They’re calling it the “lecture of a lifetime.”

And that’s not just hyperbole in Randy Pausch’s case. It’s the gritty, grim fact of his existence right now. Carnegie Mellon comp-sci professor Randy Pausch is dying of pancreatic cancer, and within another two to five months, he expects his three kids to be fatherless, his wife a widow. So, he agreed to participate in an ongoing lecture series at CMU which used to be themed around the premise “Pretend you’re dying – what do you want your last lecture to convey?”

In Pausch’s case, of course, that’s exactly where he is. But what transpired this week in a run-of-the-mill lecture hall was anything but tragic, depressing, cliche’d. It was something that I feel pretty sure every single reader of TIS needs to see, right now. But first – let me give you some context.

Pausch discovered a year ago that he had pancreatic cancer. He focused his energies completely on healing, and for awhile, it looked pretty good for him. Cleared of cancer following some pretty heavy experimental treatment protocols, Pausch must have been stunned to learn a few months ago that the cancer was back. In fact, doctors called it one of the most aggressive recurrences they’d ever seen.

So Pausch turned that same intense focus and energy that he’d thrown at healing towards dying, and he resolved to do it as well as he could – pretty much the way he’s always lived. And then he turned his attention to this lecture.

I can almost guarantee that, if you haven’t seen this video yet, it’s not going to be what you’re expecting. It certainly wasn’t what I expected, and I had been briefed before hand. Pausch’s spirit almost visibly radiates as he speaks, and it’s obvious this is a person who has processed life’s lessons, or at least a good many of them. Starting with the title of his lecture – “How to Live Your Childhood Dreams” – Pausch created this lecture to be different. Not about success, or achieving the impossible so much as it is about living well, the lecture – and that word sounds so paltry and insufficient when applied to these words of his – is a roadmap for a life well and truly lived.

There is also wisdom in that lecture for solos and those who want to be. He speaks about brick walls – the metaphorical kind, the kind that keep us from achieving our dreams. He speaks bluntly (paraphrasing here): “Those are for OTHER people. They’re to keep OTHER people out. For us, they’re to remind us how much we want what’s on the other side.” So, think about Professor Pausch and his Disney rides and football-playing when you think about your solo law office – the one that lives only in your dreams right now.

Some time ago, there was a cartoon that I loved – Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin was a little boy, Hobbes his stuffed pet tiger who was actually a real tiger (that only Calvin could see and hear, of course). Calvin was known for being “all boy”; Hobbes his ready and willing co-conspirator. My favorite strip showed the two collapsed on the floor in the final panel (after a whirlwind of activity in the preceding panels). Calvin says, “Consider the day seized.” Hobbes adds, “And throttled.”

That’s Pausch, in a wholly inadequate nutshell. Don’t just seize the day – throttle it.

The video of his lecture is available on the web in an abbreviated format from Wall Street Journal – click here for that (less than 5 minutes); to get the full version, click here.

For more on Professor Pausch, you can see this article at ABC.com; this article at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; or visit his website at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/.