Filippo Larizza Report I
Do you still have a dream? Do you want to make more out of your life? Perhaps, if you are older, do you want to achieve something great in your life once again? At the same time, do you not know exactly how to tackle it? Or do you simply want to drastically shorten the time it takes to realize this goal? Start with joy. Throughout my entire school years, I - I have to admit - was an incredible lazybones. In this context, I remember a key experience during my elementary school years when we had a sports day: I hated the 1000-meter run because I always came in last. My brother tried to motivate me year after year to come and train with him. However, I never managed to do it. I was always last until one day I said to myself, I have to change this. However, two more years passed from that point on. When I was 17, I started running. I started with 1 km, increased to 2 km, until I managed to run 25 km continuously. How did I achieve this? By developing a huge joy in running. Suddenly, running became fun, and I noticed that my body gained more strength and energy from it. I also improved my performance in karate, which I practiced regularly. I did it with joy and was able to reap many more sporting successes, from which I still draw strength today. Another event was when our teacher in 4th grade embarrassed me in front of all my classmates. I had to give a presentation and had to study a lot for it. However, I had absolutely no fun because I had to prepare a presentation on a topic that didn't interest me at all. I was very depressed after this event, and this defeat stayed with me for several years. Moreover, the teacher gave me the following message: "Learning is something serious, something that cannot be associated with fun." For a reason (not yet) known to me, however, I have an absolute aversion to things I have to do, while I can do things I want to do until exhaustion! During my school years, I had to do homework - that's why I didn't like doing them or even better, skipped them altogether! Well, I did them by getting help from my mother or my brother. I had to study - so I never studied further! After a few years, I suddenly started doing better. Furthermore, I could even show top grades in some subjects. These were - how else? - of course the subjects that I enjoyed.
Joy and fun are nourishment for the soul When I completed my apprenticeship as a chef, I was probably the only student in the wide area of 53 learners in the first semester who had the worst grades in the half-year report. And finally, the pressure had become so great that I had to act! And so, for the first time in my life, I started doing homework and studying with a little more joy. But since I didn't enjoy doing it alone, I organized myself with colleagues who were really good in school. In this way, I now had students next to me who were much better in the subjects when doing my homework. So I could ask them for help and learn from them at any time. Without knowing it, I had already implemented the Modeling of Excellence back then, from which I would benefit so much later and which I should pass on in my coaching and seminars. Modeling of Excellence means: Learn from the best! Anyway, I not only managed to improve all my grades. I managed to finish my apprenticeship as the second best. During this time, I developed a great joy in learning and also started reading books that I enjoyed. The books were about "personal development." In this way, I learned that I could make a mistake without having to suffer emotional pain for it. I became increasingly confident, dared to do more, and it really made me happy to go to school. Because I enjoyed it, I started working half an hour earlier in the morning than all my department colleagues and studied. I stayed half an hour longer in the evening and studied again, also shortened my lunch break. I didn't mind working one, even two hours longer every day, because the work satisfied me - and besides, I wanted to prove to my supervisor that I could achieve something and that there was something in me that deserved to be promoted. Perhaps for the first time in my life, my ambition was truly ignited!
If you follow the recipe of a master chef exactly, you will achieve the same results. At the age of 21, I was allowed to help build a company (a fitness center). I was then in training to become a trainer and coach. I was entrusted with a lot of responsibility here, and I noticed that people liked me. I was allowed to lead the fitness center as if it were my own. I was able to contribute my ideas and constantly learn new things. From that moment on, I was unstoppable. For the first time in my life, I felt really important. Therefore, I enjoyed my work, and I continued to develop and grow... What I want to make clear to you with this chapter is the following: You can only achieve top performance if you enjoy what you do. I know many people who pursue an activity that doesn't bring them much joy, but they do it because they need the money. Then there are those who simply can't imagine doing an activity that truly brings joy. However, from my current experience, I know: The truly successful people are always those who do something that simply brings them joy. These people turn their hobby into their profession. When you do something you enjoy, you will naturally want to do it as often and for as long as possible. You won't look at the clock to see when the eight hours of your daily work are over. No, even after ten, twelve hours, you are still working on your "calling" and don't even notice how time has flown by. Not only that, you even think about your work in your "free time" and think about what you could improve. For example, on vacation, you may come up with new plans, often the best ideas come to you about what you could change in different areas to be even more successful in your field or profession. This is what distinguishes successful people: They do their work out of joy. As hinted at earlier: Profession comes from "calling"! On the other hand, someone who always sees their job as a means to an end, although they can certainly make a living from it - they will never be number 1 in their field! A normal worker works eight hours a day. Converted, this makes up half of their waking life. Someone who works ten or twelve hours a day spends two-thirds or three-quarters of their waking life on their job. So if your job doesn't bring you joy, if it doesn't give you a sense of accomplishment, you are wasting 50 to 80 percent of your life! Give it your all - and then another 10 percent!
