The Last Lecture & My Jet Set Life

Thankfully, I was raised by parents that gave me the ability to make my own choices in life, even at a young age. By their examples, they indirectly taught me to follow my heart and my passions. Because of my parents, I’ve always been a passion person, first with gymnastics and then leadership. Thankfully, in eighth grade it became travel with a three week trip to Russia with People to People. That’s where I first got the bug for travel, culture and exploring how other people lived. My parents were brilliant, they guiding me and allowed me to have these experiences that would truly change the path of my life, and (as usual) they were right.

People can look at how I live my life in one of two ways; either it’s a shallow existence with expensive hotels, posh dinners and new veneers or you could see that I’m living my life, a life I designed around my passions and my childhood dreams. My hope is that you see it’s the latter of the two.

Here is a story of a terrific man, an inspiring teacher, a doting husband and a role model of a father that followed his heart, his passion and in the end, literally accomplished all of his childhood dreams. And now, leaves his legacy to the world, his students and most importantly, his children.

Randy Pausch was a professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon. He delivered the annual “Last Lecture” in September of 2007 to a packed house. The name of the lecture had more meaning to him than any one else because he was dying of cancer and only had 3-6 months to live. The lessons that he learned in his all too short life seem like a compilation of The Secret, Tony Robbins and even Tim Ferriss. Maybe he read these books or saw these lectures, but I have a feeling this was just who he was as a person.

You may ask, what does The Last Lecture have to do with My Jet Set Life. That’s easy. It’s about passion, accomplishing your childhood dreams, enabling others to accomplish their dreams and of course about life lessons learned along the way. Not to get on a soap box, but I consider myself a child of the world. I love the cultures, the history and more than anything, the people that I meet in other countries. For me, Randy Pausch solidified my desire to have a muse that I LOVE; and never give up on my dreams and goals, no matter how big or small; to realize that the experience you’ll get from trying to obtain your goals is your real gift. He reminded me of all the things I know deep inside, but maybe get lost among the clutter of everyday life, like gratitude and karma. He talks about the brick walls that you’ll come up against when trying to accomplish a dream or goal. He says that brick walls are designed to show you how badly you want something. I really believe that the brick walls in your life are what make you who you are.

Personally, our company Jet Set Life is the legacy that we want to leave the world. Our travels have inspired us to live a better more well rounded life, worldwide. From our travels we’ve learned to enjoy a cup of coffee with friends and truly live in the moment. Our ultimate dream is that people will follow our lead and become inspired to live life now and find a way to get off the deferred life plan. To stop allowing the brick walls of life to come between you and your life, your passions and your childhood dreams. Hence, “Excuses are over. It’s time to live!”. I think we’re on the same page as Randy Pausch and are thankful for his final lecture.

For me, I believe that everything, good or bad happens for a reason. Even the recent passing of Randy Pausch at the early age of 47 years old, happened for a reason (by the way, he lived almost a year instead of the 3-6 months that doctors gave him). I believe the reason was so this lecture would be seen worldwide and the world would be a better place because of this one man. Here’s the lecture, please watch it to the end including the minute and a half of the standing ovation. Get your Kleenex, a pad of paper and take it all in. Enjoy!

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