Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch, who is dying from pancreatic cancer, gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. In his moving talk, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” Pausch talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals. For more, visit www.cmu.edu/randyslecture.

You are responsible for you. What do I mean? Simple.

You may not be where you want to be in life. You may be. Either way, you are responsible for where you are. The decisions you made are your decisions. You may feel trapped. You feel that way because of the decisions you made to get there. You may feel you’re in a helpless situation. You feel that way because of the decisions you made. You will continue to feel that way if you decide to stay where you are.

What is the driving force that controls your life? Is it your history or your imagination?!

Let me explain…

Too many people limit themselves by their history. They think that what they have achieved in the past is the only thing that they can achieve in the future. And what they failed to do in the past, they would never be able to achieve in the future.

Their history controls their present and future. They think that they would never be able to do more or have more. The past for them is like a prison that hinders them from realizing their full potential.

After you have decided what you want, visualized it, and believed it can happen, the next step is receiving it – fully and wholeheartedly.

This step may sound simple at first (and to some, it may be really simple), but in reality, people sometimes have a hard time receiving what they want. Why? Because they feel they don’t deserve it.

Feeling undeserving of good things usually stems from a lack of self-esteem which may be traced back to childhood. Dysfunctional families, lack of support from teachers or guardians and lack of acceptance from peers are common culprits of poor self-esteem.