Thessaloniki: Youth Entrepreneurship Lab
Whenever you are visiting a new country, there are two main ways how you can experience your time there:
- Being involved in a project, an organisation, a company or as a freelancer for work. Many of these types have the same responds when I ask them about their trip: ”I didn’t have time to see the city. The hotel had great burgers though”.
- And of course the more pleasurable experience: Going for vacation. To me strolling around new towns, taking photographs, seeing the cultures, paying with new money - and most important - learning about the food traditions are a vital part to become a balanced person. But sometimes the vacation mode is an excuse to do absolutely nothing which leads to being unhappy. And this often leads to a similar result: ”I didn’t have time to see the city. The hotel had great burgers though”.
I want to add a third way, which is my preference. The keyword is balance. I’m talking about a combination of both. Whenever I visit a country I make sure that what I do is connected to the projects and/or goals that I have in my life. I make sure my time is invested in something that helps me create a routine during the time being there. It is a great way to nurture your skills and abilities, build a network in a new environment and continue the learning process. By working on something and having similar goals than the people around you, you learn a lot about the culture. As a German in South America waiting for 2 hours for someone to arrive for your meeting is not a pleasurable experience, but it’ll force you to live a more relaxed lifestyle.
Work is not everything. The person who earns a lot of money but has no time to spend it is not rich. You need to make sure that you have achievable goals for your work- and your personal-life. A significant amount of time every day is spent with yourself. You better start enjoying the moments you have because he/her can become really nasty. A good way is to find yourself a hobby that you can do from everywhere.
#YELAB
With 30 other young people from more than 10 countries, I had the possibility to join a training called Youth Entrepreneurship Lab. It was an 8-day non-formal education program to sparkle entrepreneurial thinking. The great thing about it: It was located in my home country Greece. In the beautiful seaside city Thessaloniki.
During the workshop I shared my entrepreneurial journey and taught methods and strategies that I had applied on my business and personal life. My learnings were focussing on ‘out of the box thinking’ as well as tools for a better work/life balance. One of my favourite methods for change is the daily implementation of the five minute journal.
Below you can find a collection of digital as well as analog photographs I have shot during my time in the training and the travel through the mountains I have enjoyed afterwards.
