The Worth Of A Book By Randy Pausch And Jeffrey Zaslow

Life lessons can come from anywhere. For some, they come with it on their own, for others, they require a little assistance from those they interact with. For instance, at the university, some life lessons have come to light. Through the discussion earlier in the semester, the life lessons throughout Marian Wright Edelman’s Measure of Our Success have left several life lessons as a takeaway. For instance, life lesson eleven, “Sell the shadow for the substance,” which basically means that the substance, is something that takes up space, is more important than the shadow, a superficial being that does not stay with you at all times. To sell the shadow, things in our life that do not really mean anything, for the substance, objects that help achieve a higher version of ourselves, is important and helps with understanding that if a person focuses on bettering their selves than achieving meaningless belongings, they will be able to proceed through life with the knowledge that substance outweighs the shadow of material objects; likewise, life lesson nineteen, “Try to live in

Imagine having the perfect life- you get into all honors classes, you get straight A’s, you are the first chair in the orchestra, you get into the A Cappella choir, you are on the varsity volleyball team, President of the Student Council, and you have a perfect home life. You have never had to face a single obstacle throughout your journey in life. When your whole life is like this, you do not know what failure feels like and will never experience the need to rise up after a downfall. There are many types of journeys one can take in life and dealing with obstacles has a prodigious impact on the outcome. The obstacles and hindrances are the things that shape us as we experience the ups and downs in life.

College is an opportunity to truly discover who you are. Often enough, you hear people saying “You should really major in this field, I think you would really enjoy this career.” or, “Do you think you really want to study that? Have you thought about what you will be doing ten years from now?” filling your mind with self doubt, uncertainty, and the anxiousness of not knowing what you want to do with the rest of your life. Mark Edmundson wrote an article titled, Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here?, published in Oxford American addressing college students and their families how the most important thing college students should focus on is personal growth. When students take their courses seriously their engagement can help finding out who they really are and which future career will lead not necessarily to great financial success, but to a career and life that is very satisfying. Edmundson wants to inspire his audience and have them take what he is saying seriously. Edmundson uses satirical informal language and hypothetical situations to effectively persuade college students to focus on their personal growth in order to create a life and career that is deeply fulfilling.

Throughout the memoir, Moore portrays the value of education and how small judgments can shape one's life forever. Moore wanted the reader to know the value of having an education and how the choices you make from your childhood stick with you forever. A great example that Moore mentioned

In a society where hardships occur daily, it is vital to have something to hold on to as an anchor. This reliance or commitment is in the form of friends, family, or even tangible possessions; however, humans sometimes have to fulfill deeds for others instead of continually thinking of themselves. Given these obligations, there results both a need and a desire to complete certain tasks for other individuals, for a community, or even for a higher power. In his novel, A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest Gaines quite successfully portrays the theme of the importance of obligation and commitment through presenting an effective setting and community, constructing strong relationships between characters, and providing

Obstacles. Everyone has been forced to overcome them at some point in their life. These obstacles have shaped everyone and helped them become the person they are today. Challenges are a part of life and everyone will face them at some point in their life, but it is how people handle it that determines their future. This idea can be seen in many pieces of text including the following poems. “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley and “The Rose That Grew From Concrete” by Tupac both convey the idea that obstacles are important in everyone’s life and help shape everyone as a person on the way to their dream.

Obstacles are unavoidable parts of our lives. Obstacles constantly come in the way and slow us down. However, these obstacles should not be viewed as being harmful. They are essential factors in order for one to succeed. They can change the course of one’s life, and encourage one to work harder. Therefore, obstacles can be beneficial.

Some of the most important things in life will be learned by experiencing different situations that will mark us forever. “The lesson” was written by Tony Cade Bambara. This story narrates a trip that a lady made with a bunch of kids to teach them a lesson about how the economy and life work. She takes them to a toy store where they see an expensive toy that is worth a year of food for a family and some of the kids learn a lot from this. “Commencement speech, Kenyon College” was written by David Foster Wallace. This is a speech that he gave to a college. In his speech, he talks about several things of life, how we view ourselves as the center of the universe and how everybody is living their own story. Everybody in the world has different priorities, most of people will see themselves as the center of the universe and one of the most important things is to learn to understand the others.

Having an obstacle to overcome will happen at least one time in everyone's life. The obstacles may be small, large, mental, or physical, but if you find the right people to stick with you through it, you can overcome anything. That’s what was going through my mind when I read an inspiring article about a young man named Tim Harris.

I like to read legendary people’s thoughts. It makes me see things from different perspectives. As I went through the Internet last week, I read Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.’s thoughts about life. There was this sentence that I really like. He said “A moment's insight is sometimes worth a life's experience.” It makes me think of what I’m doing right now. Talking about experience, I learned quite a lot of things at the first PD. The most obvious thing that I learned was not to be a quitter. I couldn’t just quit when they told me to do the introduction for 30 seconds. I couldn’t just quit when they told me to do the activities. I had to do it, and at the end of the day, I felt pretty satisfied of myself. It could be applied in many situations in my future, especially at the times when I will finally have a job for a living. Thinking about what I learned at my first PD reminds me of the typical saying that I’m sure everybody knows, “nothing worth having comes

There are always going to be obstacles in between someone and what they want, but if that person deals with these challenges depends on how much they want it. The characters in the following stories and videos did not let other people get in the way of what they want and instead proceeded their dreams. Anyone can overcome a roadblock in the form of what they want.

Some things I can see that might get in the way of my dreams or could potentially be barriers would be maybe funding because I plan on learning every single thing I can about my passion to make it and do what I need to do in order to be successful in my field. Myself can sometimes be a barrier because I can get really lazy at times and know I have something I need to do but just don’t do it because I may not feel like it at the time also I’m a very big procrastinator I wait to the very last minute to do things when I know I should do them as soon as I get them.

The Last Lecture is equally a telling of how Randy Pausch lived his life and a guide on how others should live theirs. Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon and gave his last lecture after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. However, this lecture was not filled with weepy memories of his family or things he wished he could change. Instead, it was a recount of how he was able to achieve all of his childhood dreams and steps for anyone to do the same. Almost everything Randy says in his lecture are extremely quotable words to live by. He touches upon some of the most fundamental themes that everyone can understand, like the benefits of a positive attitude and how to overcome obstacles to achieve your dreams.

Dr. Shandler provided me with valuable assistance to ensure I met my educational goals. Not only did Dr. Shanlder help me to be successful in my class with him, he also provided me with guidance to help ensure my continued success in my educational, professional, and personal pursuits. Most notably, Dr. Shandler gave me the confidence to continue my graduate studies, when I thought that my professional and family responsibilities would make it impossible for me to complete my studies. Because of the difference that Dr. Shandlers' guidance, support, and encouragement made in my life, I plan to mentor young students in the future. I would love to be able to give back to someone else the motivation that Dr. Shandler provided to

Obstacles “Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome” (Arthur Ashe). The meaning of this quote is simple: a person has to put in work in order to be successful. A person must be able to transcend the challenges in order to have the prerogative of success. Whenever a person needs to obtain success, they must have obstacles in their way.