How not to settle for good enough

life is hard

and so are the decisions that we need to

make on a day-to-day basis

but at the end of the day we are all

looking for the same thing

we’re all looking for a certain level of

happiness

and a certain level of security now what

is it

that makes us feel happy

is it that secure job is it having our

lives

organized in a way that it’s predictable

is it really that security that makes us

feel happy

now let me ask you is the life that you

lead today

is it good or are you happy to settle

for just good enough now i don’t settle

for good enough

i will share with you now why on earth

am i

always in search of the uncomfortable

but more importantly

why i’m convinced that this can help

improve your life

i kind of won the lottery i was born and

raised in one of the richest countries

in the world

the netherlands i was studying marketing

i had good grades i even had a student

job that paid more than most grown-ups

would make in other parts of the world

life was steady

comfortable predictable and i knew that

if i would

if i would continue to make the right

choices that i would probably not have

the worries that many other people would

have in this world

and you know what they say don’t stick

your neck out

if it ain’t broken don’t fix it

well i did stick my neck out and i did

start fixing things that were not broken

as a man of 36 years old i’ve been an

entrepreneur for the past 14 years

and i’ve started several successful

businesses in a country that was once a

foreign land to me

and the locals in that country they

would say that there’s pretty much

no business opportunities whatsoever

yet several times i’ve managed to find

great business opportunities for myself

and people often wonder jan how do you

do it

and once i started taking the time to

think by myself

how do i actually do it i realized

that i’m following a pattern

at the age of 22 i moved to a country

called croatia

and croatia is one of the most beautiful

countries in europe

with an amazing mediterranean lifestyle

great food

good weather over a thousand islands

however economically this country is

performing at the bottom half

of that in europe and i knew that if i

would want to lead the kind of life that

i could have had in the netherlands

in croatia that that would already put

me among the privileged few

so instead of graduating in the

netherlands and pursuing a nine to five

job over there i decided to go all in

on my first business venture in croatia

and i could speak for hours about all

the ups and downs that i had to go

through

how i had to fight for survival month

after month for

years how i had to pour in all my

savings into the business

in order to pay for salaries

how i doubled up my capacity and a few

months later

i lost my largest client

as you can hear times were tough

but i knew that i was moving into the

right direction

year over year i was doubling my

revenues and fast forward nine years

later

the company i had founded employed more

than 400 people

and then i got an offer to sell my

business

i knew that by accepting an offer like

this that this would lead me straight

back into discomfort i would have to

start all over again from scratch

i would have to reinvent myself and at

that moment

i didn’t even know what i was going to

do next

i decided to accept that offer and the

reason why i was at ease with that

decision

was because over the years i had learned

some valuable lessons

each time that i would put myself into

uncomfortable situation i would get to

meet new people and learn new things

i would get to discover new places and i

would get to create something of value

and i realized that that is what makes

happy

right after i sold my business i started

having a lot of mixed feelings

on one hand i was happy and proud that i

managed to build a company to that level

and to make an exit from it but on the

other hand

i was feeling very scared

and i remember a conversation that i had

with my wife when i asked her

have i at the age of 31 already reached

the peak of my entrepreneurial career

is this the biggest thing that i will

ever do in business

is there going to be something bigger

out there that can perhaps even put what

i did in the past

in the shadows of the next big thing

and my wife responded to me in a way

where she said

first of all you need to ask yourself

what it means to do something big

does that mean big revenues

does that mean big number of employees

or should you maybe be thinking along

the lines of doing something where you

could leave

a big social impact

and those words stayed in the back of my

mind and after giving that some time

i knew exactly what i wanted to do

i wanted to put myself through hardship

again and through my entrepreneurial

efforts

i wanted to do something where i could

leave a big social

impact on the country where my four

children were born

and where i had planned my future

now i know what you’re thinking jan

where do you even find those

uncomfortable situations

well the answer is very simple i talk

with people

and when i talk with people i listen to

what they’re unhappy about

i listen to their concerns and i listen

to what they believe we should improve

or even start in this country

it is those people that lead me straight

towards uncomfortable situations

also known as opportunities

and once i have found an opportunity

like that i start to surround myself

with people from which i believe can

help me fix those problems

we then pitch possible solutions to

stakeholders

and that could be governments local

municipalities

experts sometimes even to people that

have caused the problem to begin with

we then present a strategy that will be

clear for everybody but more importantly

a strategy that everybody wants to be

part of

it’s often not the experts that will fix

problems otherwise they would have

already done so

it’s the people that are impacted the

most by the problem that will eventually

step up

and start fixing things

now like i said i talk with people and

when i talk with people

in this country there’s always one

subject that we speak

very passionately about and that subject

is food but when we speak about food in

this country it’s those people that tell

that we as a country are missing out on

a great opportunity

which is that we should be exporting

we should be feeding europe they tell me

well unfortunately the reality is

different

way in the past before i moved to this

country it used to produce enough food

to feed an entire region

today sadly this country is not

producing enough food to feed its own

people

and after that had been frustrating me

long enough

i decided that it had to be me to step

i wanted to bring solutions for a global

problem

which is how to feed a growing

world population in a nutritious

reliable and in a sustainable way

now there happens to be one country

known for bringing such solutions

and that country is the country where i

happen to be born and raised

it’s the netherlands

the netherlands with nearly 10 000

hectares of high-tech

greenhouses is after the united states

the second largest exporter of food in

the world

so i asked myself the question if the

united states can be first

if the netherlands can be second

can croatia perhaps be third

now let me share with you how much

experience do

i really have in agriculture

zero absolutely no experience

whatsoever in agriculture but remember

in business you don’t have to be the

smartest one in the room

what is important is that you have a

vision and that you share that vision

with others who for those reasons

want to become part of your team to help

you execute upon that vision

fast forward i’m happy to share that we

are currently developing our first

high-tech greenhouse in croatia and it

shall be our goal that through our

efforts

we become less dependent on importing

food and ultimately

to turn this country back into an

exporting nation again

like it once was

today i can say that i’m really happy

it took me a long time to understand

what it really is that makes me happy

before i understood the pattern that i’m

following i would be putting myself in

uncomfortable situations without even

knowing it now that i do understand the

pattern that i’m following

i’m putting myself in uncomfortable

situations deliberately

now don’t be mistaken it’s not that i

enjoy being uncomfortable

what i enjoy is to turn uncomfortable

situations into comfortable situations

because throughout that process i get to

meet new people and learn new things

i get to discover new places and i get

to create something of value

and like i said that is what makes me

happy

and gives me purpose

now let me repeat the question that i

asked you all the way at the beginning

is the life that you lead today is it

good

or are you happy to settle for just good

enough

is the comfort that you’re feeling is

that what makes you happy

and if the answer is no then you will

know what to do

take a few uncomfortable steps backwards

in order to really take leaps forward

because that is what will bring you to

places where you will find happiness

and satisfaction beyond your own beliefs

thank you