Voiceover Harald Lepisk

Videoclips and montage by Armin Mitt

Text attributed to Charlie Chaplin

As I began to love myself I found that anguish and emotional suffering are only warning signs that I was living against my own truth.

Today, I know, this is AUTHENTICITY.

As I began to love myself I understood how much it can offend somebody as I try to force my desires on this person, even though I knew the time was not right and the person was not ready for it, and even though this person was me.

Today I call it RESPECT.

As I began to love myself I stopped craving for a different life, and I could see that everything that surrounded me was inviting me to grow.

Today I call it MATURITY.

As I began to love myself I understood that at any circumstance, I am in the right place at the right time, and everything happens at the exactly right moment, so I could be calm.

Today I call it SELF-CONFIDENCE.

As I began to love myself I quit steeling my own time, and I stopped designing huge projects for the future. Today, I only do what brings me joy and happiness, things I love to do and that make my heart cheer, and I do them in my own way and in my own rhythm.

Today I call it SIMPLICITY.

As I began to love myself I freed myself of anything that is no good for my health – food, people, things, situations, and everything the drew me down and away from myself. At first I called this attitude a healthy egoism.

Today I know it is LOVE OF ONESELF.

As I began to love myself I quit trying to always be right, and ever since I was wrong less of the time.

Today I discovered that is MODESTY.

As I began to love myself I refused to go on living in the past and worry about the future. Now, I only live for the moment, where EVERYTHING is happening.

Today I live each day, day by day, and I call it FULFILLMENT.

As I began to love myself I recognized that my mind can disturb me and it can make me sick. But As I connected it to my heart, my mind became a valuable ally.

Today I call this connection WISDOM OF THE HEART.

We no longer need to fear arguments, confrontations or any kind of problems with ourselves or others. Even stars collide, and out of their crashing new worlds are born.

Today I know THAT IS LIFE!

I met Don through my online course “Creating Inspiration” in 2009 – he was very keen of learning and travelling. But I never expected that he would actually embark on a journey around the world.

In 2012 I met Don in Germany at JCI European Conference. At that time he had been travelling for 5,5 months and had 8 months ahead. He had travelled to Antarctica, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Equador, Bolivia, Peru, Columbia, Panama, Costa-Rica, Belize, Mexico, Orlando, Miami, New York, Austin, Montreal and so forth.

What are the highlights of travelling around the world?

The main reason why people go travel is for seeing the world. Don pointed out that one of the interesting highlights was the impact his travel photos had to his friends at Facebook – they got inspired by what he was doing. It became not only travelling for himself, but also travelling for his friends.

But the main highlight of travelling are the people you meet in particular moments and places.

Turning a dream into a reality

Many dream of travelling, few actually do it.

Don had 3 key factors that enabled him to start the journey:

1. He got year off from work (he will get his job back when he returns)
2. He had some savings (chose travelling instead of downpayment for a house)
3. He is single (no commitments)

It´s time to travel

“I´d love to go and travel, but…”

Don´t be afraid to follow your dreams. Get rid of all the excuses. If you really want it bad enough, you´ll do it.

Don actually had dreamed and imagined about places he wants to go. When he had made the decision to take action, the other necessary preconditions (as mentioned before) fell into place. The law of attraction.

If money is an issue – work while travelling.

If loneliness is an issue – you´ll meet new friends. As a matter of fact – travelling forces you to meet new people (otherwise you might stay in your comfort zone as you might do in your hometown).

If uncertainty is an issue – the key to reducing stress while travelling is turning your fear into fascination.

If job is an issue – there will be a new one.

Go travel to learn about yourself

Dreams do come true. If you really want it bad enough, you´ll be creative about it. Just follow your heart. If you´re really passionate about it, nothing is impossible.

Don has discovered his inner charisma through travelling and meeting new people, although he had always considered himself as an introvert. Despite being an analytic person in his professional life, Don now makes more and more decisions by using his gut-feeling and having an adventurous spirit. Taking a leap of faith.

So it appears that travelling is a form of experience that opens up something you already have inside of you.

Will there be life after the world travels?

Don agrees that travelling around the world is a life changing trip. He promises that when returning back to his “normal life” he will do extraordinary things.

You can life an extraordinary life even in your own city on ordinary days.

What to pack when travelling around the world?

Tips for packing your bag

Main rule: pack as light as you can. Send unnecessary things back to home or give them away. Scan your business cards.

Use phone cache memory to store map images in Google Maps application. Ask for a local map at your hostel.

Bag limit: 23 kg, recommended goal: 11-13 kg.

Don´t bring white clothes (getting mixed in laundry). Use generic shirts (you can reuse them without anyone knowing that you are wearing the same shirt again)

List of items to pack:

• Hiking shoes (comfortable, with Gore-tex)
• Black shoes for formal events
• Flip-flops
• Compact jacket with thermal layer
• Silk travel liner
• Toiletry stuff
• Electronic stuff (chargers, flashlight)
• Security wire and locks for securing the bag
• Wire for drying clothes
• Personal journal
• Clothes (thermals, fleece, wind-breaker, jacket, raincoat, cap, jeans, jogging pants, shorts, swimming shorts, t-shirts)
• Microfiber towel
• Special travel shirt for patches.

Ship is safe in harbour, but it´s not what ships are made for. (W. A. Shedd)

Go for your dream!

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They’re really saying I love you.

I hear babies crying, I watch them grow
They’ll learn much more than I’ll never know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world.

(Louis Armstrong)

Do you think this is just another day in your life?
It’s not just another day.
It’s the one day that is given to you today.
It’s given to you – it’s a gift.
It’s the only gift you have right now,
And the only appropriate response is gratefulness.

If you do nothing else but to cultivate that response,
Through the great gift that this unique day is,
If you learn to respond as if it were the first day in your life,
And the very last day.
Then you will have spent this day very well.

Begin by opening your eyes, and be surprised that you have eyes you can open.
That incredible array of colours that is constantly offered to us for pure enjoyment.
Look at the sky. We so rarely look at the sky.
We so rarely note how different it is from moment to moment with clouds coming and going.
We just think of the weather and if even of the weather,
We never think of all the many nuances of the weather.
We just think of good weather and bad weather.
This day, right now has its unique weather,
Maybe a kind that will never exactly in that form come again.
The formation of clouds in the sky will never be the same that it is right now.
Open your eyes—look at that.

Look at the faces of people whom you meet.
Each one has an incredible story behind their face;
A story that you could never fully fathom—
Not only their own story, but the story of their ancestors.
We all go back so far, and in this present moment on this day,
All the people you meet—all that life from generations and from so many places all over the world
Flows together and meets you here like life-giving water,
If only you open your heart and drink.

Open your heart to the incredible gifts that civilization gives to us.
You flip a switch and there is electric light.
You turn a faucet and there warm water and cold water,
And drinkable water.
It’s a gift that millions and millions in the world will never experience.

These are just a few of an enormous number of gifts to which we can open our hearts.
And so I wish you that you will open your heart to all these blessings.
And let them flow through you,
That everyone whom you will meet on this day will be blessed by you—
Just by your eyes, by your smile, by your touch—just by your presence.
Let the gratefulness overflow into blessing all around you,

And then it will really be a good day

(Brother David Steindl-Rast)

This overwhelming joy and gratitude fills you up and reminds you – life is awesome, love it, live it.

Sometimes the thing you are looking finds you. Thank you for the inspiration.

It´s an amazing yourney. Enjoy.

I did an experiment: journalling every day by writing at least 3 inisights I gained from the day. A year has past and more than 1000 insights gained. I just worked through all those insights and there is only one thing I can say: wow, this really works.

Journalling has been like a mentor for me – me mentoring myself to find out what every day has taught me about myself, training, my dreams.

You become your own mentor and develop clarity in who you really are and what you really want.

So what should I write in my journal?

Things I am grateful for:

• Which moments bring me joy?
• In which fields am I doing well currently?
• In which ways have I lived at least piece of my dream today?

What do I want to experience in the future?

• What is my ideal day like? How does it start and that takes place?
• What do I want to be happy about when looking back after a year  from now?

What did I learn about myself today?

• What was interesting about today´s events? What kind of new ideas I gained?
• What did I learn about myself and my personality? What kind of person am I and how does this discovery help me forward?
• What can I do differently or better (next time) to succeed?

When journalling, keep it spontaneous, honest and positive. This helps you to keep it as a ritual, not routine

Since this speech has been really popular among Estonians, then I decided to create an english transcript of the speech – so you can learn Estonian from the video while reading English text

English translation for the graduation speech

Please wake up your neighbour and tell him it’ s speech time.

Dear co-creators, teachers, graduates.

It´s a beautiful certificate, it really is.

But it doesn’ t change much.

It doesn’ t change much, because tomorrow my parents will still be as proud of me as they were yesterday. My girlfriend will still love me as much as she did before. My clients will pay me as much as they paid before. And my friends will still want to hang out with me.

It doesn’ t change much… compared to the extent that years in Tartu University have already changed us.

Couple of years ago I met a course-mate and it turned out into a journey of creating a training company that has inspired thousands of people to become a better version of themselves. I believe this company would have never been established, unless we had met during this course.

At night when I go to sleep, I get to say good night to the most beautiful, caring and fabulous girl I have ever met. We met for the first time right here, in Tartu University. She was my course-mate.

This (certificate) doesn’ t change much, but the stories that live inside of you, they change a lot. And it pales when compared with what is coming. It pales when compared with all the stories you will be creating.

Close your eyes for a moment. Breathe in… and out.

Skim the moments you appreciate, moments that empower you. That made you shine. You can imagine your favorite teachers. And while imagining it, do a trick. Pinch your ear and amplify all the good emotions you have inside of you.

Next time when you want to return to that empowering state, just pinch your ear and remind yourself.

The advertisement of Economics faculty did not say “matchmaker” or “business incubator”, but there’ s something more than that. It all supported creating a business, living, joy and work.

There are people who helped us to experience that. Some of them were frustrating, some inspiring. Some of them made us cry, others made us laugh. Some of them made things complicated, others made it simple.

And it’ s all necessary, because only later we connect the dots and understand why something bad, complicated, difficult… was actually awesome for us. Was good for us.

For example, think about your MBA thesis, what do you feel after you’ ve done it? Versus the feeling you had an hour before the deadline and you were still printing it? That’ s the relief that will come after achievement.

I’m honored to use this opportunity to recognize our favorite teachers…

//  recognizing favorite professors and lecturers  //

So now there should be a some sort of a point, right? Some message, right?

A journalist was running after Mahatma Gandhi, saying “Gandhi! What is your message to the world?”

Gandhi replied: “My life is my message.”

What I would love to do right now is to gather all the lives you have, bit by bit, all the stories that you have. And spread them all over these walls so that everyone could see them and say “This is my message“.

… but I will not do it… Because there’ s not enough room to fit all those experiences and actions that you will do after leaving this room. This is why we paint it to the sky and enjoy observing it among the stars.

If there’ s one thing to ask yourself among this adventure, it is: “What would I really love to do right now?“.

Perhaps it’s the mutual part among all your stories, that we observe among the stars at night.

Ships are safe in harbour, but it’ s not what ships are made for.

You can life a safe life, acting as your mother, friends or wallet tells you.

But it’ s not what you are made for. You are made to create something extraordinary.

Remember the 6 months you spent for writing your MBA thesis. Where you had to say “no” to so many things, admitting “I would really love to, my friends, but I can’ t do that right now, I need to finish my studies.”

This moment is exceptional, because all the things you had to say “no”, you can now say “yes“.

Tonight when you go to your home, take your dreams from the drawers. The ones that you have kept there arguing “when I finish the school, then I will start living!”

Take those dreams and start living today!

We made our Estonian version of 50 people 1 question – in full HD and with English subtitles (press “play” and then button “cc” on the Youtube player to enable subtitles).

We received many answers and left many people pondering. What would be your answer to the question “What inspires you to take action?”

An awesome composition of wisdom to start the day. Here´s some of my favorite concepts:

Give to receive

“It is more blessed to give than to receive, because in giving, although it doesn´t seem so, you receive.”

Desmond Tutu

Stay young

“You don´t stop doing things because you get old. You get old because you stop doing things.”

Rosamude Pilcher

You know who you are

“Nobody can teach me who I am. Who can describe perhaps of me. But who I am and what I need. These are things I have to find out myself.”

Chinua Achebe

You create your own success

“If I give you a recipe and I will give 5 people the same recipe, I will have 5 different dish on the table.”

Jacques Pepin

Keep learning

“One of the reasons I haven´t slipped into some sort of retirement, is that I always feel like I´m learning something new all the time. “

Clint Eastwood

Be willing to offer your life for it

“You don´t have to be rich and you don´t have to be an army. If you find yourself in a situation that needs to be changed, if you´re willing to offer your life for it, you might actually get something done.”

Bernice Johnson Reagon

I´ll take both, thanks

“Life is not perfect, it never will be. You just have to make the very best of it. You have to open your heart for what the world can show you. Sometimes it´s terrifying, sometimes it´s incredibly beautiful. And I`ll take both, thanks.”

Graham Nash

Which ones were the most insightful for you?

Knowing what you want makes it easier to get it. Pursue your passion and dream big time for this stirs your blood and makes you feel alive.

“The tragedy of life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach for.

It isn’t a calamity to die with dreams unfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream.

It is not a disgrace to not reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for.

Not failure, but low aim, is a sin.”

Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays

This is your decade, make it rock. Here´s some practical instructions and a printable worksheet to get it started.

1. Find yourself a peaceful and calming place to be with yourself.
Grab some paper and pencils, switch off your phone. Put your favorite music on and take in a comfortable position.

2. Visualize your past events.
Close your eyes, breathe deeply and let your imagination flow. Imagine all the great moments you have experienced. Live them again in your minds eye. Make those great moments brighter, bigger and bring them closer to yourself.

3. Note down the best moments.
Write or draw down the keywords that describe the best moments, events, activities and quotes from the past years. All the good stuff your are proud of and what made those years really great.

4. Select the important areas in your life.
These areas can be for example: personal development, relationships, education, career, material needs, health and vacation (feel free to add or replace some of these areas of life).

5. Think of your big goals and think of your needs for this year.
Print out the worksheet (the link is in the end of this article), mark your big goals for each area and your goals for the upcoming year. The yearly goals help you achieve the big goals.

Visualize yourself achieving those goals very brightly and feel how it feels when you have achieved them. To spark ideas for setting your goals I will provide you with some helping questions for each area of life.

Relax, take your time.

Personal development – What do you want to be as a person? What do you want to be remembered by? What is your talent? What kind of skills and abilities would you want to develop further?

 What would you consider as your ideal daily regime – how early do you want to wake up, what kind of habits do you need to get rid off and what kind of new habits you need to develop?

Relationships – What is your ideal partner (someone to grow old with)? How many kids you want to have and when do you want to have them? What can you do to make your relationship truly enjoyable? What kind of friends do you want to have around you? What do you prefer to do with them?

Are you satisfied with the depth of your current relationships? Do you want to have more friends and to devote your time for being with them? What do you need to change or do this year to create these circumstances?

Education – Do you need to get a degree or extensive training in some field? Should you go to study in a university, take part in some specific courses or trainings? How are you going to freshen up your knowledge in your key areas?

Career – Imagine your dream job (or business). What kind of positive impact does your work have to pose on the society? Do you need to take your focus on some specific fields or perhaps even to switch your current job to do that?

Material needs – How much do you need to earn each month to live your life with the quality you deserve? What kind of devices, services or facilities do you need to achieve that quality of life? How to make your assets produce those financial means.

Health – Perhaps you want to play football with your grand children when you turn 70? Do you need to change your habits for eating, thinking, resting and physical exercise to make it possible? If yes, then what kind of actions do you need to take?

Vacation – How do you want to spend (invest) your free time? What kind of hobbies you want to take up? Where do you want to travel and what to experience?

6. Make sure that your goals are:
1) Specific – good goal clearly describes what needs to happen, what is the expected outcome. 
2) Measurable – good goal can be objectively evaluated – was it or was it not achieved. 
3) Time bound – good goal has specific dates as deadlines (“in 1 year”  is bad, “achieved by 14th of April 2011” is better).
4) Realistic, yet exciting – good goal is something you believe that you are able to do. Better goal is something that also stretches you by taking you out from your comfort zone.

Ask yourself:

• Why is this goal important for me?
• What am I willing to do to achieve that goal?
• Who could help me to achieve that goal?
• What happens if I do not achieve that goal?
• What do I need to change in myself to achieve that goal?

The more action you take towards achieving your goals, the more likely they are achieved. Achievement comes from taking action.

Some questions to stimulate your ideation:

• If you only had one year to live, what would you do?
• If you won a lottery, how would you invest the money?
• What was it that you wanted to do when you were a child?
• What kind of stories do you want to tell to your grand children about your life?

7. Once you have finished goal-setting, then thank yourself and take action.
Give yourself recognition – praise yourself by doing something you really enjoy (eat some chocolate, listen to some good music, dance, call a friend). Do some specific step (even if it is a small one)  immediately towards your goals.

“What this power is I cannot say; all I know is that it exists and it becomes available only when a man is in that state of mind in which he knows exactly what he wants and is fully determined not to quit until he finds it. ”
Alexander Graham Bell – scientist, inventor, teacher.

I wish you great inspiration and moments of flow for the fresh year. Enjoy making your dreams come true!

Cheers!

Harald

BestJobs.ro interviewed me about creativity and motivation – here´s some of the insights.

Tell us about a project you were involved in and you really enjoyed.

Recently we had an international seminar with 130 young participants and we got all of them to build big models of 12 future villages out of everything that was available in nature and stuff we got from office supplies. We video-interviewed their presentations and used it as visionary input for county development organization´s strategy.

In the beginning it felt impossible to have it all organized, yet actually it was fantastic to see, how we got the team working and how this form of conversational activity opened young people to share their vision. Great success for the client and for the participants.

I just love when my clients stretch me, it makes me feel alive. How can you inspire your clients to positively stretch you more?

Can you please define “Inspiring Creativity Trainer”? Why is creativity important in leadership or entrepreneurship?

The way I see it:

1. Inspiring is about making the positive impact.
2. Creativity is about the ability to produce novel and useful solutions.
3. Trainer is about creating an environment where people can learn and grow.

So Inspiring Creativity Trainer is a person who creates an inspiring environment where people could tap their creative potential.

In leadership and entrepreneurship creativity enables you to connect resources and challenges to create opportunities. In entrepreneurship it enables you to create something great out of “nothing”. In leadership it enables you to connect the dreams of your team-members with the current assignments in hand.

Imagine having this belief:”Whatever happens, I will find a way out.” – what would you really do if you had this belief? That´s the value of creativity.

What qualities do you feel a successful manager should have?

In my opinion, the most important role of a manager is creating and keeping the big picture – systems thinking. By using this big picture one needs to figure out what needs to be done and manage talents of team-members to do it.

Good tool for keeping this big picture is for example mind mapping – it enables you to connect and categorize ideas and opportunities.

Who is your role model? What motivates you?

When I was on my second year at the university, studying economics, I took an academic relief for one year to figure out who I am and what I´m good at. I started working through all kinds of personal development materials and took courses in psychology. My favourite back then was Anthony Robbins, because he made important things simple.

Nowadays I only take some specific elements from great people. I have my list of “superheroes” – people who are really great in some specific things. I lend their brains for tackling problems by asking myself “How would x solve this situation?”.

My main motivator: curiosity and hunger for being better. Asking myself: “Can I get a little better today?” and getting the “Yes, I can!” answer.

How should one keep each member of the team involved and motivated?

Coaching. Asking the right questions to direct the team-member to figure out what they really want and how to get it from this project.

For example:

What do you want to be remembered by after finishing this project? How do you want to feel after finishing this task? What do you need to do to achieve this result? What is the first step you need to take today to get it going?

How do you decide which tasks take priority when organizing a complete
project?

I figure out what are the pre-conditions for right things to happen – usually there are some specific things that catalyze other processes. I ask myself how can I apply my best talents and strengths to start those pre-conditional processes.

If it is a project with volunteer team members, then I usually ask what is currently important in their work-life and which part of our project is related to their other activities. If it is full time employees, then I focus on their talents and strengths + areas they want to grow in.

To be honest, sometimes I simply do what I would love to do instead of doing the “right thing”. The funny thing is that sometimes doing what you love to do turns out to be the right thing. But not always.

How would you react if this was a job interview and we would tell you that you are you got the job as a manager of a team that lacks motivation?

I´d probably do as follows:

1. Figure out what is my personal passion about this business (clarifying the related pleasure and pain).
2. Through coaching I would clarify what do the team members really dream of (what they would like to feel and how they can get that feeling).
3. I ´d involve all members into conversation about creating a compelling vision of where we would want to be and how to get there (using for example world cafe method).
4. I´d use creative thinking to connect our dreams with the expected outcomes of the company (for example “forced connections ” creativity technique).

In other words – I´d create an environment where team-members connect things they´re good at, what they love to do and what the world needs. For mapping those 3 key elements for yourself find out more from a video instruction.

Be Better!

Meet Harald.

You can download a worksheet for writing down the things you´re good at, things you love and what the world needs. By combining these elements you will be able to develop the understanding of what your purpose is.

It’s never too late to be who you might have been.

George Eliot