourself.

Randy Pausch

apology hurt sorry

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.

Randy Pausch

evil waiting long

Proper apologies have three parts: 1) What I did was wrong. 2) I feel badly that I hurt you. 3) How do I make this better?

Randy Pausch

apology three hurt

Too many people go through life complaining about their problems. I've always believed that if you took one tenth the enrgy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you'd be surprised by how well things can work out.

Randy Pausch

work-out inspirational people

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 the ones telling you they still love you and care.

Randy Pausch

last-lecture care love-you

Follow your passions, believe in karma, and you won't have to chase your dreams, they will come to you.

Randy Pausch

karma dream inspirational

The person who failed often knows how to avoid future failures. The person who knows only success can be more oblivious to all the pitfalls.

Randy Pausch

pitfalls failure success

You will not find your passion in things and you will not find your passion in money. The more things and the more money you have, the more you will look around and use that as the metric and there will be someone with more.

Randy Pausch

passion use looks

Coach Graham rode you pretty hard, didn't he?" he said. I could barely muster a "yeah." That's a good thing," the assistant told me. When you're screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, it means they've given up on you.

Randy Pausch

assistants say-anything mean

If I could only give three words of advice, they would be, 'Tell the truth.' If I got three more words, I'd add: 'All the time.'

Randy Pausch

honesty advice giving

A lot of people want a shortcut. I find the best shortcut is the long way, which is basically two words: work hard.

Randy Pausch

hard-work determination success

When there’s an elephant in the room introduce him.

Randy Pausch

introducing elephants rooms

No job is beneath you. You ought to be thrilled you got a job in the mailroom And when you get there, here's what you do: Be really great at sorting mail.

Randy Pausch

sorting mail jobs