The bigger the challenge the higher the feeling of achievement, even if not all the goals have been achieved. True or false?
Last weekend, TEDxEleftheriaSquare was more than just an event—it was an experience that brought worlds together, sparked curiosity, and set the stage for something remarkable in Cyprus. Our tagline this year was “Think Beyond, Bridge Worlds”—a powerful yet challenging mantra to live by. This post is about Thinking Beyond (And yes, stay tuned for another posts where I’ll dive into why, despite all of the positive feedback and good achievements, it still wasn’t enough!)
”Thinking Beyond” - what does it mean? For me, it’s about holding onto your dreams fiercely, even when reality tries to pull you back. It’s about pushing yourself past the limits of what you thought possible. The bigger the dream, the more you must stretch yourself—sometimes falling 100 times only to stand up for the 101st attempt, fueled by sheer passion and faith. This event was a living testament to that mindset. Every step, every setback was a step toward something larger.
Why don’t we make it open air on the most iconic square of the city? Why don’t we invite the architect of this square to speak? Why don’t we bring people form 5 countries to show the diversity of views? Why don’t we extend the event to 10 speakers and 6 hours long? Why don’t we organize a special kids area right at the event?
To be honest, the list of questions is way larger and there are much more questions that we asked ourselves, challenged the team, stretched the boundaries and failed:
Why don’t we help speakers to have all the presentations ready 2 weeks before the event? Well, hopefully next time.
Why don’t we create pre-event experiences for our guest including museums and gallery tours, city runs and other interesting activities? Not enough capacity this time.
Why don’t we offer transportation and accommodation for those who come from other cities or event countries? We are still to proof the value of the partnership with us to many companies.
I have an open question — what would you prefer?
1 - Set realistic goals and to achieve them 100%
2 - Stretch the goals, achieve 60%, still do more that in case 1, but have this feeling of failure for some of the ideas
#TEDx #TEDxEleftheriaSquare #TEDxES
