home since my childhood with nothing
more then 700 euros in my pocket and my
best friend by my side my first
destination was the other side of the
world Sydney Australia where I studied a
trip that was supposed to last about
three months well at least what I told
my parents because it eventually turned
into a life changing adventure that
keeps on going to this very day
since 2012 all I’ve done is travel
around the world travel in different
continents live in different countries
and even different cities together with
my partner Hayley from all these
adventures a travel blog was born the
modern Mavericks a platform where along
with my partner I share everything I’ve
learned during my trips running a travel
blog I get a lot of people asking me how
do you manage to constantly travel but
99% of the time I don’t get people
asking me something but rather telling
me something what do they keep telling
me they keep telling me that I am very
lucky to do what I do and this is
exactly what I want to talk about today
I want to talk about luck let’s try
something real quick please raise your
hand if at least once in your life you
called another person friend or stranger
lucky believe most of us have right a
few people don’t raise their hand you
guys have a lucky life I should have a
great life most of us have so what’s the
big deal about calling another person
lucky when I talk about luck I want to
make sure we are on the same page here I
am truly grateful for many things that I
have in life such as friends have family
but people are confused with the
terminology of the word itself true luck
isn’t me travel
Truluck is a fact that I was born in a
well-developed country not in a war zone
julik is a fact that I was born in a
family with parents who could feed me
every day not as an orphan but that is
true like something that was acquired
purely by chance and not through
someone’s effort the toxic part here is
that the people who tend to call me
lucky usually have been dealt with
similar cards to me in their life if not
better and people like I don’t know
what was I saying yes the toxic price
that the people would call me like you
usually have been taught similar cost me
in the life is not better and people are
quick to forget that living a nomadic
lifestyle I am forced to sacrifice a lot
of life luxuries security but also
safety so why do we keep coming up with
this awkward wrongly used word luck you
know is the wrong objective you know it
doesn’t translate what you try to
express and yet you still say it and I
get it it’s a simple word that we use
just because it’s a habit but it’s a
habit that I’m trying desperately to get
rid of and the reason why I forced
myself to stop calling other people
lucky is because it isn’t in fact the
very first step of you staying in your
comfort zone when you call someone else
lucky ultimately it means that this
person possesses something that you
somehow find attractive something that
you wish you had in your life but for
some reason you don’t and yet
you barely look into how they got it you
assume that obtaining this thing is
simply out of reach and using the term
lack is well actually rather genius you
trick your mind by making yourself
believe that the reason you don’t have
it is not your fault
you make yourself believe that you don’t
have the means to require it and the
people who have we’re probably just
lucky
you don’t need to change your ego stays
intact you don’t need to step out of
your comfort zone what happens is that
you create a mental process that
justifies your potential lack of action
and every time you call someone lucky
for his life for its travel for its
partner or even for its financial
success you’re subconsciously creating a
self-fulfilling prophecy you decide at
this precise moment not to look any
further into the how or the why these
things happen to them
and I get it it’s something that we say
and most people don’t even pay attention
because it’s a small sentence it’s a
small word but this is why it’s such a
poisonous habit a few weeks ago my
girlfriend she posted a status on
facebook explaining how excited she was
about coming to Brussels for the TEDx
and then you have a few people
commenting it I want you to draw I want
to draw your attention to this last
comment over there by now I am able to
spot this mental process as soon as I
because it just reminds me of the old me
the old meter instead of getting
inspired by something I liked getting
inspired by something I was looking up
to and actually do something about it
would just block any move towards that
goal and all of this was happening
completely unconsciously and I remember
clearly the day it hit me Haley and I
were coming back from a photo shoot in
Portugal by the cliffs where I actually
almost died turned out was not a good
idea to stand on one hand next to her
200 meters Chris and on the way back to
this photo shoot we were driving past
all these beautiful houses on the
coastline of Portugal like these houses
were incredible like three storey houses
with infinity pool overlooking the sea
and I remember stopping in more in front
of that one particular house
and thinking the person living in that
house is so lucky I wish I had a house
just like that and then my brain but for
a minute
I started laughing at myself I felt
stupid for a moment I just realized I
was sabotaging myself instead of
wondering how I could achieve getting a
house like that I was just assuming it
was out of my reach and then I thought
what is the person doing I thought what
the person living in the house doing
differently than I do what lessons
should I try and learn from this feeling
of jealousy
so remember thinking what if I got out
of my car right now walk to that door
rang that Bell and talk to this person
hey what do you in life I want a house
just like that when I’m when I’m older
I’m 25 what’s your biggest advice did I
go and ring the bell no of course I
didn’t I was way too scared but that was
a mistake
who knows what could have happened if
I’d actually gone there and talked to
this guy or to this person might be a
woman who knows from that day though
something had changed in my mind I
realized that it was time to take real
actions on my dreams and desires and it
started by being honest with myself no
more excuses no more oh this person is
so lucky I know that everyone here has
commitments and problems and things
going on in their life so it’s not
always easy but I guarantee you that
somewhere in the world someone with the
same problems and the same commitments
as you is killing it right now so what’s
your Excuse everything becomes a reality
from the moment that you allow your mind
to see it as a reality
so when you see someone who is living
the dream who is doing something that
you really like to do in your life as
soon as you hear yourself calling this
person lucky in your mind or saying it
out loud try and ask yourself these
three questions first of all why am I
feeling this envy what is it that this
person does or has that you want to and
it doesn’t have to be financial success
it doesn’t have to be travels each and
everyone has his own vision of success
and his own goals second question how
did I get there what is it that they do
that you’re not doing in your life
what’s their behavior what time do they
wake up in the morning who are they
hanging out with how did they educate
themselves and finally last but not
least how can I do it too how can you
apply this behavior to your reality to
your life you will be realized that life
gets inspiring really quickly getting
inspired though is the first step but
taking action is key because ideas
without execution are worthless a few
months ago Haley and I we traveled to
Sri Lanka where we worked as volunteers
in a hostel so that we could travel
around the country while saving money
all we had to do was to work a few hours
behind the bar and in exchange for that
we get free accommodation very easy one
day I was chilling on top of the rooftop
at the hustle and I overheard a story of
another girl
what she did was to offer to shoot
promotional drone videos in exchange
over two weeks free stay in each hostel
she was going to now that was a much
better deal than I had and yet my first
reaction was to call this girl lucky
followed by many excuses of why I
couldn’t do it
I don’t have a drone drones are freaking
expensive and I don’t know how to fly
drone anyway
and all these negative thoughts flood in
my mind because this is what my brain
does to keep me in my comfort zone and
it’s precisely here but you can decide
to let that happen or you take chemical
you can take control of that thought
process and actually turn it to your
advantage
and this is exactly what we did My
partner Haley she is a very skilled
photographer and I was after scrolling
through a few pages from booking.com
she quickly realized that the hotel
pictures in Srilanka were pretty crappy
and that she could take much better
shots with her camera if this were
happening with a drone maybe we could do
something similar but with our skills so
we spent hours and hours collecting
business and hotel data from all around
the country we drafted a rather
convincing email including Haley’s
portfolio and we told each and every
hotel manager who we were what we did
and how we could help believe me or not
within minutes the answers started
flooding in the results we ended up
staying in amazing 5-star hotels all
across sri lanka for a whole month for
free look I don’t think so I believe
that the people we tend to call lucky
our people who actually simply live a
meaningful life people who can make a
living doing something there are truly
passionate about that being said getting
there is not easy
what’s terribly easy though is to get
lost in the rhythm that’s dictated by
the social norms and to forget what’s
truly important to live your life not
the life your parents want not the life
your friends want but the life you want
and this doesn’t only apply to young
people and it is important to point out
this doesn’t only apply to young people
it is relevant whatever age you are see
my mom she switched from a corporate job
she wasn’t really passionate about to
being a language teacher at the age of
50 she waited all this time she even
waited for a company to go bankrupt to
finally take the leap and do the job she
should have been doing all these years
why why I let these external factors be
in control of your life the satisfaction
she now gets from the job is simply
unbelievable she won’t stop talking
about it we have to shut her up all the
time a good friend of mine told me once
that we have to stop being so hard on
ourselves we are what we are we love
what we love and we don’t need to
justify it to anyone else
not even to ourselves I love traveling
and I want to create a lifestyle that
enables me to travel whilst making a
living long-term as simple as that this
is my happy place being a teacher was my
mum’s happy place what’s yours I believe
that in your head you all have an ideal
lifestyle where you can make a living
doing something you truly passionate
about but to make a living something
that you love you will have to work
three times as hard as everyone else if
you want to do what you love you need to
see it as a privilege not an expectation
but the reward is huge so the next time
you see yourself for you you catch
yourself calling another person lucky
remember that you have to work hard to
create your own luck and the day that
you start to hear other people calling
you lucky it probably means that you are
on the right track thank you [Applause]