The New Beginning | September 2021
Reflecting on a High-Speed September | Panagiotis's Monthly Newsletter
Hi Everyone! 👋
Welcome to my monthly newsletter! This is the place where you can join me on my journey of impacting the world a month at a time and WOW how did September fly by so fast!
Summary of what is covered in this newsletter:
Who am I?
TKS Kick-Off
The Mindset of the Month
Back to School
F1 in Schools
Something I Struggled with
Next Steps
Quote of the Month:
"In order to achieve unconventional success, you must take an unconventional path"
-Nadeem Nathoo, TKS Founder
Who Am I?
I'm Panagiotis, a 17 y/o from Greece!
I'm currently reconstructing myself to become a unicorn person [someone who impacts billions]. I'm still at the initial stages of this process, but I acknowledge that there is so much to do, so I look at the man in the mirror every single day to ensure that I'm better than yesterday!
I'm interested in:
the future of humanity and emerging tech, 🌍🖥
engineering and entrepreneurship, ⚙
colonizing space, 🚀
Formula 1, 🏎
sustainability and swimming 🏊♂️
I’m writing this newsletter to document my growth and share it with you, as a way to develop more meaningful relationships and get past my fear of sharing my work.
TKS Kick-Off 🦄
Finally, TKS (The Knowledge Society) has started! This is “a human accelerator program for curious and ambitious teens who want to solve the world's biggest problems”. I’m in the first year, Innovate, which marks the start of a new chapter in my life! I can't wait for what's coming, e.g writing Articles, making awesome videos, doing amazing projects and taking on the tech world head-on! However, it is important to understand, that TKS doesn't only imply learning about tech. We're only one month into the program, and I've already learned so much about different mindsets, skills and life insights that have changed my outlook on the world as well as connected with other peers around the globe who genuinely want to make a change!
As the first month in TKS is nearing an end, I am so grateful for everyone that constitutes this organization and is helping young people achieve their true potential (which is way higher than what society expects). I believe it serves as a great opportunity for me to grow, work on emerging tech and be part of a community of people who want to leave a mark on the world!
Huge Shoutout to Ahmed Hassan (LinkedIn here) for hosting a braindate (that’s how we call meetings between TKSers) on "Getting the Most Out of Innovate" and helping me structure my thoughts to increase my performance!
The Mindset of the Month 🔥
In TKS, every week we are introduced to new mindsets, which will help us build the mentality of an "Olympic level innovator". When I think of this statement, I think about Michael Phelps who is an idol of mine [I used to swim competitively], and I like to imagine the work I am doing as Michael's training sessions (Fun Fact: he didn't miss a day of practice in 5 years).
The High Standards mindset, was the one that I chose to focus on this month. My first interaction with this mindset was an activity my teammates and I undertook, which, now that I'm looking back at, was designed so that we would fail. We had to prepare a presentation in an extremely short period of time, and of course, our results were nowhere near a high level so we received harsh but honest feedback.
This activity helped me realize the power of receiving and celebrating feedback and setting High Standards in everything you do, from the way the presentation will look to the communication you will have with your team.
After that day, I have been trying to apply the High Standard mindset in everything I do, from waking up at 5:30 AM to the way I communicate with my Anatolian Racers teammates. The end goal is to make a habit of setting and executing High Standards, so that it is engraved within my identity.
Back to School 📚
A second worth mentioning is our return to school. After a long summer, we returned to school and, it really feels good to be back! Even though virtual learning had its perks and challenged my adaptability, I believe that it's the right time for us to remember how it is to be with your classmates around you in real life.
This year I'm in the first year of the International Baccalaureate Program at the American College of Thessaloniki, Anatolia College and I'm very excited for the challenges that await me. This year is going to be all about balance and time management if I am to achieve my full potential.
F1 in Schools 🏎
F1 in Schools is one of the biggest STEM and Youth Entrepreneurship student competitions in the world, in which teams act as if they are a Formula 1 team commissioned to develop and race the Formula 1 Car of the Future, powered by a compressed air cylinder. Competitors use CAD/CAM software to design, analyze, manufacture, test and race their designs and learn about everything from aerodynamics to marketing and sponsorship strategies by applying them in practice.
The initial deadline for the Second Phase of the Greek National Finals of the F1 in Schools competition was September 26th, which was further delayed for October 10th. Nonetheless, my team, Anatolian Racers, and I have been working hard on perfecting our Project Management & Enterprise Portfolio, to become National Champions and secure our position in the upcoming World Finals to be held in May 2022 in London.
If you want to learn more about F1 in Schools and my involvement with it, watch this space, more coming soon!
Something I Struggled with
September marks the start of the new school year, and like New Year, everybody is caught up in Goal Setting. However, this process can be quite overwhelming, and I must admit that at the beginning I struggled with deciding which things I wanted to achieve this year (out of the hundreds that I have in my mind). To resolve this, I thought in reverse chronological order:
Who do I want to be 10 years from now?
Where do I want to be 3 years from now?
Where do I want to be 3 months from now?
Where do I want to be 3 weeks from now?
Then, I started breaking the answers to these questions into smaller tasks, which are tangible, specific, and measurable. Thus, I created what is called a Work Breakdown Structure. I recommend you use this framework, because it ensures that the actions that you're doing in the present align with where you want to be in the short, mid, and long term future. In addition, the last two questions require constant monitoring and adaptation and can be used as a metric of your progress.
Next Steps
Participate in the NASA Space Apps Hackathon
Deadline of Submission for B’ Phase of the F1 in Schools National Finals
Continue exploring emerging tech such as Blockchain, AR & VR, and Brain-Computer Interfaces
Write my first article(s)
Complete 10 braindates
Work on giving better feedback and developing my mindset
Thank you for taking the time to read my newsletter! If you enjoyed it and would like to stay up to date, you can always subscribe! 🤙