The Last Lecture

Part of Pausch’s central lesson in his last lecture is about overcoming obstacles with tenacity and a positive attitude. He uses the image of a brick wall to symbolize the obstacles that we face when we try to achieve our dreams. His own brick walls involved getting rejected from a graduate program, almost missing out on marrying his wife, and nearly losing his chance to experience zero gravity with NASA. However, Pausch believes that “brick walls are there for a reason”—they are an opportunity for a person to be more creative with their approach to overcoming an obstacle. Brick walls also challenge a person to decide how much they want their goal.