life

W Mitchell was 28 years old when something terrible happened to him. He was just a regular guy who loved his newly acquired 750cc motorcycle. One day, while out driving, he reached an intersection where a laundry truck failed to see him or yield in time. He crashed and broke a few bones in the process, but the worst part was yet to come. Due to the impact, his bike’s gas cap popped open socking him with about two and a half gallons of fuel. The engine ignited, transforming W Mitchell in a human bonfire.

A witness was able to put out the flames using an extinguisher, therefore saving Mitchell’s life. He woke up in atrocious pain in the burn victim unit of San Francisco General Hospital. He had second, third and fourth degree burns on 65% of his body. Fourth degree burns are ones so severe that the bone has been consumed by the fire. His face was burned off, and his hands were irreparably destroyed. Doctors didn’t know at first if he was going to make it or not.

We can only imagine the kind of excruciating, incessant pain he experienced, as doctors agree that the pain associated with this kind of burn is essentially the highest level humans can perceive. Yet, he was unusually motivated to keep going and embrace life. The first thing he said to a surgeon upon learning that most of his hands were gone was, “this is gonna really screw up my pool game”. His courage and determination were clear from the get-go.

After 4 months he managed to get out of the hospital. Disfigured, his return back to city life was far from pleasant. The constant stares and reactions lead him to decide to move out of town. He relocated to the historic town of Crested Butte, Colorado where his upbeat spirit lead him to quickly make many new friends. It didn’t take much longer for Mitchell to co-found a multi-million dollar business, buy a beautiful Victorian house, obtain a pilot’s license and even own an airplane.

Despite the huge challenges, his courage and proactive attitude enabled him to live a successful, fulfilling life. Unfortunately that wasn’t the end of the story though. One winter’s day he set off to fly his airplane with some friends. Ice on the wings made taking off very difficult, and the plane essentially tumbled to the ground. Everyone managed to get out of the plane immediately, except Mitchell. His first thought was that his feet were stuck. Then he couldn’t feel his legs. His back suddenly started to hurt sharply. When the ambulance arrived he was rushed to the hospital where he would later learn that his spine was broken and that he would never be able to walk again.

This man had experienced his second life-altering accident, which combined with the first one, left him paralyzed from the waste down, in a wheelchair, disfigured and with good part of his hands missing. Try to imagine the emotional state of this person in the face of such unbelievable adversity. Once again Mitchell worked hard to continue his pursuit of life. His incredible attitude is summarized in a quote from his time in the hospital: “Before I was paralyzed there were 10,000 things I could do; now there are 9,000. I can either dwell on the 1,000 I’ve lost or focus on the 9,000 I have left.”.

While at the hospital he rushed to get out because he learned about a mining company that wanted to dig a huge, ugly hole in the beautiful mountain that watches over his town. In order to stop them he decided to run for mayor of the city, where he would eventually serve for two consecutive terms. Eventually he was able to convince them that drilling the mountain wasn’t such a great idea after all.

He’s fond of saying, “It’s not what happens to you, it’s what you do about it” (also the title of his book). We can learn so much from these words especially when the reminder comes from a man who lived them to the extreme. W Mitchell is a living example of what will power, courage and determination can achieve, against all odds. His body may be in a wheelchair, but he’s clearly free of mental wheelchairs. I find his story extremely inspiring and it reminds me of how your current condition only partially affects the outcome of your life. What truly matters is your attitude.

Today he owns several successful businesses and is an exceptional motivational speaker, who’s gathered worldwide acclaim. He even enjoys adventurous actives such as water rafting and skydiving. After all there are still 9,000 things left to do.

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The sad news of Dr. Randy Pausch’s passing, has touched many people who had an opportunity to learn about him and his famous last lecture before his death. I already made a brief farewell post, but great men are best remembered through their own words. These are 20 of what I consider to be great Randy Pausch motivational quotes.

1. Never underestimate the importance of having fun. I’m dying and I’m having fun. And I’m going to keep having fun every day, because there’s no other way to play it.
2. We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.
3. We don’t beat the Reaper by living longer. We beat the Reaper by living well.
4. It’s not about how to achieve your dreams, it’s all about leading your life. If you lead your life in a right way, karma will take care of itself. And dreams will come to you.
5. If I only had three words of advice, they would be, tell the truth. If I got three more words, I’d add, all the time.
6. 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. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people!
7. Be good at something. It makes you valuable. Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome.
8. Better to fail spectacularly than do something mediocre.
9. Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.
10. When there’s an elephant in the room introduce him.
11. Be prepared. Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity.
12. Find the best in everybody. Wait long enough, and people will surprise and impress you. It might even take years, but people will show you their good side. Just keep waiting.
13. Apologize when you screw up and focus on other people, not on yourself.
14. Don’t complain. Just work harder. That’s a picture of Jackie Robinson. It was in his contract not to complain, even when the fans spit on him.
15. Get a feedback loop and listen to it. Your feedback loop can be this dorky spreadsheet thing I did, or it can just be one great man who tells you what you need to hear. The hard part is the listening to it.
16. When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your critics are your ones telling you they still love you and care.
17. If you’re going to do anything that pioneering you will get those arrows in the back, and you just have to put up with it.
18. Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. You’ve got to get the fundamentals down because otherwise the fancy stuff isn’t going to work.
19. I probably got more from that dream and not accomplishing it than I got from any of the ones that I did accomplish.
20. I’ll take an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short term. Earnest is long term.

If you haven’t done so already, watch the last lecture and read the book which provides a bit of background information to better understand the man and his story.

This morning a man closed his eyes forever. He died the death that everyone dies, like the other hundred people whose heart will stop beating by the time you’ve finished reading this post. But that man was Randy Pausch.

Upon the tragedy of learning of his future death months in advance, Randy didn’t allow the sword of Damocles hanging over his head to take the smile from his face. He had fun until the end, he truly lived until his last moment. In the process, with his Last Lecture, he managed to touch the lives of millions of people worldwide.

In that sense, he never died. He continues to live inside the hearts of those who were deeply inspired by his message of living life to the fullest, with joy. Randy is a continuos reminder of the importance of working hard to achieve your dreams, of not complaining about petty things, of having a positive outlook towards life.

I always wanted to get in touch with Randy and thank him for the many ways he ended up inspiring and changing my own life. But I never wrote to him, not even an email. It wouldn’t have been fair for me to take that time from his family, to read yet another thank you note amongst the thousands that he received.

Last night I started writing a post about the lessons I learned from Dr. Randy Pausch. I thought about it after reading a status update page that tragically mentioned he was no longer able to post updates, due to the advanced state of his pancreatic cancer. My post was going to be titled “The lessons I’ve learned from a dying man”.

That post, with an aptly renamed title, can wait. Instead this is my farewell. Goodbye Randy.