Who Are We, Where Are We Going And How To Get There? Lessons From Paul Papadimitriou on Spark.Me
The second speaker of the first day of Spark.Me conference in Budva, Montenegro was the guest at the conference for the second time and noted that he does indeed feel that he needs to return to enjoy the country and the city some more. His name was Paul Papadimitriou, and he is truly famous among the conference crowd for the most eye–catching presentation of last year. He set off to improve on that excellent presentation on Saturday, and he surely did deliver. He spoke about his motivation in life, love of travel and a whole assortment of other things that can help people both in business and in their personal life.
The presentation started with Paul describing his love of travel and the thing that inspired him the most – airplanes. His childhood fascination with these flying machines led him to cherish his “alone time” when he travels abroad, which he tends to do a lot. He noted that travel is many things, but we find it difficult to share those things with each other. But his views are positive: he enjoys the journey as well as the destination. After all, we’re all on journeys in life – he adds, and everything in life is in fact about a journey one takes to accomplishment.
Life’s Pretty Simple, Really
Paul claims that there are three important questions in life, questions we should all ask ourselves in every important situation in our life. These questions are:
- Who we are
- Where do we go
- How are we going to get there
Paul said that it’s the three questions mentioned here that actually drive most of his success. When interacting with clients, for example, he always asks that same three questions. Who are we, as a brand for instance, where do we go, as in goals we have on our business plan, and finally, how are we going to achieve these goals and with what resources. Paul claims that the three questions helped him help numerous clients solve their problems and fulfill their needs.
People tend to overstate technology in this day and age. Paul notes that we definitely shouldn’t do that, because, in his opinion, technology is what we invent to make our lives easier. Therefore, we shouldn’t have great fears of technology and advancements in different tech fields, because they will, in turn, make our lives a whole lot easier to live. What’s important, is that identity and discovery always need to come before technology in society. Technology shouldn’t be the first step, but the last. This way we would eliminate the overstating of technology and pave the way for advancement.
Out Of Your Comfort Zone, And Into The Unknown
Slowly coming to the end of his presentation, Paul noted that he is in fact very introverted and that he masks that because he enjoys going out of his comfort zone. In fact, he is comfortable while being uncomfortable. That’s precisely why he tends to pursue things he himself deems crazy and absolutely insane because they put him in the position of letting go of fear, something he advises everyone to do. We should realize why we’re afraid, says Paul, and then work from there.
In the end, Paul mentioned some pretty staggering numbers, portraying the “largest OS upgrade “of the world. He quotes predictions that claim that there will be at least a 2.5 increase in the middle-class workforce in the next years, and that the job market will be facing a billion new women workers. He also goes to show that women are directly responsible for at least 82% of decisions in the world and that he truly feels that the world is becoming a better place day after day.
We will continue showcasing the speakers from this years’ Spark.Me conference, so stay tuned for more stories and inside info on the .ME blog!
