Good afternoon and welcome back to 

The Mindfood Club

On July 31st, The Mindfood Club celebrated a brain workout session at The Happy Monk in Guangzhou. 3 speakers, 3 messages to share with society and 100 brilliant minds at the event “Personal development for a changing world”.

Mr. Owen Wang started by welcoming everyone, we were honoured to have the presence of scientists, CEOs, Consuls, General managers, business owners, entrepreneurs, young professionals and other life-long learners. He shared a story about people who tell excuses as to why they cannot achieve a goal. We often say we don´t have time, we are too busy, we are too old to learn a new skill, or too young to make something happen, that we are not very fit enough to take a physical challenge, we can´t speak the language, it is destiny, we attract bad luck and all sort of excuses.

Taking ownership and control of our lives and being honest with ourselves will take us further in life than looking for excuses.

Our first speaker Mr. Peter Helis chose the topic “A bridge builder´s beliefs”, sharing his personal story moving from East Germany to West Germany, then to London, Beijing in the 90´s and then Hong Kong. He has been in Asia for 2 decades and understands the cultural differences between these worlds. He shared 3 messages with the audience:

“Conquering fear”, giving his own example of how the first time he had to give a speech in front of a crowd in Shangri-la Hotel he was terrified, even after months of sleepless nights preparing it. This kind of emotional fear is something we should question if it is really reasonable and then do our best to overcome it. If you are not fearful, you are not taking enough challenges.

Everything you want

is on the other side of fear  

– Jack Canfield

«Continuity», we all have good days and bad days. When you achieve something, congratulate yourself and move on and keep pushing. Don’t let yourself slack. Don’t rest on your laurels and fall into the trap of being too proud of your achievements because

the arrogant soldier will be defeated 

Those days when everything is going well, it is easy to keep moving forward, but it is on the difficult days when we test ourselves. How do you change your mindset from negative thoughts to positive thoughts? It is not about winning or losing, but winning or learning.

Success is not final, failure is not fatal, 

it is the courage to continue that counts 

– Winston Churchill

«Open your unjudging mind», a mind is like a parachute, it doesn’t work if it is not open. Good communication is key, if we don’t communicate, there will be many misunderstandings, we should build more bridges between our cultures. Don’t be shy and address the issues fully, we do not have to care so much about giving face or losing face, we should do it in a constructive manner.

Dr. Esther González highlighted the importance of science for humanity. The world has been constantly changing and we, humans beings, also change with it. The two main reasons why people do not want to change are mainly laziness and fear.

Life is similar to the scientific method, scientific innovation is not a bunch of facts but a process, a continuous process of understanding reality based on evidence. You test things not only to prove they are right but also that they are wrong. Science is a driver of knowledge and in our lives we should follow the same principle.

Failure is an option, we can embrace it

Successful people kept trying and trying and found many ways of how not to do something, until they found the way. Each successful person has failed many times before they succeeded. She shared the story of how penicillin was discovered and changed the world. Think rationally about the root of your fear, understand why you have it and take action upon it.

Try it not only for yourself

but do it also for society

In this room today, there is at least

one person who can change the world

In the Q&A part, the audience asked about vaccines and their effectiveness, as a virologist, she recommended people to get vaccinated, and then shared the latest updates about the different variants.

• What made you take this path to science?

My grandmother was very sick back then, I knew it might not be on time to help her but I could help others by studying science. Also, my mother is a scientist and I grew up in this environment.

Finally, Mr. Jeremy Sargent shared his thoughts on the importance of Personal branding. He started by asking the audience what is a brand. The participants mentioned label, value, vision, perception, promise, trust, identity, culture…

How about «reputation«? How does that make you feel? What does it say to you? He gave examples of Nike, Apple, Starbucks, McDonald´s, BMW, etc. The brand called You is the most powerful thing in your brand.

Then we continued with a self-introspective exercise.

• Close your eyes for 15 seconds and think: What do people associate you with? By creating and cultivating your own brand, you can stand out in the crowd. Reputation takes years to build and a second to get destroyed.

We are CEOs of our own companies:

Me Inc. 

– Tom Peters

Life goes really quickly, by 30 you know stuff, by 40 you can do stuff, by 50 you realize that life goes quickly and career goes bloody quickly. Leave a legacy, whether it is to your parents, children, colleague, what are you leaving in this world? Planning this early will create a better self-existence. There is nothing more tiring than trying to be authentic.

• What piece of advice would you give to yourself?

Don’t set yourself too many goals and targets, focus on the journey.

Finally, Mr. Owen Wang closed this section by asking the audience who feels physically healthy, who is taking care of his or her mental health, who pays attention to emotional health, and last but not least, who is cultivating spiritual health.

We are preparing a program with modules that cover these topics and will help people work on their thoughts, mindset, emotions, spirit, integration and leadership, it is about how to create a lifestyle according to our own requirements and standards.

Live a life by design,

not by default

Then, the guests enjoyed an evening of conversations with brilliant minds from very diverse backgrounds and industries. On one table, there were discussions about Biology and vaccines. On another, people were sharing concepts such as

Essentialism

and how we use our limited energy and time to get things done, it is not about achieving more with less, but prioritise better and get only the right things done. Saying NO to the majority of things will allow us to focus on the important ones.

Thanks to the

3 speakers

for sharing their experience

100 guests

who joined us in a fantastic evening

the team

that made this event possible

The Happy Monk

for being our event partner and venue sponsor