RANDY PAUSCH



Randy Pausch  (1960 - 2008) 

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“Don't bail; the best pieces of gold are at the bottom of the barrel of crap.” - Randy Pausch






This week, out of the blue, my name somehow landed on the mailing list of a photographer that I know casually, because we both post pictures on the same website, BetterPhoto.com. The photographer is Usman Bajwa, and being on his mailing list this week has turned out to be, if not a life changing experience, certainly a life molding one. It has affected me so deeply, in fact, that I want—no—need to share it with all of you. If you have already seen the video, you are lucky, because it may have, in a poignant way, “saved” the rest of your life. If not, please make time: one hour and sixteen minutes and look at it. Find a quiet place. Make yourself comfortable, sit back, have your shades handy. You are about to see some gleaming, sparkling SILVER!





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On September 18, 2007, Carnegie Mellon professor and alumnus Randy Pausch delivered a one-of-a-kind last lecture (his body was wracked with cancer, and he was dying) that made the world stop and pay attention. It became an internet sensation viewed by millions, an international media story, and a best-selling book that has been published in 35 languages. To this day, people everywhere continue to talk about Randy, share his message and put his life lessons into action in their own lives.


Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture (YouTube)




Randy died July 25, 2008, at the age of 47.



I’m not going to write very much of my own words here. The lecture speaks loudly for itself. But in case you can’t find the time to look at it now, I’m going to insert some quotes from Randy below. If you are unemployed, frustrated, depressed, or if your self confidence has taken a hit, please watch it. If you looked at it before, but it has been a while, please watch it again. And then pass the link above on to the people you care about.
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  Michelle

Quotations from Randy

•  "Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough…”

Michelle Alton

• "Luck is where preparation meets opportunity."

•  "When you're screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they've given up on you. That lesson has stuck with me my whole life. When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody's bothering to tell you anymore, that's a bad place to be. You may not want to hear it, but your critics are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and want to make you better."

• "When there’s an elephant in the room introduce him."

• "When we're connected to others, we become better people."

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•  “Don’t complain; just work harder.”

•  "Too many people go through life complaining about their problems. I've always believed that if you took one tenth the energy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you'd be surprised by how well things can work out."

•  "Find the best in everybody. Just keep waiting no matter how long it takes. No one is all evil. Everybody has a good side, just keep waiting, it will come out."

•  "A good apology is like antibiotic, a bad apology is like rubbing salt in the wound."

• "I'm sorry. It's my fault. How do I make it right?”

•  "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer."

•  "It’s not about how to achieve your dreams. It’s about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you."

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•  "There are more ways than one to measure profits and losses."

•  "The person who failed often knows how to avoid future failures. The person who knows only success can be more oblivious to all the pitfalls."

• "No job is beneath you. You ought to be thrilled you got a job in the mailroom And when you get there, here's what you do: Be really great at sorting mail."

•  "You cannot change the cards you are dealt, just how you play the hand."

• "He had high hopes for society, and though his hopes were too often dashed, he remained a raging optimist."

• "My coach knew there was only one way to develop self esteem): You give children something they can't do, they work hard until they find they can do it, and you just keep repeating the process."

• "Want to have a short phone call with someone? Call them at 11:55 a.m., right before lunch. They'll talk fast. You may think you are interesting, but you are not more interesting than lunch."

•  "It's not helpful if we spend every day dreading tomorrow." ~Jai

• "And even though I did not reach the NFL, I sometimes think I got more from persuing that dream, and not accomplishing it, then I did from many of the ones I did accomplish."

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•  “Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome.”

•  “It’s such a shame that people perceive you as so arrogant.  Because it’s going to limit what you’re going to be able to accomplish in life.”

•  “I’ll take an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short term. Earnest is long term.”

• "Focus on other people, not yourself."

Michelle Alton

•  “Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.”

•  “Don't have negative thoughts of things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.”

•  “Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.”

•  “Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.”

•  “Try to make at least three people smile each day.”



•  “Dream more while you are awake.”

•  “Don't remind your partner of his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.”

•  “If you know GOD you will always be happy. So, be happy.”

Please watch the video, even if you have seen it before!

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If you have a moment, I think about now you might enjoy my Best of Floral Photographs slideshow, and the gorgeous background vocal by the late, brilliant Eva Cassidy. And if you have another moment, I'd love to hear what you think about it.  Thanks for looking!
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  Michelle

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More Evidence for SILVER LININGS

MORE EVIDENCE FOR SILVER LININGS!

Last week was a killer one for me. But, dear friends, if you hang with me for a few minutes, you’ll see how I have found it possible to find -- through all the gray days-- that it is getting easier to find “silver linings” if I keep an eye out for them. You can too—and really, you MUST! Your worst enemy during these down periods is despair!




I’ve known for a while now that my personal world view has gradually come to be almost wholly and directly related to how well my computer is performing. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? Well, it is…but just knowing that it’s crazy, unfortunately, doesn’t change the effect a computer crash has on me. I could be otherwise soaring on Cloud Nine, all systems go, optimism ruling the day. And then my computer starts limping as though it has some broken bones, and I know that imminently, something really bad is going to happen!






Omen of Despair

  

For a while I tried to tell myself that the seemingly interminable white screen on boot-up was not really a symptom, though secretly I knew I was living at the edge of disaster, and it was just going to be a matter of time before my World crashed down around me. In my mind’s eye, it looks like a building implosion!




(Google Image)



But now I’m out of work, no severance pay this time, and I’m trying to slow the “bleeding” by attempting to be somewhat frugal with my spending. And yet, I know that my computer is the lifeline to my most fervent passion – Photography. To merely imagine that lifeline being severed, even for a few days, fills me with horror and revulsion, the likes of which can suddenly transform me, Florence Nightingale, to Medusa, the mythological monster with snakes for hair!

(Google Image)



To that point, I have learned to warn my husband to keep a few dozen arm’s lengths between us while I’m trying to solve an electronics problem. If he forgets, invariably he is exposed to a couple of bared fangs, which I can assure you, is not a pleasant experience!  So, duly warned, husband brought me beverages and the occasional morsel of food, and otherwise kept his distance through the three-day ordeal.


So, it happened. And it happened right after a major Windows Update in the middle of the night. As I tried to rub the early morning blur from my eyes, it was clear that my screen was frozen. And after trying everything I could think of to unfreeze it (mainly cntl-alt-delete), my only option was to turn the thing off and turn it back on again (as in, when all else fails, REBOOT!). But I had a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach, and my heart was racing madly. This was not going to be good.




"A Sick Feeling"   (Shot at Magic Gardens, South Street, Philadelphia)



Well, I’m not saying that Microsoft was to blame for this impending disaster, but ever since this high-end laptop was delivered to my door, with the (unnamed here) operating system that has since been discontinued, it has been nothing but problems.

If this was to be an unrepairable crash, then it will have been the fourth one in three years and the fourth one that would require a complete Operating System re-installation. And that means having to reload every piece of software that came pre-installed on the computer, and every program that I had added since, including every photo editing program and plug-in.  And then I'll have to locate every serial number and license key. Each such incident took more than 24 hours of work to get up and running again. And a lot of hyper-ventilating along with a fair amount of shed tears (well, who needs tears anyway?). And if they have not been recently backed up to a portable storage device, it could also mean the loss of all stored documents and precious photos.


Silver Trinket #1  (Google Image)



So here’s the first bit of silver ore I found: All that stuff had been backed up to storage media the day before! And when I checked my backup drive, all the documents and photos were present and accounted for.  Great!  (Smiling)








So--back to the incident: When I turned the computer back on, it kept cycling through the black and white screen that says, “Windows was unable to start.” If you don’t press an option within a minute, it then tries to boot again…and again…and again! Not looking good at all.


Summing up the next three days in a few sentences:


• My computer’s hardware was still under warranty, but…


• The operating system was not. And since the problem appeared to be with the O.S.--


• I would have to pay more than $200 to get assistance with troubleshooting this issue.


• Over a period of three days I spoke at length with two novice technicians-- both of whose heavy dialects I could not parse, and one of which was also rude -- for a total of about 10 hours, until the case was finally escalated to a special group that handles “near hopeless” cases.


• On one technician's strong recommendation, ordered an installation disc for Windows 7, which didn’t resolve the problem because it would not install on my computer.


• Several telephone lines dropped, causing me to have to repeat my story multiple times at great length.  Finally I was connected to the technician for "lost cause" software issues.


• Good news! He spoke very plain English and was full of apparent sympathy for my dilemma. And after a few hours of going through all the same steps as the day before and the day before that, he, with all the patience of a saint, walked me through the start of the very long, unabridged hard drive diagnostics routine. “Let it run to the end, however many hours it takes, and if any errors occur, just write down the message. I will call you at 12:30 pm EDT tomorrow to find out what happened.” And the fatal error happened about two minutes after we hung up. The hard drive was compromised and had to be replaced.!!!


• So it had taken more than 15 hours of telephone time to be able to justify the replacement of a $200 part. Penny wise and pound foolish? I was totally drained.


I don’t remember anything after climbing into bed that night, but woke up the next morning refreshed and thankful for all the pieces of shiny silver ore that I had mined over the last few days:

Glory Be!

Silver Pieces:

#2 Silver Piece: I started off with one lovely but lame computer. At the end of the ordeal, I’ll have two beautiful, fast, and sleek high-end laptops with a total of 1300 gigabytes of storage space.


#3 Silver Piece: With 8 gigabytes of RAM, Photoshop will NEVER crash again because of too little memory to finish a task! And with a new, super-duper graphics card, I’ll have a gorgeous display and no more graphics crashes!


#4 Silver Piece: As wonderful as the other two bits of silver linings are, this one is, for a middle-aged female, Far-and-Away, the very biggest and best silver nugget:

In three days, I have lost, hopefully forever, FIVE POUNDS of ugly, depressing FAT!

Could I ask for More?  Could anyone?


Of course. What we all need is a great job, and if we keep our spirits up and do what we need to do, it's going to happen!  I believe it!

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Do you have a "Silver Lining" story to tell? 

Email it to me ( ganesh5555@hotmail.com ).

I'll publish it here* --with photos-- if it fits the theme. Could be fun!

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   Please visit my photo gallery at Your Best Shot Photography

* with minor discretionary edits

(Unless otherwise indicated, all photography by Michelle Alton)

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SEEKING the SILVER

Almost from the start, this blog has focused on “silver linings” and the importance of seeking them, even while trying to cope with the grim realities of unemployment during this extended economic downturn.



Seeking

  
In the autumn of 2010, my status is once again, “Unemployed.” But I’m determined not to throw myself back into the misery of self-doubt and depression. And guess what I learned so far? -- There are even silver linings in this seemingly unhappy state of affairs!




After the layoff last year, I launched into a concerted six-month effort to become re-employed. For eight to 12 hours every day, I worked assiduously searching job boards, networking, applying online for jobs, reading advice columns, and reworking resumes. As a highly experienced (aka “older”) professional, a typical day was often fraught with disappointment and frequently I found myself skidding into the depths of despair. My self confidence also took an enormous hit.



Erosion to Despair

 
With unemployment remaining very high, especially within the Pharmaceutical Industry (whence my experience), there were large queues of people lining up for every new job opening, drastically changing all the old rules of job hunting. Hiring managers were receiving up to 500 resumes on the first day of a job posting. There was no time to read and give each proper consideration. So, in most cases, automated keyword scans were used to screen candidates. If your resume did not contain the "right" words, it was passed over before a human eye ever fell on it.


And if you got past the keyword screening, your experience had to exactly match the experience required by the position description. Phrases like “highly experienced” tipped off the resume screener that the candidate was not youthful and someone less experienced could be hired at a lower salary. Resumes had to be customized for each position—to use the exact words that were used in the job description.
As far as I can tell, the new rules are still in effect.




"Experienced"

 
Personal contact is so much more “real” to a hiring manager than words on a resume. That's why learning how to navigate around the enormously powerful Linked-In system, is a great boon to job hunters. Linked-In works following the notion that any two people are connected to each other by no more than “six degrees of separation.” You can learn a lot more about it by searching online for Linked-In tutorials that will provide pointers. I highly recommend one such tutorial by Olivier Taupin (http://files.meetup.com/1401259/LinkedIn_Advanced_Job_Seeking_Techniques_1.pdf ). So, through hooking up with a person who knows another person, we can make contact with someone who works inside a company, who can provide a “personal” introduction—a virtual “foot in the door” providing a “leg up” (to extend the metaphor)  on other candidates that appear among the sea of words placed in front of the hiring manager. And the biggest silver lining I found was that PEOPLE WANT TO HELP! They really do.

 

  

We are told that only about ten percent of job openings are advertised. If that is true, then searching job boards, where the competition is heavy for every posted position, seems to be a sure route to more disappointment and despair.

 

The position I was offered and accepted last March was not advertised. Furthermore a defined position did not even exist. But through networking, at least three people who knew me and also had direct connections to people in upper management positions at the new company, provided strong recommendations for me. And so, after a month of discussions about my experience and skills, they decided to offer me a nondescript director-level position in the Center City Philadelphia company. (I hope you’re reading between the lines here, for another lesson learned—the hard way).



But so far, from this post we can conclude that the keys to finding YOUR job are:

• Learn how to work the Linked-In System

• Network

• To avoid depression and loss of confidence, don’t waste lots of time applying on line to posted positions. If you see a job that appeals to you, try to find a way to network to a person inside the company. It’s not that hard once you learn the system.

• Network

• Learn how to work the Linked-In System

• Network

I hope you’re getting that message:  Networking is key to your success and your self esteem on your journey back to full employment.



OK. From the first paragraph of this post, you know that my “nondescript director-level position” only lasted six months. What happened? I’ll explain all that and go more into the Silver Lining that’s allowing me to still feel the Sunshine.

 


Let the Sun Shine

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   All photography by Michelle Alton, 2010

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Hope Refreshed: Part III

[More Musings on Silver Linings]

Before getting back to the “Coaching Chronicles,” I wanted to report on some recent progress on my job search, in the hope of providing encouragement to folks who may be dealing with unemployment despondency, discouragement, desolation,  loss of confidence or even depression (all familiar experiences that I’ve personally lived through since the lay-off in September).

Desolation

It has been five months now since the announcement that thrusted me into the world of the unemployed for the first time in my career. And because I had not paid attention to the need for networking while I was still working, it has taken until now to begin to see tangible positive results. But this week, suddenly two very “hot” possibilities have surfaced, both resulting from contacts that I made weeks or months ago either through Linked-In or through using Linked-In as a research tool to find the names of key people at a particular company. One important interview is scheduled for Friday.   As a “newby”  to being out of work, it took me a long time to learn the ropes of networking. So my first word of advice to those who are still working, is:

Please start taking advantage of Linked-In and other networking opportunities while you are employed, even if you believe your current position is utterly secure. Lesson #1:  There is no such thing as “utterly secure” in today's economic situation. Begin to build your network while you are still working. It is SO important to keep records of the contact information of business associates, colleagues who have come and gone, vendors, sales associates, and everyone that crosses your path in your business and your personal life. And stay in touch with these people, if only to say "hello" now and again and to exchange small talk. Should you find yourself unemployed one day, you’ll be able to hit the ground running, and start contacting people in your already established network.  Remember: People WANT to help you!

Networking

(Not sure the butterfly wants to help all THAT much!)

For example, last week I corresponded for the first time in about seven years with the owner of the no-kill dog shelter from which we adopted two of our wonderful pets. When I relayed to her that I had lost my job,  she said, “My husband is a physician and he has done work with a lot of pharmaceutical companies. Is there anything he can do for you?” And before I knew it, her husband was making calls to everyone he knew in Pharma and then sending me job descriptions to review!

You just never know who, in your personal circle, might have contacts in your industry and might also be willing to help you out by making phone calls on your behalf. To me, as I wrote in an earlier post, finding out that PEOPLE WANT TO HELP was definitely the silver lining to my unemployment situation. I can’t begin to tell you what a wonderful positive change has come into my life from the uplifting things I have learned about the natural kindness and generosity of  most people. You will be amazed and your spirits will soar. You’ll also be wanting to dedicate yourself to helping others once you’ve jumped back “into the saddle” again!

Uplifted

This post was intended to be about working with a coach  “peeling the onion” of the psyche to discover the inner reasons that obstacles lie in the way of finding happiness in your career. But this interlude lasted longer than I expected ,so I think it has gone on long enough for now. Stay tuned—we’ll be working on that onion in my next post!

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  All photography by Michelle Alton

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If you have 10 minutes, you might want to listen to the podcast interview that Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Magazine conducted with me, entitled:  "Keeping Your Mojo and Your Sanity in a Tough Pharma Job Market"  http://tinyurl.com/AltonMojo

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The Silver Lining of being Unemployed

Well, it's now been slightly over three months since the devasting RIF that left me unemployed for the first time since I dropped out of college (later earned my degree while working full-time) at age 19. I won't say how many years ago that was, but it was a long, LONG time ago, to be sure!

Silver Lining

It's been a difficult time for a middle-aged Senior Director in Biotech/Pharma Clinical Operations to be in the job market in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic region. Tens of thousands of qualified professionals have been turned out on the streets due to mergers and downsizing, and there are dozens and dozens competing for each open position. Figuring out how to get your resume to be READ is a major mystery, and to actually reach the point of a face-to-face interview is a feat of monumental proportion! And we are competing with hungry, career-building, talented folks who are willing to do the job at discounted salaries, just to get the proverbial 'foot in the door." Tough business, this job hunting is!  It can seem like the most vast of wastelands.

Ghost Ranch, New Mexico

And how many times in the past three months, have my hopes been stoked, only to learn that "we decided to promote an internal candidate," or "the job position has been revoked due to budgetary condtions," or "Sorry, but you are way over-qualified for this position?"


But...after living for three months on the lower end (never higher than mid-level) of the depression/exhilaration curve, I've come to the point where I can see a "silver lining," and my fortune is starting to turn around.



So here it is, and let me be the Upteenth person to tell you: There IS hope out there for us--Never Give up!

Never Give Up

Up until this unfortunate jobless period, I had never been very much of a networker. Though books like "Never Eat Alone" extoll the virtues of a lifetime of reaching out, I hadn't even read it until this happened to me. So, thank the Good Lord that Linked-In has come along. It's an amazing tool.

Well, I don't know about all the "how to" articles that are out there on the job sites; I believe most are really there to churn up business from job searchers needing the services of various types of coaches. For every bit of advice out there, there's another bit -- equal and opposite. And some are, in my opinion, utter travesties, like one I read recently about how to "take ten years off your age." (Don't take a newspaper to your interview because only OLD people read newspapers.) Jeepers!

So you could spend a lot of time getting lost in the bog of advice--How do we know which advice is Golden and which is Rubbish?

Bridging the Bog

But -- Linked-In, if worked to the maximum, finds people from your past, with whom you may have had positive working and personal relationships, but who you probably haven't thought about in many, many years. It's like the play, "Six Degrees of Separation," which proposed the notion that one can find a relationship to any person in the world through no more than six connections. As an example, Linked-In somehow connected me to my brother, who works in the BANKING industry--pretty far afield from most of my professional network in the Pharma/Biotech industry!


In the past three months, Linked-In has brought people back into my life who I have been fortunate enough to have mentored, starting with my first management position. Many of these people have seen their careers blossom over the years--because they are downright great at what they do. But now, they are telling me that I had a lot to do with their success, and they have, in some ways, modelled their own management styles after mine! Can you imagine how wonderful it has felt to hear that? So I have the opportunity to rekindle some terrific friendships.

Friends Rekindling

But, the phenomenal thing is that all of these people have developed their own networks, and are providing ideas, contacts, and recommendations for me. It's astonishing. And, the extra, added benefit is that all this works as a super, non-pharmaceutical mood enhancer for the out-of-work job hunter! Self confidence comes rippling back, and it is reflected in all of one's contacts with recruiters and hiring managers.

Recruiting Contact

I don't have a job yet...these things do take time. But just yesterday, I was told by an astute company recruiter (for a job that is being created that I would just LOVE to have), "Think of this period as a vacation, Michelle. With a background like yours, you won't be without a job for long--and let's keep in contact at least once a week!"



Even if nothing comes of that particular opportunity, the New Year begins with a huge blast of growing hope and confidence! Thank you, Linked-In. With the New Year comes a New Beginning!

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All photography by Michelle Alton

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