When turning 30 last year, with a smile I enjoyed hearing “the 30s are the new 20s”, …whatever that means. Only when reflecting on the past 10 years I realized I have not only accumulated 10 years of exciting experience (by moving countries, switching jobs, traveling, meeting inspiring people, doing adventurous and crazy things….), but mainly how much did I learn, grow and develop, changing my belief system, my mindset and my approach to life. 10 key learnings surfaced, carrying invaluable information for the next 10 years ahead of me.
What were my top 10 learnings?
#1 – No Work-Life Separation
Before, I believed work and life are two separate things. That work is a non-enjoyable activity for the sake of paying the bills, and then, if you are lucky, you have some free time to dedicate to your hobbies, friends or family. Now I believe there is no such work-life separation. I believe we all have just one life. Just one very fragile life. A life, where uncertainty from the tomorrow can be sometimes scary, making me aim to live each day to the fullest, as if each one of them was supposed to be the last one. I don’t see work as means to an end anymore, but as a crucial element of my mission to continuously contribute to making the world a better place.
#2 – Key drivers: Passion and Purpose
Before I believed the key drivers and motivators at work were to obtain money (looooads of money), status and control. These three were in my view the essentials to have the label “success” printed on oneself, attract interesting people and have a fancy “rich life”. Ohhhh, how wrong I were, discovering very soon, that there is so much more behind the scenes, aka underneath the iceberg. Soon I was on my own journey to discover my own purpose and passion, being my key drivers of all my work ever since, helping me to enjoy the maximum work fulfillment going far beyond money, status or control.
#3 – Value of Equalism
Before I believed “the older the wiser”. I even believed men have different rights or destinations in life than women. And, thanks god, I learned I am wrong. Nowadays, I am a big fan of equalism, removing the age, culture, class or gender from the equation fully. Nowadays, I am learning from my 4 years old god child, from my 4 inspiring cousins between 12-18 of age now or from my grandpa turning 93 soon. I learn tons from both people who don’t have much and from those who have plenty. Judgement-free, I believe there is something I can learn from every person that crosses my path.
#4 – Having Fun on the Way
Before, I mastered the “only when I achieve XYZ, I will be finally happy”. I always believed that if I achieved a specific task, competition, role, …then I can finally sit, relax and enjoy the after-feeling of finally getting to the finish line. Not anymore. Nowadays I cherish and focus on enjoying the ride towards the end destination, concentrating on having fun on the way. As much fun as possible indeed, reminding myself of the importance of enjoying the NOW, staying in the present moment.
#5 – Trust my Gut & my Heart
Being born into a very rational-thinking family of doctors and having a very structure-oriented and analytical brain, over-analyzing (the facts) and only then taking a decision was my autopilot. Only in the past 2 years I really started to use my gut-feeling and my heart to guide me in my private and business-related decisions. Now I keep listening carefully to my intuition, my feelings, my gut and heart more and more, and am amazed by the things that happen when I do.
#6 – Nothing is Black and White
Before I believed in reality being black and white. Later, I learned there are so many shades of gray (more than 50😉), and one needs to nurture curiosity and hold an open perspective in order to spot the full picture. One needs to shift away from the “either-or mentality”, that is usually constraining and frustrating, resulting in win-loss rather than a win-win scenario. I now believe both (or even more) parties can be winning, if there is proper communication, transparency and common goal to achieve.
#7 – Pareto 20/80 Principle
Before I believed more is better, being a massive fan and master of multi-tasking and saying yes to anything and everything. Only then I learned less is more, trying to live as an essentialist, being very conscious about how do I spend my time and who I spend it with. I learned to say NO and find my focus, focusing on the 20% of the stuff that I love or that brings value (if financial or other) into my life and scraped the rest 80%. I truly try to not take on too many projects, making incremental or minimal progress at all fronts, but cherry-pick the key priority project to drive full-gas towards its successful completion.
#8 – See the Puzzle Picture First
Before I used to just get head-first into execution, diving immediately into the hands-on implementation. I believed doing > planning. Then I figured out, that to achieve whatever you desire to achieve it is crucial to define (in detail) the end result first. As without knowing where are you heading, you can’t really get there, nor know you are (already) there. It would be as putting a puzzle together, without seeing the end picture first – Would take ages, could be pretty frustrating and you might even give up half-way through. Now, I believe it is absolutely crucial to have a clear (SMART) idea of what you want to achieve and how would success look like, being the most essential starting point.
#9 – Power of Learnability
Before I believed you need to be born with a specific traits, pre-defined skill-set or superpower, encoded into our genetics, in order to achieve success (whatever success means to you). Only later I leared some of that might help, but I was astonished by the power of learnability, allowing you to truly achieve anything you desire. All you need is a cocktail of: Hard work, determination and discipline. You need loads of passion and energy. And you need to challenge yourself, be courageous and not give up (even if it gets hard and rocky) and be persistent, not taking “no” for an answer.
#10 – Opportunity Spotting
Before I believed, that opportunities unfold in front of us based on pure luck, from being at the right place at the right moment. Also, I believed you need to be coming from a wealthy and network-rich family in order to thrive in the world. Again, I was wrong. I learned opportunities appear to us all the time. I learned the key is to master spotting such opportunities: Being ready to evaluate them well. Being ready to pursue them asap. Often being ready to get out of our comfort zone and overcome the fears standing in our way. Because in the end it is not really about how much resources you have currently at hand, but about your ability to use those resources well, in a smart way.
YOUR TURN!
When is the last time you have reflected on your key learnings? What were your key learnings in the past 10 years? Did you perception or approach to life changed? How?
