Don't choose the easy way, choose YOUR way! It's worth it. Always. That' s a promise.

A very personal story about daring goals and why it is often possible to achieve the ?impossible'! I'll take you on a journey that goes back almost 23 years into the past. Into my past ?? But first things first.

This article is not about innovative technologies, green mobility or knowledge transfer. Topics that you usually know from my posts and articles. Nor is it about our Elite Experts Conferences podcast, as in the last article (see link in reference list below). Even though the last episode of the EEC Podcast in 2020 is clearly the trigger for this article. How so?

Well, I'll start from the beginning. 

In December 2020, I welcomed Yann Vincent, CEO of Automotive Cells Company as an exciting guest on the EEC Podcast (see link in reference list below). In the last part of the interview, where I always talk to our top guests from the tech world about their journey, their sources of inspiration, challenges and their failures, he said this one sentence that was very remarkable for me personally. When I asked him what his best lessons in leadership were, Yann Vincent replied the following, "Set yourself very demanding targets - that's the best way to respect yourself."

It resonated so perfectly with my own attitude, which has been with me all my life, that it got me thinking. I always set high ambitious goals for myself - very important - always linked back to MY values and MY priorities. But how did it all start? What is the magic, the charm and the immeasurable power behind high goals? And more importantly, why should any of us set challenging and even 'impossible' goals? 

This article could also be titled 'if I can do it, so can you!‘. I want more people to benefit from this experience of these life lessons!

And perhaps it is well timed, since it is 'fashionable' to set yourself special New Year's resolutions for every New Year. 

I don't believe in boring New Year's resolutions, but I do believe in new beginnings, really challenging new beginnings! And such a New Year is also a new beginning, if you set the right goals. 

What do you associate with new beginnings, especially when you think of your younger years? Is it starting school? A relocation? A change of school? Or when you started learning a new foreign language?

My first formative experience with new beginnings had been a little bit of everything. As many in my network know, I was born and grew up in Asia, in the beautiful north of Kazakhstan, in a town called Kokshetau in a German-Russian family.

By the way, this is what the north of Kazakhstan looks like - not exactly the desert that almost everyone expects ??

And now let's travel almost 23 years into the past. It was summer 1998. 

I was 14 years old when my family moved to Germany. All at once - a new language, a new school, a new country, a new social culture! If being a teenager is not challenging enough, then a move like this turns your life upside down!

I remember sitting in the back seat of a taxi on July 22, 1998, with my family on the way to the airport in Astana, where our flight to Hanover, Germany, was to depart. I was looking through the rear window at the fields, steppe and forests moving away from us. In a figurative sense, I looked back on my life so far. A life that would soon no longer exist in this form. I still remember how I inwardly let go and prepared myself for a new beginning without any expectations. I decided not to worry about how everything would turn out, but to look ahead with confidence. My dog, my school friends, my familiar home and my 'image' of being an intelligent and inquisitive child stayed behind...

In the fall of the same year, the new school year started in Germany and with it something like a new life began for me. My second enrollment in school, so to speak. Until then, I had grown up at home with Russian as my only mother tongue despite the fact that my father is German. My grandfather was the only one who actively spoke the old German language. At school in Kazakhstan I learned two more languages: German for 3 years and Kazakh for 7 years. But the German lessons were mainly translating texts and learning grammar - a bit like Latin lessons. Only that Latin is a dead language, but German is alive. ?? With this limited basic knowledge, the changeover was quite overwhelming for me. Do you know the feeling of not being able to distinguish in a foreign language where words begin and where they end? And everyone spoke so fast that my school German couldn't help me at all. In the beginning, I couldn't get any grades in German, politics, history, geography, etc., because a fair grade wouldn't be possible due to the lack of language skills...

Now I am jumping in time. 

After a single year at school in Germany, I perfected my German language skills to the point where I spoke grammatically absolutely correct and even ACCENT-FREE! Although the supposed language experts thought it was quite impossible that one could speak accent-free when entering a new foreign language at the age of 14. And yet that is exactly what happened! I not only speak German, I FEEL this language and culture, I can dream in this language - it has truly become my second mother tongue. If you don't believe me, listen to the EEC podcast (see link in reference list below) - even in English I already speak with a German accent and not Russian. ?? The story then went even further: after a total of 3 years at this school, I graduated with the best degree in the entire history of this school! I still hold the record. ??

Sounds like a perfect, beautiful fairy tale? Everything very simple, all rosy and perfect? 

By far not... 

It was difficult, challenging, meant an EXTREME amount of work, many trials, many mistakes, falling down and getting up again, perseverance and again perseverance! That is where I learned grit! It was also anything but easy for my sister and me to be the only two students with an immigrant background in the entire school. But that was also formative and I have to say it prepared me very well for the fact that I now have no problem belonging to any minority anywhere and standing up for myself and others. 

But it was also great fun and joy to approach something completely new and to be allowed to make mistakes.

And of course I had great teachers who supported me. I was lucky to have had really fabulous teachers who all were passionate about their subject. German, chemistry and math teachers are the personalities that really shaped my path back then. Thank you!!! ??????My German teacher in particular was super remarkable. She was also the English teacher in parallel. In English class, I was only present but did not participate: however, I was allowed to use the time to do more supporting exercises in German. And so the teacher observed me a few times, how I joined in the English class after I had finished my German exercises. 

I remember very well that exactly at that time we had a class trip to the ice skating rink. Until then, I had never stood on ice skates, let alone ice skate. But it was explained to me and I tried it out. Sure, I fell down several times, but I always got up and tried again with a higher enthusiasm. After a while I was able to hold myself on the skates quite adequately and I had a lot of fun doing it! Then my teacher came up to me, praised my way of not giving up and learning fast and offered me, if I wanted, to teach me extra English in her spare time. Of course I said yes!!! That was amazing, we sat together in free hours or after class and caught up on English grammar step by step until I joined the class quite regularly. The fact that I am now writing this article in English, I owe in the end very much to my brilliant teacher and my perseverance!

Of course, many new beginnings in my life followed after that - short selection:

• The change to high school and the German high school graduation called ?Abitur"
• Study of chemistry - I loved every challenge there and the fact that there were MANY challenges!
• After graduation - the change of faculty and PhD in materials science in an incredibly exciting interdisciplinary topic - it was a bit like studying 3 subjects in parallel again and doing PhD at the same time ??
• Moving from Germany to Switzerland - of course, not at all as challenging as the move from Kazakhstan to Germany ??
• Leaving research for the automotive and chemical industries
• Further study in event management in Switzerland - why this was a challenge, a very pleasant challenge, you can read in the interview of me, which I did with the Worldwebforum in 2020; Definitely my most personal interview I have ever given (see the link in the reference list below)
• Getting started at Elite Experts Conferences
• And of course some more new foreign languages - you can never speak enough languages ?? It's no joke, one day I would like to speak all the major languages of this world. Maybe not accent-free, but still quite reasonable ??
• and, 
• and, 
• and... life is long and meaningful if you know how to use it ??

What are my lessons learned?

1. Before you start running, you have to define the goal very precisely and it has to be YOUR goal, based on YOUR desires and YOUR priorities. Life time is precious, don't waste time to reach other people's goals. L-I-V-E Y-O-U-R L-I-F-E!
2. Do what you love and what your heart burns for! It is a priceless feeling to love your work and to have fun with it every day! P-R-I-C-E-L-E-S-S!
3. Always believe that you can do MUCH more than you think you can do sitting in your comfort zone. You can learn to constantly move outside of your comfort zone and feel good about it. It gets easier every time!
4. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Mistakes are part of the game. It is only crucial if and how fast you learn from it. If you knew how many mistakes I made in German at the beginning ?? It is also OK to be down after a defeat. Give yourself some time, but then get back up and make the next try, and the next try, and if necessary the next try...
5. It is OK to be against the opinion of others if you are absolutely convinced that you are doing the right thing. You can feel right decisions inside - TRUST THAT FEELING!
6. If someone tells you something is impossible, it is impossible, but FOR THEM, NOT FOR YOU! It can't be said enough, never let limited knowledge, limited imagination or limited perseverance of others get you down!
7. Create from the beginning a great network of positive, courageous, inspiring people who have a similar inner fire in them like you
8. It is probably the MOST IMPORTANT LESSON of all: if you can do something - teach it to others, if you have something - share it. Always help as many people as possible to get ahead with their goals.

Let's start with new ambitious goals in 2021! I hope that you, dear reader from my network, will also be infected by this positive energy, you will also set yourself great goals and ACT! Here's to an inspiring new beginning, to your goals succeeding, to the magic of making the 'impossible' possible! 

Let me close this article with a great quote from one of the most famous philosophical poems by Hermann Hesse: "Jedem Anfang wohnt ein Zauber inne", which in English means 'There is magic in every beginning‘.

Thank you for reading! ??????

PS: Let me know in the comments what experience you personally had with high goals, new beginnings and challenges. It's always exciting for me to learn from other people, from other perspectives. 

Reference list:

1. The silent heroes of the Elite Experts Conferences Podcast - Article from December 16, 2020; Link: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/silent-heroes-elite-experts-conferences-podcast-dr-ludmilla-derr/
2. The 8th episode of the EEC Podcast - with Yann Vincent - CEO at Automotive Cells Company; Link: https://www.eliteexpertsconferences.com/episode-8/
3. Find all episodes of the EEC Podcast here: https://www.eliteexpertsconferences.com and on all usual podcast platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcast etc.
4. With heart and mind - My most personal interview with the Worldwebforum; Link: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/heart-mind-my-most-personal-interview-worldwebforum-derr/