If you ask what I would do now if I had the choice of a new life, my answer will always be that I choose my life with the same path. The horrors that I went through forced me to grow better and faster. I was lucky to be strong mentally and physically, and I was lucky to survive and stay alive. As my dear friend told me one day, “the divine gives its biggest challenges to his best students.”
Read MoreWhen I was driving home from the event, I reflected on this question. I looked at which other habits or behaviors had contributed to my successes. Hard work and resilience were the two that stood out. So, I dug deeper, asking myself when and why I had started to behave that way.
The answer came to my mind with extreme clarity. When I was in the 5th and 6th grade at school, around 11 or 12 years old, I was really struggling academically. I had barely made the minimum grade in the previous years to pass to the next year. During these years I was terrified to go to school.
Read MoreWho hasn’t dreamed of launching their own business or starting a side hustle with dreams of a better life? Maybe you have had an idea but don’t know where to begin. If I share with you the 5 critical steps that will bring you closer to success in the launch of your business, will you try?
Read MoreOver the past few months I have been working on a program focused on helping youth. This has encouraged me to reflect on my life, from my early childhood to now. What I am certain of is that I have learned “life” the hard way. In my teenage years I had no mentors, coaches, or role models, and I was living with neglectful and unavailable parents. I know that there are many young people out there living in similar situations. They try the best they can to figure out how life works, to make sense of what is happening to them, and to find a way to break the cycle to get the life that they want.
Read More“Oberst, Korporal Pilloud, ich melde mich zum Überschallflug ab!” These were the last words that I said to the commander of the Fighter Pilot Academy before I headed out for the flight that would teach me three valuable life lessons. I had just signed out (in German) for my first supersonic flight, and one that changed my life forever.
March 05, 1991, 7:30 AM. I put on my flying gear and zipped up my G-suit. I grabbed my helmet and jumped on my bicycle.
Read MoreLately, I have been reflecting on what type of patterns have occurred regularly over my life. I made two interesting observations.
The first is that I often chose difficult and challenging objectives. As a teenager, I wanted to become a fighter pilot, which is a difficult path. It was not easy to become a fighter pilot. 3,000 applicants at the beginning of training came down to only 6. By 22, I was one of those six who received wings on their uniform.
The second thing I observed is that in my life I have experienced multiple life-changing transitions. I transitioned from the military world to the civilian world. I moved from one country to another. I transitioned from receiving a paycheck at the end of every month to being my own boss and creating my own income.
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