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Josef Ajram: «I don’t like the feeling of having things stored in the closet»
Interview
The speaker and writer speaks with ABC Bienestar about the importance of self-improvement and learning to get up after adversity
Josef Ajram (Barcelona, 1978) is what is called «a self-made man». Trader de Bolsa, lecturer, amateur athlete and writer, Ajram takes one step after another in his life determined and without pause. Through his talks and books, he tries to preach his philosophy of life, the one that has led him to be who he is. He has just published the second volume of “The little book of self-improvement”, in which, through various phrases that represent its values, it forms a story with which to show the optics through which it observes our world.
The phrase he chose to name his great project is “Where is the limit?” For you, where is it?
For me the limit is where your next goal is. What I look for in my day-to-day life is to have reasons to work or train, because if I don’t find it really difficult to be focused and efficient. Sometimes the limit is to consolidate things that you have achieved.
Why should we live by the motto of “carpe diem”?
For me personally, which does not have to be for everyone, it is very important because unfortunately we can die tomorrow. My wife and I avoid the feeling of keeping as few things as possible in the closet to do. This is in the end a journey that you do not know when it will end, as that phrase says: “May death catch us alive”, let it not catch us with many things to do and, in case of illness or misfortune , that we cannot regret.
Why is discipline necessary, and how is it complemented by the idea of ”carpe diem”?
In the end I dedicate myself to the Stock Market, to something in which you must be extremely disciplined. So, there if you skip the discipline and the methodology they give you everywhere. Perhaps when it comes to free time, this idea is less strict, but what feeds you and what allows you to enjoy life you have to be more disciplined.
What should we do to make the most of our time?
It is important to establish the productive hours of our life. We still accumulate the belief that the more hours we work the better, but this is not the case. I believe a lot in efficiency, in locating the hours in which you can give 100% and once you have achieved those goals, enjoy your free time. It is a generational issue, our parents are of the culture that the more hours you work the better. Then, suddenly saying that you don’t have to work long hours, but reduced but well worked, is a shock for many people.
Should we base our lives on social relationships?
Today more than ever, in this maelstrom of social networks, in which personal relationships are being lost, I think that right now is the moment when it is easier to see who cares about you and who cares about you. In the end, for example, we have the group of lifelong friends, from when you went to school, and it seems that talking through a WhatsApp group is enough to not find time to see each other, and I do not accept this. I think technology is unfortunately depriving people of social relationships and this is a shame.
What would you say to people who have a dream but are also unable to achieve it?
Everyone wants to do things that they can’t do right now, but if you really want to, then the time comes when you can do it. It is about keeping it in mind, having it clear and being prepared and excited, for when circumstances allow us to do what we want so much. When you want to take a trip, or carry out a personal project and right now it is not the right situation for a family matter, it already will be, you don’t have to throw in the towel, you have to wait for the right situation.
Why do you say you regret, in your youth, applying trial / error to your life?
This is more on a professional level. To everyone who is in their twenties, and is on the way to thirty, I tell them not to make the mistake that I did. Normally, if life is a bit expensive, it is after thirty when you start to have some money saved to be able to invest in something personal or professional. And this is a mistake, when you turn 40 you realize that you only have to stay with what you know how to do excellently. In our life, people are not so much like that, but professionally, I think about it and say, I wish someone had told me this, it would have saved me a lot of money and annoyance.
Is it important sometimes to allow ourselves to be sad?
Yes of course, it is legal to be. For example, I don’t have a good day today. We are not a machinery to control emotions, but it is about not crushing ourselves or sinking into things, We all have emotions of euphoria, panic, grief, joy, we are human, but in the end I think we should relativize things, and that the penalties last as little as possible
Can we learn from these moments of sadness?
You have to learn from mistakes, you have to learn from every mistake, I do that every day. What I think is that people exaggerate, magnify a problem. We live in a society of immediacy, of immediate reward, of wanting everything and already perfect, and that sometimes conditions us. We cannot fall apart over any nonsense.