I am sure many of you remember Randy Pausch’s compelling “Last Lecture” speech on September 18,2007 at Carnegie Mellon University. It is perhaps the greatest lesson on moving beyond the brick wall and in Randy’s case, he had more than one brick wall to move beyond. He pushed the brick wall and in his inspiring story you’ll discover that you can move beyond the brick wall, too.
Having recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Randy understood about brick walls. His aggressive treatments were in hopes of giving him a long life. But those treatments didn’t work and Randy passed away on July 25, 2008. ”We can’t change the cards we are dealt just how we play the hand.”
“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
I’ve faced brick walls many times in my life. But, none as tough as Randy’s. His attitude when facing his mortality was inspiring and thankfully he left us with his now famous lecture.
When I hit what I think is a brick wall, I don’t let it stop me anymore. I remind myself that the brick wall is put there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough and that I need to do whatever it takes to succeed and move forward.
In my business I see people who hit brick walls often and one of the things that I like to share with my team is that we have every tool available to us to move through that barrier. We have to employ those tools and take action. And of course there’s the support you have from your team members, supervisor, mentors, that can help you get to the next level you are striving for.
I find that too often people are afraid to ask for help for fear they appear incapable of doing their job. Just remember everybody hits that wall in their business or in their life at some point. How you move through it, over it or around it is really up to you. Don’t let yourself be one of those other people that lets the brickwall stop them. Show how badly you want success by pushing through. It feels really great when you can look back and see what you achieved even through adversity!
If you’d like to know true inspiration watch this video of Randy reprising his “Last Lecture” on Oprah Winfrey’s show.
I worked for a menial’s hire,
Only to learn dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have willingly paid.~ Jessie B Rittenhouse
I am reading a great book that was recommended to me – Secrets of Six- Figure Women by Barbara Stanny. These common threads are not just unique to women.
Barbara was given the idea by a good friend to interview women who were earning six-figures and more to determine what they had in common, if anything. She didn’t really want to do it, because she thought she would be talking with high earning women who were cold, tough, aloof, hard-driven, designer dressed who could never relate to a poorly paid writer. What she found was pretty remarkable and not what she expected when she began her journey.
Early in her interviewing them, she wanted to find out what drives them to succeed, she asked them the question “What drives you to work so hard to succeed?”
Their answers were varied, but here are just a few of them:
Each of them had a different value of what was important for them, but the outcome for all of them is tremendous success both financially and achieving what is important to them and that is what drives them.
“If you want to be truly successful, focus on fulfilling your values and financial gain will follow.”
What do you value the most in how it relates to your success? Only you can answer that question, but if you can really tap into that, your success can increase exponentially. I challenge you to really find what your core value is that will drive your success to the next level. You have the power to achieve whatever you want, but you need to have a vision for your life based on cherished values, when you do then money becomes a by-product.
“Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.” ~ John Wooden
John Wooden was one of the most revered coaches in the history of sports. During his tenure as head coach at UCLA he won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period—seven in a row— an unprecedented feat. Within this period, his teams won a record 88 consecutive games. He was named national coach of the year six times. He coached his players to be the absolute best they could be every day, not just in sports, but in every aspect of their lives. Wooden also believed we can always improve but should never compare ourselves to others. Their success does not define your success or your perceived lack thereof. I have compared myself to others successes most of my adult life. Even though I built 3 very successful businesses, I would always look at my competitors and think “They have achieved more than me, they built better shopping centers or developed nicer condominium projects than we did.
What I know is that comparing yourself to others only holds you back from believing that you can be the best you can be every day. You will only rise to the heights you think you can. So why not take every day to realize you are the best you can be. But in order to do that, you have to make a choice that you will put forth your best each day. At the end of the day when you reflect, you will know your best was good enough. Start the next day with an attitude of I am going to do better than my best from yesterday.
Every day, if you push yourself just a little more, you will eventually see quantum leaps in your level of success. So I ask you…Who is your competition – really?
