1. Dear Anes, could you please introduce yourself to the readers of the Bellspiration blog, so we can all get to know you better?
Dear Belma, first of all, thank you very much for the invitation for this interview. It is a great pleasure to be a part of this great story that you are leading and to help motivate young people to be proactive, to develop and constantly improve their knowledge and skills. My name is Anes Čerkez and I am a final year student of the second cycle at the Department of Marketing Management at the Faculty of Economics, University of Sarajevo and project coordinator for information and public relations at DVV International – Office for Bosnia and Herzegovina. I would describe myself as an ambitious and active citizen of the world, with a permanent address in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo.
2. It can be noticed on your social networks that you love to travel a lot. What does travel mean to you? Which city or country impressed you the most and why? And where would you like to travel soon?
Traveling is my passion and it seems to me that for a hundred lives I could not get enough of it. Each new trip is an opportunity to learn something new, to see and experience a different environment and to push your boundaries. It is a true vacation that I enjoy even when I travel tens of kilometers in one day, exploring, touring and sightseeing, and sometimes shopping. It is difficult to choose one country, because each is special in its own way and I always look for beautiful things on every trip, and ignore the rest. That is why I will single out two countries – first Turkey, which will always be my favorite destination, and second Thailand as the country with the most drastic cultural difference. Both countries are characterized by beautiful cities, beaches, a large number of facilities and sights, a specific mentality. Thailand has a special flora and fauna that makes you feel like you are in an adventure movie. My travel plans have been significantly disrupted due to the pandemic, but I hope that soon everything will be normal again, because America is one of the first destinations on the wish list.
3. I know you personally and what can be noticed in you is the dedication and professionalism when it comes to obligations, but also great kindness and willingness to help. What is most responsible for building such a personality? How important is kindness in communication today and how can we set boundaries?
Thank you so much for that. For me, two aspects are key in building a personality – first, the foundations laid by your parents and family. Second, the awareness that the personality is built through permanent learning and education. I would say that the combination of that has opened many doors for me so far and has enabled me to achieve certain successes. However, I emphasize again the importance of continuous education and learning without which a person stagnates in development, which I do not want, and my focus in the future will be on personal and professional development, because I would say I am still at the beginning of the road. Kindness and respect for others are extremely important in communicating with all people, whether it is a passerby we meet for the first time or a person we communicate with every day. A kind person can hide his/her shortcomings and weaknesses with a smile, while an unkind person degrades each of his/her qualities by communicating. That is why kindness is really a predisposition for any good relationship, which as such does not need boundaries. Although by nature I do not like any restrictions, the limit of kindness is something that must be learned over time, not to limit kindness, but to protect oneself from the abuse of kindness. Unfortunately, it is most often set on the principle of “learning by doing” and it is impossible to make a standardized measure to which kindness should go.
4. Could you please explain to our young readers how to build self-confidence, how did you build it and how to motivate yourself the fastest when we experience “failure”?
Self-confidence is best built by pushing our own boundaries and challenging ourselves even when it means stepping out of the comfort zone in which we are cocooned. I have built my self-confidence through primary and secondary school, exclusively through participation in numerous extracurricular activities, and not through the educational process itself. Our education system is completely demotivating for an individual, especially a young person, and can only undermine a person’s self-confidence, because the focus is on fulfilling the form, and not on acquiring competencies. Therefore, my recommendation to young readers is to get involved in an activity starting tomorrow, whether it is youth organizations or extra curriculum activities at schools, and to persevere in it until it becomes small and insufficient and they want to learn something else. And then let them push the limits of their possibilities again. Failure is not uncommon and we should all understand it as a test of our motivation. Only the most motivated and persistent make great successes.
5. What is your favorite motivational quote and do you have any inspirational message for all of us?
I have two favorite quotes by which I organize my life. The first is Einstein’s – The moment a person stops learning, he/she stops living. The second is a message from former Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlar Nehru that we live in a wonderful world full of beauty, charm and adventure and that there is absolutely no end to the adventures we can only experience if we look for them with wide open eyes.
6. What is your definition of success?
Success is a long-term goal that we all strive for, but which varies almost entirely from person to person. For me, success is leaving a mark, making a change, being recognized in what you do. The opportunity to share my experiences with other young people is also a success for me, because it means that I have worked hard enough that I am now in a phase where I can tell someone something.
7. As a young successful, inspiring man, what is your message to all young people in our region and beyond?
Don’t wait for an opportunity. Create an opportunity. This is often a mistake made by young people, which is why they end up leaving the countries of this region. There is no person in my environment who has been proactive and worked intensively on his/her personality without already achieving some success, finding a job, starting a business or something else. There is a long way to success, and how far we will get depends solely on our motivation.
Follow Anes:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anes.cerkez
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anes.cerkez/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anes-%C4%8Derkez-150837b4/
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