I want you to travel back to your childhood
and remember the phrase, “What do you want to become when you grow up?”
How many of you have this question done?
Lift the hand!
All!
How many of you felt anxious when this question was asked you?
How much did you feel in doubt, why did not you know how to answer it?
So this question to me too troubled me too much.
Why think about it, that almost all of us life,
from the age of five to six years old,
has been shaped to a great extent about this question.
Think about it!
The lessons you have emphasized in the school,
your out-of-school activities,
the goals you have set.
And that’s why, over the last four years, I started researching it,
interacting with 2,000 young people,
and the first impressive find I found was:
How this question affects our brain.
How it affects our goals.
How it affects our career,
others and what impact it has on our happiness.
So according to quantum learning,
the first thing that happens in the brain is:
He begins to look,
to find this one word,
the one profession, which will be the answer to the question.
And it begins and searches. And looking to find words familiar.
Words he has heard from school,
from parents, from friends, from television.
Words like doctor, lawyer, teacher, footballer, singer.
But what is it about?
That our brain works like a database.
Like a Google Imagine!
Ask him a question and start looking
words that are related to this question.
But what about this case?
All the information that our brain has in our hands,
has been shaped by our lives up to this moment.
From the experiences we have experienced so far.
From the knowledge we have gained so far.
So the search I do in my database,
what is;
It’s only on things that I know.
But think a little bit.
At the age of 15, 16, 18,
you are called to set a goal for the rest of your life
-or least they say so-
and you do it with a very limited database.
Why have you lived until this age?
Think about it a little.
How many things have you experienced,
to understand that this really is something you like,
indeed this is something that pleases you.
And this is the first thing that happens in the brain –
the search.
The second that happens,
– which is impressive because it is common to almost all of us, right?
is that when asked this question, “What do I want to be?”
our mind and our thinking is limited to becoming a property.
Think about it! It’s like hanging a sign around your neck,
to distinguish yourself from everyone else.
A sign with the word “firefighter”
“doctor”,
“Lawyer”, a sign!
And then you say you want to go to university.
Then tell me to aim for a job on this label.
And after several years,
when you get this label,
you feel empty.
You feel that maybe what you are doing does not fill you.
Why;
Why find a job in this property
has become an end in itself.
And what is it?
Our mind at that moment,
limits its capabilities so much
and limits them too much,
because it focuses on this one path.
Only in this one,
and loses all the rest of the forest,
which can have incredible opportunities,
which you do not see, however,
because you’re only there.
And so I noticed,
that “What do I want to be?”
is the wrong question.
Why; Think about it!
You, you are not a property.
You do not have just one utility.
You have not only one path in your life.
You are a person that consists of abilities, skills, ambitions,
beliefs, feelings, dreams.
You are all that.
So this finding created a new question.
Which was: “How do we change this question?”
How can we learn in our brains
that to fulfill the full range of our capabilities,
it is not enough to have a title, a title.
So to answer this,
I started doing this:
Whenever I was discussing with a new student or a graduate of his future,
I asked him the following question:
“At what stage are you at this moment in your life?”
And one was the phrase that was repeated by all,
without any exception, as if one thing was agreed?
Which phrase was:
“I feel lost”.
I feel I do not know what I want to do.
I do not know which branch to follow.
I want to find something that fills me,
but I do not know where to start.
How many of you have come to feel that you are in a forest,
but do not know which path to follow?
Lift the hand.
I feel lost.
So, as many have raised your hand,
so in my 20th year I was just at this stage, guys.
Exactly in this.
And I started to think.
What was it that made me find my way?
What was it that made me find meaning in my life
and stop thinking about what I want to be?
It was you saying one afternoon sitting in my house.
I was looking out of the window –
Do you know those moments when you just do nothing and look at the infinite?
It was that moment.
And I began to feel that my life made no sense.
That I really did not know why I’m sitting and studying at the university.
And then, at that moment,
my eye fell on a tree.
This tree was across from our house.
There was always there,
but for some reason, then I noticed.
And suddenly I said to myself:
“The tree is currently immobile,
and it offers something very important to the world.
It produces oxygen.
What am I doing?
What am I doing?
The tree that is really immobile,
has no passion, no talent, no soul,
it offers more things to the world than I do. “
I thought at that moment,
“If I was leaving this world now, I would not have offered anything.”
That was what made me very excited.
And ever since that tree, my life has never been the same again.
And I put the fifth gear and started to find,
what was it that would make me feel good.
And after many experiences
and enough introspection,
I realized that what I want to contribute,
is to help young people discover
and to design their own business paths.
Find out what this career is
for which they would be eager to go to work this morning,
to find the famous purpose and meaning in their lives.
Tell me who you want to wake from here
and really look forward to going to work this morning?
Lift the hand.
Almost everyone!
And that’s why my own contribution is to help young people,
to find exactly that.
And watch now!
The medium I choose to do this
is coaching and counseling.
It is so simple.
So now,
I want to reveal to you what all these young people did,
who were able to find meaning
and purpose in their lives,
having a career that fills them.
Instead of thinking:
“What do I want to be?”
They began to think:
“What do I want to contribute?”
Who should I be in order to be able to contribute?
No what. Who!
And what equipment, experience and knowledge I need,
to be able to do that?
And finally, what am I willing to do to contribute?
Why, think about it! If the tree produces oxygen?
-which produces it, there is no doubt over there-
every person in any profession produces a work.
Who would you like to contribute to the work you will produce?
Take a few seconds and think about this question.
Where would you like to contribute the work you will produce?
I know is difficult.
I understand you.
Others when you ask this question –
What is he doing;
He begins to think very versatile.
He begins to think:
“You know what;
In solving what problems in the world could I contribute?
What is important to me?
Is it a better education? Is the environment?
Is the viability of people? What is;”
And when you start and find what you want to contribute,
then suddenly, you see paths that do not exist.
Look at this picture! Look at it!
One can see one, some other infinite paths.
Why they see them where they do not exist, and not just that.
The creators are even the paths!
And so you have too many professional horizons.
And when you answer this question,
you find the purpose of your life.
But what is that? Think this is like the north in the compass,
that is stable there, that even if you are lost,
you will be able to find your way because he will guide you.
You will tell me …
“Nice to tell us, Filothei.
But in the end I will have some profession to do,
I will have to make money to live. Is not that right;
How is the purpose connected with my profession? “
That’s what I’ll share with you with two new stories,
who managed to build their career according to their purpose.
The first story is the story of Anita.
Anita had come to the office a few months ago
to discuss its future.
Anita studied a teacher.
And the obvious path for teachers in Greece what is it?
Waiting to be appointed to the public,
to do particularly,
or go to a tutorial.
Other Anita did not fill this piece.
It is not something that satisfies her.
So after a process he discovered
that what he wants to contribute,
is to develop and cultivate people’s personalities,
motivating them to become better.
You will tell me, “It could do that as a teacher too.”
Yes! But she does not like it.
So the medium that chooses to fulfill its purpose
is the game.
Because Anita has a terrific talent in ping pong,
and chose the path of ping pong training
to fulfill its purpose.
And now she is a coach in Thessaloniki,
doing something that fills her every day,
fulfilling this very proposal.
It was easy;
No!
But she was prepared to do so.
The second story, is the story of Christos.
Christos studied audio technology.
Christos liked so many things:
He wanted to deal with greenhouses, with technology,
with computers, with green energy –
I could quote a list.
And so he could not find out which path to follow,
or how to combine them all.
So what;
Instead of thinking, “What profession do I want to do?”
He discovered that what he wants to contribute,
is to help people solve the problem of survival
related to food and energy.
You will tell me, “It sounds great.”
Yes, but the medium chosen by Christos,
is to implement and develop innovative technologies and methods,
in the primary sector.
Christos, however, has a great lack of knowledge on the primary sector.
And what does he choose to do?
Distance courses from other universities.
She attends seminars, attends conferences.
And indeed it covered this knowledge gap.
Now to combine technology with the primary sector,
what did he do;
It will do in the future a master’s degree in just that,
and at the same time working on his own technology projects.
He knows that in order to be able to do this thing,
it will take him from two to four years.
Others are willing to do it to fulfill its purpose.
Because that gives him an incentive.
So, both these young people,
they started to see
their studies, their profession and their job,
as the means of transport that will bring them closer to their purpose.
Why the means of transport can change.
Studies may change, the profession may change.
But the purpose is like the North.
He is steady to guide you.
And so many paths were created for them
and became more flexible in a highly competitive labor market.
But these are two of the dozens of young stories,
who have managed to find meaning in their lives,
setting goals based on their purpose.
But may some of you have doubts,
and think:
“Maybe this way of targeting is too far from me.
It seems to me a bit utopian now to think about what I want to contribute.
I’m only 20 years old, now for these things we are? “
Others can think and feel,
“These people are very different from me”.
And yet, I’m here to tell you that it’s not.
I want you to look at your neighbor right now.
Look at the people who are currently in this place.
Because many of the young people I mentioned are currently in your midst.
They are literally in your midst.
The only difference is that they chose to live a meaningful life.
And you can do it yourself.
Because each of us has a different purpose in life.
Because each of us is unique.
And when you set goals based on your purpose,
What’s up;
You start and feel more happy.
So what is the final meaning of everything I said?
If we could summarize it in two final messages,
what would that be?
The first is that “what I want to become”
gives me a path, a property.
Other “What I Want to Contribute”
it opens to me many paths that will help me fulfill my purpose.
And as Jim Carrey said quite rightly:
“The only thing you need to discover,
is how you will serve the world. “
What does the world need and you can contribute to this?
Because the impact you have on others,
is the most valuable currency that exists.
And this is the first message.
The second message,
I’ll tell you about the story of John Lennon.
And I will leave you with her.
She was a teacher who puts her students in the following job:
Write what they want to do when they grow up.
Someone writes footballer,
another writes a singer, another writes a scientist,
another writes a teacher, another writes actor.
But it was a kid, John,
who writes the word “happy”.
And then the teacher looks at it as she fixes the writings,
he sees it and is surprised.
And he approaches John and tells him,
“John, I think you misunderstood the exercise.”
And John answers her,
“Madam, I think you misunderstood life.”
(Clap)
”
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