discovery in life and that is the power
of a Carlos moment and as you will soon
realize I like to do things differently
even today my talk I have never done it
in this order or way before yeah so for
today let’s start with yeah are there
any questions and thank you for
listening now let’s kick it off with a
question for you what’s the difference
these are our highway signs and the
Netherlands and Belgium oh and I live in
best I moved there a year ago I moved to
best and I must say since then my
yeah if you type in Google best public
last year also wrote a book that is sold
well the difference the difference is
44% less traffic jams 44% less traffic
the old and a new highway signs through
the arrows down 67 years ago when
aiwei’s were first introduced in the
Netherlands we more or less place them
above our highways in this manner it
asked why just a simple why and he must
have thought Who am I to change
something this big Who am I to change
something that we’ve been doing the same
way for so many years but he persevered
he tested it and near a highway near
Antwerp Belgium he measured the biggest
difference 44 percent less traffic jams
and that made me wonder if something so
small can have such a big effect what if
we in our lives make a small change
maybe even choose to make a small change
because my life has always always been
busy there was always the next big thing
waiting out there before me and it’s
always been this way always if I go back
it started early on I was good with
numbers so I went to the University
study international business and if you
want to accomplish something in life
you have to work hard it doesn’t come
for free you have to work hard so next
to my university studies I had three
part-time jobs good for another 30 hours
a week of a student association that was
assistant to a Dutch parliament member I
every year I went abroad for two months
for some international experience and I
don’t know if you can recognize this
feeling but for me it felt like a God on
a train I got on a train that started to
race into the future and all of a sudden
the next station it’s not that
interesting nine ten stations into the
future there it would be okay and there
I could reap the fruits or the benefits
of all my hard labor and hard work
remains the hard work remained for the
moment that I could enjoy more for me
felt like ever out of reach the thing I
miss most was just look outside the
window look out the window and see and
enjoy all those small beautiful moments
that passed me by on a daily basis I
didn’t see them anymore because my focus
I still know the day July 20th and was
in holidays albufeira Portugal beautiful
sunny day I walked into the cooler
seawater and I just passed that ooh
moment for men okay for the women too
haha only you get it twice and I was
standing in waist-high water and a big
wave approached and it felt like that
was my wave enthusiastically I dive into
that wave I dive too steeply I hit my
head against the ocean floor
I hear crack I break my neck can’t move
a single muscle in my entire body
anymore I was floating with my face down
into the water I could only wait there
were thousands of people around me and
and then when water entered my lungs and
I had to say my goodbyes a second Whig
wave approached that flipped me over
onto my back and I could breathe again I
got a second chance and then everything
went really really quickly I wake up in
a room I do not recognize I wake up in a
body I don’t recognize in blind panic I
scream out and nobody comes why not they
Portugal d’Ivoire quite a lot of diving
accidents there and a diving victim is
in panic and if you scream long and hard
enough eventually someone comes I can
hear footsteps entering the room
and in the corner of my eye I can see
someone neatly checking all the monitors
beside me she turn around and also left
the room
and then there was Carlos Carlos the
nurse you see in the picture behind me
and this man changed my life he placed
his hand on my shoulder on a part that I
that was everything that was needed just
a warm hand on the shoulder it’s okay
and it made me wonder if something so
small can have such a big effect then we
must all be capable of making a
difference well what do you think that
Carlos said when I told him what he
meant to me ma it was just my job
plus normal you would have done the same
for me for something so small but later
he also felt joy he felt realized by
doing something small maybe even
something that he considered part of his
job he could add a lot of value to the
life of someone else and I dare to ask
the question how do you react how do you
react when someone takes the time and
the effort to thank you do you let it in
would you push it away because the
nerves who checked all the monitors just
did a job and technically everything was
perfect
all the procedures all the protocols
even the legal stuff everything was
covered making a difference
happens after the basics happens but
what you do after you covered the
technical stuff and for me it’s not the
challenge to work even harder but maybe
our biggest challenge is to take a step
back which is quite difficult take a
step back and do all the things that you
already do which is so so many things
and now with everything I do I ask
myself the question so I just want to do
a job which is sometimes fine or you can
avoid a simple way make a difference by
a simple way do something special and
last year I had the presentation of my
new book and believe me a book
presentation the launch of a new book
isn’t the most inspiring event of the
year but I felt like this deserved
something more so for the first time in
10 years
I called to Portugal
I called Carlos now asked him if he was
half an hour later he had already booked
his flight and he was so nervous he
worked on this beach for five months and
he came up on stage and he he was
shivering and I hello I’m Carlos from
the book so I rolled up to him place my
hand on his shoulder it’s okay and the
connection that the two of us have is so
dear to me maybe even the connection
that we dare to have this picture was
taken when he had to leave again and I
will never forget what he told me in
this moment yeah you always say that I
changed your life you have to know that
you change mine as well if you do
something special for someone else not
by working harder but maybe by working
with a little bit more care it all comes
a Carlos moment goes both ways my only
wish for you is go and find your own
Carlos moments let them in enjoy them
share them celebrate them because
thank you very much [Applause]