Creating a Life of Meaning

What I Learned:

This week we spent time discovering what we really want in life. We were asked to create a Bucket List of 50 things we’d like to accomplish during our lifetime. We also worked on creating a plan to help us achieve our “star,” or what is most important to us in life. One of the big takeaways I got from the lesson this week was that it’s important to not be afraid to dream big. The most memorable aspect of the lesson this week was reading the transcript of Randy Pausch’s last lecture that he gave back in 2007. In his lecture, he emphasized the importance of dreaming big and chasing your childhood dreams. Pausch said, “It is important to have specific dreams. Dream Big. Dream without fear.” In order to accomplish those dreams it is important to come up with a plan on how you’re going to get there. Steven Covey gave the advice, “to begin with the end in mind.” Without a game plan on how to achieve my goals in life, it is going to be much harder to reach them.

As part of the lesson this week, we were asked to watch a video titled “Treat Life As an Experiment” in which Tom Kelley, General Manager at IDEO, talked about when we treat life like an experiment we need to be prepared for some failures. He said that failures are okay as long as you’re failing forward. It is important to remember that all failures teach you something that can help in progressing you on the path to your big dreams. One of the things that Randy Pausch said that I loved was, “Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things.” Never let failures or brick walls get in the way of achieving what you really want in life.

Lessons Not Yet Learned:

This week I spent a lot of time thinking about what gives my personal life meaning and I was able to come up with some good answers. However, I was unable to come up with an answer to what will give my professional life meaning. I am hopeful that as this course continues I will be able to figure out what I want to get out of my professional career so that I can develop a plan on how to get there. 

Weekly Goal:

Spend time thinking about what will give my profession life meaning. 

Questions:

Why do you think Randy Pausch was able to achieve so many of his childhood dreams?

I think persistence and determination were key factors to why Pausch was able to achieve so many of his childhood dreams. He never let anything stand in his way of what he really wanted. This question makes me think back to the quote I mentioned in the “What I Learned” section about brick walls. Randy Pausch never saw brick walls as a dead end, but rather an opportunity for him to push himself harder.

Do you feel that dreaming is important? Why or why not?

I feel that dreaming is important because it allows you to think about what it is that you really want to accomplish in life. When we dream big, it helps to push ourselves further than we may have gone otherwise. I think that following your dreams will lead to a life of happiness, accomplishment, and fulfillment. 

Discuss at least one of your childhood dreams. Explain why you believe you can or cannot achieve this dream.

One of my biggest childhood dreams was to become a doctor. For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to be a doctor, though the type of doctor changed from time to time. When I started at BYU my original major was Biology and I started on the path to medical school. However, due to life changes I put my education on hold for a while and now that I am back in school I am majoring in Business Management. While my childhood dream of becoming a doctor is no longer part of my plan, it is still possible for me to help others, which was the reason I wanted to become a doctor in the first place.