What does freedom mean to you?? I am sure that at school whilst reading about the\u00a0heroes of our history you were taught the value of freedom and why we should be\u00a0prepared to die for it. This is the freedom you will learn at school. Today, I shall talk\u00a0to you about another definition of freedom. The greatest prison of man is in our\u00a0minds. We might live free in a country and yet remain prisoners of our minds, our\u00a0thoughts, due to taboos, pre-conditioning, fears, insecurities, suppression of our\u00a0dreams. Challenging our minds and liberating ourselves from fear, negativity and\u00a0wasted thoughts will challenge us beyond the boundaries that we allow others to\u00a0impose on us.<\/p>\n
You will meet adults in life who will apply the Tulip effect on you, particularly if you\u00a0are too smart, meaning that if your head sticks above the average person, they will try\u00a0to chop it off, to level you. The challenge is to remember that you will grow back\u00a0again, but this time taller, stronger.<\/p>\n
If you are different you will be scrutinized and singled out and you will have to justify\u00a0your existence, your perspective. Well, I assure you that the moment that you catch\u00a0that airplane to go abroad for study or work, you become a single tulip in a field that\u00a0does not bear your color.<\/p>\n
We, come from a small Mediterranean Island with less than a million people that is\u00a0the population of The Hague, where I started my career and live to-date. A Cypriot\u00a0tulip different from millions of others. Beyond the boarders of Cyprus it is irrelevant\u00a0what our name is or who our parents are. No special treatment. You are alone and\u00a0you have only yourself to rely upon. Entrepreneurs are independent people because\u00a0we are fully responsible for our organization. We become Self-Reliant.<\/p>\n
When I arrived in Holland I did not speak the language but needed a job. On a daily\u00a0basis I dressed myself to kill and turned up on the doorstep of every international\u00a0company listed in the phone book around my area. More than a hundred doors shut\u00a0on my face until one, allowed me in to see the Human Resources person. An Israeli\u00a0woman gave me that chance and gave me my first job as she was impressed with my\u00a0perseverance.<\/p>\n
Imagination is more important than knowledge said Einstein and I agree. If we\u00a0lack imagination, we would not know what to do with that knowledge. The\u00a0entrepreneur does, and he\/she also knows where to identify that knowledge in others.\u00a0That is how we build our team with complementary skills, talents and education.\u00a0To acknowledge the talent in other people we must first free ourselves from\u00a0insecurities and egos. We must become content with who we are and what we are.\u00a0Don\u2019t be afraid of recruiting the best for the job even if they show that they will over\u00a0grow you. If they grow, your organization will grow and you will grow too. Recruit\u00a0the best for the task and don\u2019t discriminate positively or negatively. I never wish to\u00a0be given a job because I am a woman or of a certain ethnicity. I want to get that job\u00a0because I am the best at it and so you should too.<\/p>\n
Mastering minds, mastering our thoughts is another vital ingredient to success:\u00a0How do we clean our minds from all this noise, the small talk, gossip, emotional\u00a0burdens and expectations that others impose on us? How do we create space for\u00a0thinking as to what matters to us?<\/p>\n
We must not be afraid to be in our own company. Daily moments of silence, alone in\u00a0our thoughts help reflect and evaluate our thinking and actions. Walks in the nature,\u00a0swimming, sports, music, art are ways to clean our minds. Praying is another way to\u00a0keep close to ourselves, find that peace within us which creates balance between our\u00a0souls, body and mind. If we work on ourselves to improve ourselves and become\u00a0better human beings we will discover strength within us and, we shall rely less on\u00a0others. I have met many successful entrepreneurs in my life but the ones who really\u00a0made it BIG are all spiritual people who pray or meditate daily.<\/p>\n
Remember that there is only one person you are able to change and that is yourself\u00a0and even that, you can only change your perspective, the way you look at things. We\u00a0change nothing if we are not free thinkers.<\/p>\n
Self-awareness makes us get to know ourselves, learn from our mistakes and make\u00a0different ones in the future. Allow yourselves to make mistakes, it\u2019s ok, be forgiving\u00a0to yourselves. I do not know any entrepreneur who has only successes. An\u00a0entrepreneur takes calculated risks and is prepared to win and loose. In fact many\u00a0entrepreneurs have more failures than successes before they hit it big time. Cut your
\nlosses when you have too and move on, take the lessons learned and the experience,\u00a0and start again. Knowledge is important but with experience we convert that\u00a0knowledge into understanding.<\/p>\n
There is NO successful entrepreneur who is not passionate with what they do.<\/p>\n
Self-awareness helps us find out our likes and dislikes, our passion. If we follow our\u00a0passion, we will spend all our time on it and it will not feel as work, therefore, success\u00a0and money will follow. When people ask you what do you want to become\u2026 never\u00a0answer.. to be successful, to be rich\u2026 Just answer by what and how you want to do.\u00a0State your passion. If you can do that, you are on your way to success\u2026<\/p>\n
We shall now move to the second axis of my talk\u2026 negotiation\u2026\u00a0We are born dealmakers, because from birth we are negotiating\u2026 We make deals\u2026\u00a0Day ONE of our lives\u2026 As soon as we are born we cry so we get milk and love from\u00a0mummy\u2026 THAT\u2019S DEAL no 1. We cry so we get a dummy or a comfort toy, deal\u00a0number 2\u2026 Later in life we negotiate with our parents on school grades and what\u00a0bicycle or reward they will give us.<\/p>\n
Think carefully and you will realize that each one of us negotiates daily with\u00a0everyone around us. So we are born dealmakers. What type of a deal we cut, will\u00a0determine how big we become. A strategic thinker will cut a win-win deal. A winwin\u00a0deal has no losers but two or more winners. To cut such deal you must study\u00a0your opponent, understand their strengths and weaknesses. Understand what is\u00a0important to them and which deal will they go for.<\/p>\n
Never go into a negotiation without being prepared. Study hard, know your material,\u00a0know your business but above all, know your competition like yourself. Study your\u00a0competition and be sure when you enter that negotiation that you are confident.\u00a0Information, knowledge is power and gives you control during the negotiation\u00a0because it limits surprises. Always have a number of scenarios to play with, the best\u00a0scenario and the worst scenario and use your tactics to position yourself and\u00a0maneuver your opponent to strike the deal.<\/p>\n
NOW, lets show you why\u2026 you are born entrepreneurs..<\/p>\n
Freedom of mind, determination, creativity, spirituality, passion, building up the right\u00a0team, self reliant, \u2026\u2026 Some of you will have a bit of this, a bit of that and you\u00a0definitely all have leadership skills otherwise you would not have being here today.\u00a0So, I am already confident that you can become entrepreneurs, if you choose too.\u00a0Remember though, that self-awareness is the key to freedom of your minds and the\u00a0key to success. However, the password to the master lock is\u2026. Determination\u2026.\u00a0determination and determination. The harder they kick you\u2026 the fastest you must\u00a0bounce back\u2026. Your passion will keep you focused, your self awareness will give\u00a0you strength and an edge to competition but at the end of the day, it is your resilience\u00a0that will be tested and the optimum winners will be the ones of you who\u2026.\u00a0Never\u00a0<\/span>give up<\/span><\/p>\n In my personal journey I can give you many examples of moments that I had many\u00a0reasons to give up my business, my icon hunting and cultural passion etc. I had many\u00a0smacks on my face and I lost many battles in my life because deep in my soul, I knew\u00a0that I had to choose the battles to give if I was to win the war. Today, I stand in front\u00a0of you as a mother, wife, entrepreneur, who turned her life upside down to become a\u00a0cultural activist worldwide WHY? Because \u2026 this is what I love doing, this is what I\u00a0want. This is what fulfills me. Titles, positions, power, people can take away from\u00a0us. Nobody but nobody can stop us loving something. If you love something, your\u00a0business concept, your idea as much as I love Cyprus and Famagusta, you will find\u00a0your path just as I found mine in cultural heritage. Began serving my country first and\u00a0now, serving humanity using my experiences from Cyprus.<\/p>\n I left Cyprus at the age of 17.5 with 75 pounds in my pocket to go abroad to work and\u00a0study. At the airport my father gave me a five shillings note and wrote the date on it,\u00a0and he told me\u2026\u2026. I believe in you\u2026..<\/p>\n Ever since I worked tirelessly to never let him down or any other mentor that came\u00a0my way and believed in me because TRUST is the greatest responsibility of all. Trust\u00a0in yourselves. Young Lions of Cyprus, I believe in you, not because you are the\u00a0people of tomorrow but because you are the people of yesterday, today and\u00a0tomorrow. Your perspective is a very valid one in our society and we, the grown ups\u00a0have created a world which is only for the grown ups, because we don\u2019t see you as\u00a0our partners today but only as the wishful thinking for tomorrow. That leads us to\u00a0create businesses with no jobs or opportunities for you. We create institutions that you\u00a0are too young to be part of. We stay in positions of power until we are too old to\u00a0function. I apologize for that on behalf of those who keep you down.<\/p>\n I invite every agent of change in this room to step up and together we create space in\u00a0business boards, in politics, NGO\u2019s in all levels of society where youth can be part of\u00a0today. Here, allow me to congratulate the initiators and organizers of this fabulous\u00a0initiative that sees you as partners of business today.<\/p>\n We must invest in bridging the gap between our generation and your generation. You\u00a0speak another language, the technological language but also, you have purer ideals\u00a0than us, as power and money has not yet corrupted you. You are pure and light\u2026 so\u00a0light that YOU can fly. You can fly up in the sky like eagles so don\u2019t U let anybody\u00a0clip your wings.<\/p>\n Young Lions of Cyprus follow your dreams\u2026. From the bottom of my heart\u2026 I\u00a0really, really DO BELIEVE IN YOU\u2026.. I know it is your generation that will shake\u00a0up our system and bring the change we need in Cyprus. Enjoy the journey and, I am\u00a0at your call\u2026.\u2026.<\/p>\n Thank you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What does freedom mean to you?? 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