The importance of self-awareness | Valon Murtezaj | TEDxPrishtina

uh I consider selfawareness very important because I believe it is the foundation of personal growth and success as such we need to understand how to become self-aware so what is selfawareness if I ask you how many of of us have asked ourselves the question who am I how many of us have asked ourselves what do I want these are ancient questions but contemporary ones as well so I want to share with you today my story how I became aware of this concept and how I work towards achieving it as you all know Kosovo became an

independent country in 2008 sometime in 2009 Kosovo government announced several job positions for ambassadors it was the very beginning of establishing the Diplomatic service of Kosovo as a newborn country at that time I was in mid of my doctorate studies in diplomacy and I thought it was because of my interest to apply so that further contribute to my country fine I did so I expressed my interest went through the interviewing process which was too slow by the way and waited for the final decision in the meantime I found out that the professional panel that interviewed

me evaluated me well and I was ranked High however as it happens usually the decision was to be taken at the political level same year in summer 209 I had a great opportunity to follow some lectures and learn from Professor Robert solo a Nobel Prize low out in economy an excellent teacher and a very good man I was having a dinner with him and his wife in a very panoramic uh area in Northern Italy you know that leges of EO and KO when I received a text message from a family member saying media announced names

of ambassadors and your name is not among them okay fine I said to myself and as probably you all know this is not a big surprise in Kosovo for a job applicant Professor solo probably not is the change in my facial expression even though I tried to continue the talk normally he then asked any news from Koso I told him about how I apply to become an ambassador about the interviewing process and about the final result the news that I just had received he then looked at me with empathy and I understood maybe he had

gone through something similar he was part of second world war and he asked have you ever thought about leaving Kosovo because usually continued distinguished professor in countries like yours at this stage of development there are not many opportunities offered for people of your potential in fact never in my life I was interested to go and live abroad yes maybe to study and learn but not to live too long away from home but interesting that same evening I started considering different prospects of myself in the coming months I searched for different opportunities worldwide and finally applied

for a faculty position in a prestigious School in France Esa School of Management I went through the interviewing process a very good experience which resulted successfully I got the position that summer 2009 2010 I dealt with many papers and Visa issues and in September 1st 2010 I was about to start a new life I moved to France initially in L and after few months I moved to Paris where I currently live and work since then I was blessed to meet and learn from students and colleague professors coming from all parts of the globe and from

various cultures around the world now today when I look back to the Kosovo war in 1998 1999 I see a young Albanian kosovar born in a small town of scander hiding somewhere in the mountains trying to save his life from Serbian military who would never imagine that one day he will be teaching about conflict management and diplomacy and negotiation courses in a city such a Paris but I'm telling you today that this is possible but I have come a long way since then and self-awareness has played an important role throughout this process becoming self-aware is

is about is about the process of understanding ourself for me knowing ourself means being able to assess realistically several dimensions of our self it is about knowing what are our strengths the things that we can do well knowing our weaknesses our present limitations it is about knowing what we want and furthermore it is about knowing what we don't want as well it is about developing an authentic leadership we are who we are we are authentic but one cannot be authentic if imitates someone else as Hemingway said you can't get away from yourself by moving from

one place to another yes we learn from others we have to learn from others but we can't be somebody else by being authentic only then we can be an inspiration to others we then may become leaders that are able to motivate and guide other people towards achieving goals and Visions just as Professor solo motivated me so how can we know ourself how do we understand ourself it is not easy to accomplish so some advice is have faith this is the first thing faith in who we are faith in who you are faith in who we

want to be say yes I can do that and truly believe that this is our most important aim in life second Focus prioritize some aspects have more priority over other aspects Focus your energies your attention your workload time manage time lead with time time is becom becoming a scarse resource nowadays everywhere follow up dedicate efforts dedicate efforts to work work with people show patience and persistence nothing can be done alone ask ask questions ask ourselves ask yourself ask others ask for help then will come feedback and finally reflect listen listen with empathy listen act actively

learn to improve learn to transform and finally serve use this knowledge that you have to serving to the people serving to humanity serving to your country why is this important I believe that knowing ourselves makes us happy makes us feeling free empowered self-confident at peace even that inner peace inside of us that we do luck many times it makes us feel fulfilled self- actual secure self-confident and motivated and much more this lead these lead to better communication better Conflict Management behaviors and negotiation and if we see nowadays in the world we need so much these

skills and better relationship with people the positive side is that self-awareness or knowing yourself can be developed we are not born with that skill which in turn then leads to being able to create a context that is more favorable to you the context which provides us with opportunities and with what we want finally furthermore that enables us to be the person we want to be hopefully all of us want to be a person a leader in service to the good I believe for me that is the meaning of live after all it all begins when

we know ourselves finally ladies and gentlemen we are living in a new world which we don't know if I succeed to Enlighten you a bit just a little today just enough so that you learn a little more about yourself then we are already two steps ahead towards the success success I would like to prominently mention that policy makers responsibilities are people's hopes and dreams jobs and incomes sometimes in emerging countries like ours it happens that the more you know the more talented you are the more troubles you will have it seems this is a policy

but it is our responsibility to change it what we need today in Kosovo and in Paris and across the globe are ideas smart people a culture of innovation good academics and good politicians furthermore we need diversity and merging of different cultures we need a culture that respects everybody's experience and provides equal opportunities for all this shapes the success I'll continue contributing to that because I have faith in change and in better world thank you very much [Applause] [Music]