Proliferation of Writing

Today I watched a clip of Seth Goding telling a bunch of people at a conference how he felt about blogging. The intrinsic move someone makes to make his or her voice be heard. Next to that, Seth points out that nobody will read your stuff but as he makes clear, it is NOT about the 'numbers'. Even though I check my statistics sometimes, I try to keep away from that since from that point on I only want the numbers to go up. This blog is what I believe it needs to be at any point in time.

I did not write that much lately and I felt that something was missing. I watched a Tony Robbins video of one of his Ted Talks (don't mind the galant pose) and I stopped watching at his 3 decisions of Destiny. This particular segment (surfaces after 8 minutes) is about Focus. I am writing this today because I am turning 26 very shortly and want to create a little mental roadmap/stimulans for myself to carve out my road to Fulfillment.

Inspire Series X Muhammad Ali

Born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Muhammad Ali reigned as a boxing champion in the ring but as an inspiration to many outside the ring. With a height of 1,91 m Ali is known for his unorthodox method of boxing: instead of holding his hands high to block punches, he literally floated around in the ring diverting punches. Next to becoming a Sunni Muslim, one of his character traits that he was very outspoken concerning religion, human rights and was very opinionated. 
He always believed that he was the greatest boxer alive and commended attention in that way and became bigger then life. He took risks by not listing to go to Vietnam and overcame all the struggles to regain his world championship title. Since he retired from boxing, his life is about devoting himself to humanitarian endeavors around the world supporting education efforts of all kinds, promotion adoption and encouraging people to respect and better understand one another. Being a champion in the ring as he still is outside of the ring.

I hated every minute of training, but I said, "Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion."
Muhammad Ali

Keep Moving On and Breathe

Hey there,

Lately I have not found the words to write, but today triggered me. I saw a big man strolling around with a baby carriage and playing with his little boy making all sounds. The little guy bursted into laughther everytime his father did something to make him smile and lifted him high. Sunshine does a person good and I whondered: what does my future hold?

Lately I am asking that question multiple times, everytime to be remembered that the future is TODAY and not tomorrow. I believe people can change but that everybody has a certain set of characteristics (DNA, upbringing, you name it) which are instilled in a person. I will take myself as a example:

After taking some time to myself, I find myself having trouble letting go. This can be a person, cause or situation but when it does not sit right with me, I keep troubling myself with it. What I learned about this is that I always want the best for people and when something does not go how I see it can go then I get worried. I try to control the situation or force things to go my way. Even in my research that I am doing, situations do no always go as to my planning. What I take away from this is, is that when you start forcing something (especially creativity) you end up with the wrong results.

I believe that I have a promising future but I work for it everyday and try to enjoy my soon-to-be final days as a student. Even though this scares me a little at moments, I try to take it as it comes and enjoy every moment.

This is not a character flaw, even though it can come across, but a internal desire to bring out the best results and outcomes for everybody. This does not relate to my own personal well being but how I look at everybody around me and see where I can lend a hand or even a few words. Yes, I do screw up and can not be everywhere but a few sincere kinds words go a long way.

Each year I watch this video: Life Lessons by Madea and I am reminded about the fact to take a close look at the people around me. I can honestly say that I do not have many friends, but I have a few roots and I place my trust in them. To stay positive towards them, to share my thoughts whatever they may be and encourage them to follow their dreams.

As doing so I am reminded that I need to do the same by keep moving on and just Breathe...

This song always lends a hand and makes me smile: Sam Cooke

The Come Up

Dear all,


I have been looking for a focus of my blog and some of you read about my experiences, my research, some lifestyle posts but today I defined what I will write about. It may come as a surprise but my posts will be about:

• Lifestyle, fashion is something I love;
• My research endeavors, I have to read up on Social Contagion, but I want to become an knowledgeable expert on this subject and the advantages of the application of Serious Gaming for business purposes and in education;
• My life lessons, I draw inspiration from Paulo Coelho, Rudyard Kipling (the man who wrote Jungle Book, one of my favorites), Maya Angelou and many others. It is not that I want to be a writer, but one is what he talks about so that makes me guy who loves to write. 

Babysteps before a big leap. As Oscar Wilde put it:

Our ambition should be to rule ourselves, the true kingdom for each one of us; and true progress is to know more, and be more, and to do more.

Sincerely,

Stefanos

Setting Priorities

Today I had an interesting meeting at Seats2Meet  with one of the founders of the business concept after enjoying a good lunch! While I walked away from this conversation, I realised that I had not made really clear what it is that I wanted out of the meeting. For me personally, it was meeting a new person and telling a part of my current undertakings and my dream. However, these intentions did not really came across correctly as I wanted them to. It is okay to go into meetings with an open mind, but what I learned today again is that when you are straight forward in such meetings that that is more appreciated then lacking details.

I always try to be prepared for any question and to be myself whether it is an interview in a big company or a entrepreneur who heard it all. In my opinion, the key to always be prepared is to just be yourself. This can work out differently, for different persons so you are warned but the key is to be authentic. You only get one chance for a first impression!

My first priority is to finish my academic undertaking, after that there is lots more to explore. Therefore, what I did today:

• Found out that you have to treat each person, situation, business conversation as a single chance to make the impression you want to last;
• Be myself, also when it comes to meeting people who can help my business ideas;
• Read up on volunteer work in India, China and in Rotterdam;
• Finished my surveys for my thesis and publicizing them this week and start measurements.

Nobody said it was going to be easy creating my own job and finding my way but I have my positive attitude, oversight and insight into the material at hand and good people around me.

Sincerely,

Stefanos