Inspiration

Randy Pausch is a well known and admired educator in computer science circles. In September of 2006, Professor Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was told he had between three to six months of decent health left. Later that month, he gave a rather inspiring lecture at Carnegie Mellon University entitled Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. Ironically, the talk was part of what used to known as the Last Lecture Series: If you had one last lecture to give before you died, what would it be? This talk has come to be known as Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture:

I'll let you watch it for yourself. And when you are done, ask yourself, isn't achieving your childhood dreams not the very definition of fulfillment?

Remember brick walls let us show our dedication. They are there to separate us from the people who don’t really want to achieve their childhood dreams. Don’t bail. The best of the gold’s at the bottom of barrels of crap.

Source: Randy Pausch Last Lecture

While that lecture has become quite popular on the Internet, and in and of itself extremely relevant to the spirit of The 4-Hour Workweek, Pausch also gave another lecture that is worth mentioning here, especially considering the time management kick I have been on lately. The lecture is actually on the topic of effective time management. It was originally given back in 1998, but Pausch was asked to give it again (post cancer diagnosis) late last year. A lecture on time management from someone with probably not that much longer to live has a certain credibility:

Besides nailing the concepts of "time is money", the Pareto principle, and planning & prioritizing, what I really like about this lecture are some of the absolutely practical tips (I'll mention a few here, but you can really just watch the lecture for yourself!) he provides:

• Develop strategies to minimize the time spent on Telephone calls: consider using a speaker phone and/or a head set. Have, or insist on, an agenda for phone calls. Stand while you are on the phone. Batch phone calls to just before lunch or at the end of day - that way people you are talking with have a motivation to get off the phone.
• Email: batch the processing of email to a limited number of times each day. Process your inbox to zero. File, but never delete email.
• Journal you Time: It is hard to impossible to manage your time if you do not track where it is spent. At a minimum, track how much time you spend watching television. Consider getting rid of your television.
• When you delegate, be specific and empower that person to complete the job without further intervention from yourself.
• If you find yourself procrastinating, ask yourself why you are putting it off. Sometimes, all you have to do is ask someone else for help.
• When you have small children, exchange money for time at every opportunity.

As Pausch points out, unlike money, we can never get our time back.

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For those of you who do know know about TED, I highly recommend you visit their site. TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) started in 1984 as a conference bringing together remarkable and fascinating thinkers to exchange their ideas on technology, entertainment, and design. TED Speakers are challenged to give the talk of their lives in under 20 minutes.

I have subscribed to many of their podcast feeds. I have got into the habit of watching the talks on my iPod as an alternative to television when I want to relax, yet at the same time be educated.

Richard St. John, a marketing guru, spent over 10 years interviewing successful people to understand what makes them successful. His findings resulted in 8 to Be Great: The 8 Traits that Lead to Great Success. At TED, he gave a fabulous 3 minute summary of this eight-fold path. What I learned from the talk is that successful people are characterized by the following traits:

• Passion: Do what you do for love not money.
• Work: Work hard at what you do, but have fun doing it.
• Good: Get good at what you do - practice, practice, practice.
• Focus: Focus on one thing (reminds me of single-tasking).
• Push: Push away shyness and self doubt.
• Serve: Serve others something of value.
• Ideas: Observe, listen and ask questions.
• Persist: Persist through all the CRAP (Criticism, Rejection, Assholes, Pressure)!

I highly encourage you to watch the talk for yourself (conveniently accessible immediately below) - a mere three minute investment of your time!

Odds & Ends

You may have noticed some modifications to the site. Over time, all things evolve. Since starting this blog, I have realized that The 4-Hour Work Week is only one of the many blueprints for lifestyle change that I want to discuss. It, in fact, compliments a lot of other material I have read, followed, discovered, or applied over the years. I often find value for myself in many lifestyle philosophies and schools of thought. While I am still on a quest for a four hour work week and committed to documenting my progress here (I am therefore retaining The 4-Hour Workweek Journal as the blog's subtitle), I am finding and applying other bits of wisdom along the way - from the more mundane (like how to organize my stuff) to the sublime (such as the attributes of great leaders).

Thus, I have decided to rename the blog. Sutra is a Sanskrit word that means a thread that holds things together. Metaphorically, a sutra refers to a collection of aphorisms, or rules in the form of a manual. One could say that life sutra means a manual on the discipline of life. Life Sutra is my attempt to find and compile “rules of life”. Specifically, to discover how one lives fully while working more efficiently and effectively. I want to share what I learn with you, and I hope you will continue to do the same through your comments and feedback!

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