Have you fulfilled a dream at the age of 60 that has enriched your life?
Well, I don’t have to think about that for long. It was a day in October 2023 that I will never forget. I had just turned 65.
It was a day at the Frankfurt Book Fair. And I was there as an author. And that’s because a book I co-wrote was presented there.
I had often visited the book fair. In public audience.
But now I had a ticket from GABAL Verlag for the professional audience. Our book was presented in the early afternoon, so I had the whole morning for the other booths. Super!
What a wonderful way to look around and browse at your leisure. And at the same time to be sure of the appreciation of the exhibiting publishers.
“May I bring you an espresso with it?”
What an overwhelming feeling compared to my previous book fair visits, densely packed and always in long queues in front of current topics and books.
My cell phone rings. It’s my daughter. “Dad, you’re at the book fair today, I heard. How is it?”.
After describing my impressions, I hear from her: “Dad, that’s so cool. For today’s visit alone, it was worth it that you wrote this book contribution.” What wonderful feedback from her.
The process at that day was a flow. Book presentation at the GABAL booth, then symposium of all authors of the anthology and finally the reception in the evening in the Skyline Plaza in Johanna Dahm’s concept store.
Please pinch me, I thought. So that I realize that all this is really happening right now.
My contribution to the book is about making a decision, even or especially when it is particularly important: in a crisis. The anthology entitled “Securing the Future” was published in 2023.
In my article, an experienced event serves me as an explanatory example and then perhaps even reads like an adventurous travel report. Because during the pandemic, my wife and I were separated in Bahrain. I then decided to find a way from my workplace in Saudi Arabia back to my family in Germany – as quickly as possible, with a few detours and with consequences for my professional activities.
From this and from my many years of industry experience, I have derived my five basic recommendations on how to find a way out of a crisis. That’s what my article describes.
How did this come about?
After my return from Saudi Arabia, I started my own business. I had accompanying support: Ursula Vormwald, self-employed herself and a valuable mentor. She was my advisor. She also recommended that I set up a blog on my website for my reflective writing. How important! Because my idea for a book was born a long time ago.
And she put me in touch with Andrè Jünger from the publishing house, at first only as a network contact. A few months after the conversation with him, he approached me with the offer to co-write this anthology. Exciting! No, super exciting.
My contribution was accepted. I got to know the other authors. A truly inspiring network was created. Marion Masholder, one of the co-authors, did a great job of leading the team and helping us incorporate impactful marketing tools. Very successful, because our anthology actually landed at the top of the Amazon bestseller list in some categories. I was amazed. Bestselling author, how does that sound? For me, this was an important learning process with a very steep learning curve.
A real dream has become reality.
And what happens now?
This year I was asked again if I would like to participate in another anthology. Rather “No!” Why? Now I want to write my very own book and I’m working on that. The working title is “Prepare for Landing, Guiding Principles for Intercultural Leadership”.
Dreaming allowed. Whether it will become reality is written in the stars. I smile, because I am optimistic.
And if you ask me what I took away from this experience, I like to summarize it like this:
1. Live your dream. The goal is there first and it can be really high. Because you internalize this goal and even if I didn’t consciously have it in front of my eyes every day, I still lived by it.
2. Enjoy your dream and celebrate yourself for it when it has come true. You are allowed to do that. The only thing that is certain is that you will wake up from a beautiful dream at some point.
3. But then the third recommendation is: dream your next dream. Because it has been shown that it works. So start now with your dream 2.0
