Albert Frantz is a world-class pianist from Pennsylvania who started playing at the extraordinarily late age of 17. His early piano teacher told his mother to throw her money in the garbage rather than spend it on piano lessons for Albert. He discovered his love for classical music while in high school and his passion made him accomplish seemingly impossible things. He was the first pianist in nearly a decade to win a Fulbright scholarship to study in Vienna just a few years after starting out. This led him to study at the official conservatory of the city of Vienna in Austria, the home country of many of his musical idols.

Even before he could finish his education, he started suffering from scoliosis, first discovered in his adolescence, that virtually incapacitated his piano playing for more than six years. Desperately looking for a therapy that would promise any amount of relief, he found relief through Bikram yoga. No sooner did he recover from his back pain when he broke his left wrist upon getting hit in the face by a tram on a cold and icy Thanksgiving weekend. Breaking a wrist is a nightmare for a pianist. For Albert, it turned out positively in the end, as the injury led him to play pieces by Charles-Valentin Alkan, a 19th-century French virtuoso and one of the only composers to write music for the right hand alone. His music was considered unplayable for over a century and is regarded as the most athletically challenging music ever written for the piano. Albert took it as a challenge, which led to his critically acclaimed debut CD dedicated to Alkan’s music. His debut album was an official jury nomination for the prestigious German Record Critics Award, designed to recognize the “most rigorous standards for supreme achievement and quality” in the field of music recording.

Besides turning his interest to the works of Alkan and Liszt, his back pain also led him to pursue an IRONMAN triathlon. This is especially notable, as there were two situations in which he almost drowned during his childhood. Swimming in open water made Albert panic throughout his adult life. After a change of perspective, Albert found himself training for one of the most challenging sports competitions in the world. He finished his first IRONMAN triathlon – 3.8 km swimming, 180 km cycling and a 42.2 km marathon – on June 28, 2015.

INTERVIEW

Pianists at your level normally start at the age of 8 or even younger…

Even younger! A colleague of mine, a very famous pianist, is sometimes asked by interviewers, “You started the piano late, didn’t you?” to which she answers, “Yes, very late, I was 8.” Often they start at two or three these days, though four or five is very normal. My teacher and mentor Paul Badura-Skoda started at six and he even called that “rather late.” At least that’s what we tend to assume. If there is one thing that I want to communicate – and I hope to do it through my own work in my own field – I think we place limitations on ourselves. We don’t really know our true capabilities, or we let the world place limitations on us. We let other people and society tell us what we can’t do. What if we ask ourselves what we really care about? “What would I do ideally and how far can I go?” We simply don’t know our own potential.

How did you accomplish becoming a world-class pianist and teacher starting at the late age of 17?

I am happy that on the one hand I did have a natural talent, but, on the other hand, I really attribute so much to having found great teachers. I’m absolutely not self-taught. I was just fortunate enough to find wonderful teachers who recognized that I had talent and took me under their wing and really helped me to maximize that. I still need that until this day. I think it’s incredible important to have teachers and mentors and trainers.

“YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO DO NORMAL THINGS, LIKE STARTING A FAMILY, GETTING YOUR HOUSE IN THE SUBURBS WITH A WHITE PICKET FENCE, THE FAMILY DOG, ETC. I DIDN’T GO FOR THAT LIFE.”

Which effort was needed to achieve what you achieved so far?

An enormous effort. I wish it hadn’t been quite so much. Actually my parents were not exactly happy. At that time, their idea for me was to go to university and study something that would get me the best job. You’re supposed to do normal things, like starting a family, getting your house in the suburbs with a white picket fence, the family dog, etc. I didn’t go for that life. I think it is a wonderful life path – I know plenty of people who did and lead very happy and very fulfilled lives – but it wasn’t necessarily for me. Growing up, I was always fascinated by science and I always knew that I would become a scientist or an engineer of some sort. Then I discovered music very late, but I knew that it was my real passion, even if I had to go my own way back then, with some significant challenges. At one point, unfortunately I had some major problems with my spine. It looked like I would never be able to perform again. This made me unable to perform for a long time and I did a lot of physical therapy and a lot of sports. Fortunately, I was able to avoid surgery and I am very happy that I didn’t have to go under the knife. In the end, I always kept going. So when It looked like there might not be a way, I just thought to myself that I just need to find it, because there is always a way. It’s just a test. So whenever there is an obstacle and we think we can’t go further, to me that means it is just a test. A test of real power, a test of our commitment, our determination.

Later on you got a Fulbright scholarship and today you are playing in great concert halls and also play endorsements for Bösendorfer. Did you think about that when you were 17, when you started out with playing the piano? Could you imagine something like that back then? 

Yeah, young people, young athletes for example, dream of playing in the major leagues and young creative people, actors, musicians dream of making it big. I don’t know if I thought about that. I just knew there was something in me that I have to pursue. I don’t have some big, glamorous career right now; I am not unknown either, but for me what is most important is the quality of the work that I do. This, for me, is really an important topic. I think in our society, too often we look for shortcuts. We see certain pop stars for example, we see them rise and fall, and sometimes it seems to me that we seek cheap fame, because we think that the fame is going to bring us something. We think that if millions of people like us, then we get all this love. To me it is better to do my best work and to know I really strive to be the best that I can and to find mentors that help me to get better and know that I have done good work. That’s more important to me than doing mediocre work but becoming very famous for it.

On which level do you categorize your playing today?

The important thing is to reach the level of artistry where hopefully nobody cares about how fast your fingers are, and people just concentrate on what you have to say artistically. That is when you transcend technique, what every artist really works on. To me that’s what it is really all about.

Do you think you reached that level already?

Well, it’s my job to be an artist! Which is not to say that other people are not able to play the same pieces better and more expressively. At some point it becomes subjective.

Who is your favorite composer?

Okay, I will give you two answers. One is Beethoven, because of what Beethoven stood for. He represented a real revolution in the concept of what a musical artwork can be. Beethoven created truly self-contained masterworks. Beethoven wrote in a very idealistic manner, and he was extremely aware of his place in cultural history. In some of his later works he really wrote for the future and even said as much.

In the “Hammerklavier” Sonata, for example, he wrote to his publisher: “Now you have a sonata that will keep the pianists busy when they play it in 50 years,” because he knew that it was not for his current generation of pianists. There, he’s referring not only to the extraordinary technical difficulties of this piece, but also to the incredible musical complexity. It was difficult on all levels. I don’t wish to make the argument that a future generation was required to understand it musically. I’m sure there were also other people who understood it in his time, but aesthetically, it was so futuristic. The same can be said of his last string quartets. Some of it sounds like it was written yesterday. Incredible. So Beethoven is one answer.

And the other is: I have this unhealthy obsession with this composer, Charles-Valentin Alkan, whose music I just recorded for my first CD. He is an unjustly neglected and incredibly interesting composer. He was Chopin’s neighbour and best friend in Paris. He wrote the most fascinating and unfortunately the most purely athletic music ever written for the piano. He really makes the performer sweat.

With which historical composer would you like to have dinner?

Definitely Franz Liszt. He is the most interesting.

Why?

Because he was a rock star! He had such an enormous personality. He was also true cosmopolitan. He wasn’t just huddled up in a little apartment, just writing music day and night. He really lived life, he lived a large, grand life. He was surely the most interesting.

“TRY TO DO EVERYTHING TO FIND THE VERY BEST TEACHER AS EARLY IN YOUR STUDIES AS POSSIBLE.”

Which suggestions would you give to young people starting to play the piano? Which tips would you give them? How should they start out playing the piano?

The most important thing is to find a really good teacher, and this is advice for the parents as well. Try to do everything to find the very best teacher as early in your studies as possible. There is a misconception. All too often we make the assumption that an entry-level teacher is good enough. It’s understandable—parents just want to see whether their child likes music. Yet I think the most advanced, the most experienced and the very best teachers need to be teaching as early in the learning process as possible and not simply at the very advanced, already professional stages.

Which hobbies do you have besides playing the piano? Lately, I saw you quite often in fast cars!

Yes that’s a new hobby (laughing out loud). Racing cars.  I have to be careful about that. I’ve gotten to chase Formula One drivers around the racetrack! It definitely makes me nervous. But that’s a fun hobby. I decided one day that life consists of more than just working. There are so many rich experiences to be had. At some point I thought, I have to live more. So when an opportunity comes up, now I say yes, and then find a way. Often these kinds of opportunities are opportunities for growth. We tend to limit ourselves way too much. I am definitely nervous sitting at the wheel of a supercar on a racetrack. But that is an opportunity for growth. We regret the times when we say no to such opportunities. That’s my latest hobby. Another one is that I do a lot of sports and I trained for several years to complete an Ironman. It was a goal I had for several years, actually more of a fantasy than a real goal. And then I thought – wait a second – I am not getting younger. The time to start is now.

What was it like training for the Ironman?

Above all there’s a major time commitment. The official recommendation from the Ironman organization is at least 15 hours a week of endurance training just to get to the finish line. It requires total dedication. No excuses. I didn’t always feel like working out for hours in bad weather but I knew I couldn’t let that stop me from reaching that finish line. I learned to love extreme heat or cold since it makes for such great training opportunities. People don’t work out because it’s uncomfortable. It’s easier to sit at home. Then, when they do work out it’s too easy to seek comfort in discomfort, to make the inherent discomfort as comfortable as possible. This attitude makes it all too easy to convince yourself it’s “too this” or “too that” to work out that day. I learned to turn this around: The worse the weather, the greater the motivation! You can’t control the weather on race day, so you just have to be prepared for anything.

I spread my Ironman dream out over three years. This included starting running again after twenty years (after a very halfhearted attempt the year before), learning to ride a fast time trial bike with aerobars, and learning how to swim. I’m still surprised every time I don’t drown!

How did it feel to cross the Ironman finish line?

It was exhilarating. The first thing my coach, Paul Nelsen, said to me was, “You don’t even look tired.” And amazingly I didn’t feel tired. I was just so overwhelmed.

Is this your advice for other people? Just speak out your dream and go for it?

Yes, absolutely. It’s not about just going for things recklessly, though. I think that deep down we know – I say this but then I remember Steve Jobs said it as well, and much more eloquently – deep down we know who we really want to become. Everybody has dreams. Some dreams only have to be done once to realize, like skydiving. That can be done once and it is accomplished. Other dreams are more about who you become, becoming a pianist in my case. That was something that took years and is ongoing. I think often our dreams are much closer than we think. I don’t think we could seriously entertain a dream unless some part of us deep down knew that we are capable of achieving it.

Coming to the last question: What is your dream?

I have so many of them actually. My biggest one is to make as much of a contribution as I am able to in my lifetime. That’s truly my biggest dream. Even if it’s in this tiny part of the world called classical music and even if it’s a relatively small number of people who care about it or appreciate my work. My biggest dream is to make as much of a contribution as possible. And I want to do that in three ways: through my playing, by becoming as good as I can become and leaving behind my best work. The second way is through education. I am equally passionate about education as I am about playing. And the third way is that I hope to inspire some more people to question our limitations. I think we are capable of so much more than we think we are.

Additional information:

Official Website: http://key-notes.com/

Photography: David Visnjic

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By definition, values are important and lasting beliefs or ideals about what is good or bad and desirable or undesirable. They have major influence on your behavior and attitude and serve as broad guidelines in any given situation. In other words, they are like magnets in your moral compass that will guide you in making decisions, especially in situations where the right thing to do isn’t the obvious.

Having a strong set of personal values means standing for something and staying true to yourself. It will offer you an answer whenever you ask yourself: „Should I do that?“. And, most importantly, it will help you define who you are and who you want to be.

Finding your personal set of values

Defining a set of values is a tough job. After looking through numerous methods, I came up with the four-step process below.

Step 1: Brainstorm

Usually, you already have a set of values that you carry with you. They can be influenced by your parents, people you surround yourself with or topics that are important to you, just to name a few.

To get started, just brainstorm values that come to your mind when you think about your personal life. Write them down. Then put the list aside. That’s your starting point.

Step 2: Expand your list by choosing from a pre-selected list of values

To extend that list, simply go through the list of values below or find any other list of values by simply searching for it on the internet. Now take yourself some time and circle the ones your gut says fits you.

Now you have a selection of values in front of you. To complete the process, you may go through one last step: Finding external values.

Step 3: Expand your list by finding values externally

Defining your values should not only be based upon who you are, but also on who you want to be. A great method to find additional values is to think about people you look up to. Which values do you see in their actions? Why are they desireable? Take the ones that you find most important and write them down.

Step 4: Select your most important values

At the end, you’ll have a list with numerous values. Now take some time and think about your most important ones. Three is a good number, it should definately be no more than five in the end, as they should stick in your brain and subconcious mind. As soon as you selected them, write them down. Pin them onto the wall in front of your desk. Tattoo them onto your wrist. Whatever you do, be sure to think about them whenever you need to make a decision.

Congratulations! In addition to your strengths and passions, you now also know which values are important to you and should be part of your life. In the next articles, we will cover some techniques that will help you work out your dreams and visions in more detail. Stay tuned and most importantly:

The post How to find your dream part 3: Defining your personal values appeared first on DREAMA TV.

(Note: This story is an evergreen produced in 2012.)

Christmas time is the time to make resolutions for the upcoming year. But why? Why aren’t we asking ourselves each and every day what we want to do in life? What our purpose is? I had the honour to talk about this with my long time friend and mentor Harald Katzenschläger, self-acclaimed dream developer and co-founder of DreamAcademia. 10 years ago he quit his dream job and started to change his life. In 2007 he founded DreamAcademia together with Hermann Gams, with the aim of inspiring people to go for their biggest dreams and the vision of a society in which everybody does exactly what he/she loves to do.

Around christmas time, chances are high to find Harald dressed up as Santa, sharing out sweets and asking people for their dreams. I met up with him at Sektor 5 Coworking-Spaces in Vienna to talk about dream development techniques, how to stay consistent during the process and about what it means to leave all securities behind just to help other people follow their heart and intution.

INTERVIEW

We’re at the end of the year. Time for resolutions. What is your advice when it comes to resolutions?

End of the year? End of what? When I look at my life, there’s two points of view. It has a beginning when I’m born and an end when I pass away. In between I can do whatever I want in life. Do you need an end of the year to start something new? I don’t think so. I feel that everything has a start and an end. It depends only on yourself. Let’s be honest: The majority of resolutions will never be  implemented. It’s just a nice ritual. Like saying “How are you?” – “Thank’s I’m fine”. That’s nice. But it has no meaning at all.

What is your advice then?

The book “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying” from Bronnie Ware was a bestseller in 2011. Imagine yourself in the moment before you pass away and think about what would be your top five regrets. Luckily you still have time to change the course of your life, so start to do things that will let you look back with a feeling of contentment and peace. It’s a great exercise to find out what has true meaning in your life.

Another advice would be to take a look around and find happy people. When you see happy people, ask them what they do. For me this would be the most logical thing to orient myself. But this classic resolutions like 5kg less or 1000 Euros more, if you’re really honest and ask yourself, if that makes you happier I think you will come to the result that it’s maybe just the carrot in front of the donkey, that we always run after and think that we will be happier when we’re there.

If somebody decides to find his inner dreams or to start with the dream development process, which techniques would you recommend?

One practical advice would be: Take a white book. An empty white book. Imagine that this is your life. Start by writing down things that are important for you. Start with the craziest vision you could think of. Imagine you have all supporters in the world. All resources in the world. What if you had your personal Santa Claus and can ask him for whatever you want? No matter if it’s realistic. That’s hard enough for a start. We didn’t drink that in with our mother’s milk. It’s the opposite. We grew up in a situation of shortage. “That isn’t. That can’t be. That doesn’t work”. In all areas. And suddenly you turn the switch. That’s a huge challenge, believe me.

Another technique I suggest is to write down 39 dreams. Make a list of dreams and you will see that it will carry you away your whole life. You must learn to question the things on this list. Keep asking yourself if you just made it to impress the neighbours or if your true dreams and wishes are written on there. No matter what, it will help you question yourself. By writing down 39 dreams you guarantee a certain amount of detail that will afford thinking deep. Start drawing pictures in your head, start to visualize your dreams by cutting or printing out pictures. Glue them on your wall. Start smelling, tasting and touching the things in your mind.

Talk about it. But be careful to whom you talk about it. Because when you start this process, you will always find people who will tell you that things are not possible. And soon your surrounding environment starts to hold you back. That’s normal. If you develop yourself further, you will start developing a new environment. You need people around you, who believe in you. For people who are not in that process, it’s better to hold you back because it’s easier to hold you back than to start questioning their own lives and dreams. That’s why it’s hard to start this process out of your normal environment, you will start asking yourself: “Why am I doing that? Why am I asking myself these questions?”. This can be painful . Because you leave things out without really knowing what will be the benefit.

Also be careful of the words you use. These words can become reality way faster than you prefer. So be careful to use positive pictures and take care of each and every little word that you use. You will realize that it’s very important to think about your dream in all details. How do you feel when you get up in the morning? Who surrounds you? How does the air smell? Don’t just scratch the surface.

Do you have an example for that?

Yes. It was new year’s eve 2005/06 when I sat down and thought: I want to thank all people that are important in my life. So I wrote 100 postcards in the first part of the night and just wrote down thank you, no matter if I knew the people personally or not. Some of them didn’t even know that they had an impact on my life. In the second part of the night I wrote down what I want to do in the future and with whom I want to do it. And I remember reading it, I thought: Where are those people? I know none of them. How should I do those things? How should I earn money with those things? I had no clue.

When I look at my life today, I’m doing exactly what I wrote down on this piece of paper. Everyday, I meet people that are like the ones that I imagined back then. And once you realize that this really works, you realize what your real power is. That you can have an impact. That you can do anything. And then again it’s of big importance to find out which things are really important for you. And once you found them, my biggest advice is: START.

I remember at the end of that new year’s eve, at 7:30 in the morning, I went to the garden, cleaned it up and burned everything I thought I wouldn’t need anymore. My wife looked out of the window and asked me, if I’m crazy. But for me that was symbolic. It meant: “Do something. Don’t wait. Start now.”.

“DO SOMETHING. DON’T WAIT. START NOW.”

What advice do you have on keeping up the consistency?

Keeping up the consistency? Puhh. I think that has much to do with the fact that what you do is not in your comfort zone. You must bring to your mind that developing dreams never happens inside your comfort zone. There simply is no comfort zone. And if you want to develop yourself, you will quickly realize that there are things that are not always warm, always nice, always good. You will enter a completely different state of mind. But that’s exactly the point on which you learn to develop yourself. The point where you learn to know yourself and others better. The biggest challenge might be to say “No” to many things, just to say “Yes” to that one bigger thing. In this process you will often be confronted with a lack of understanding by the people surrounding you. When I was in that situation back then, I tried to find arguments and evidence for what I was doing. I soon realized that it’s better to focus on the goal. The closer you get to your goal the more exciting it gets to those people and there will be a time when they get back to you and start asking questions on how you achieved things. A very interesting process.

In general consider surrounding yourself with people who already did some steps along the way and gained experience. Don’t surround yourself with people who share your insecurity. It’s better to meet up with one experienced mentor than with 10 insecure and unexperienced people. Experienced people will ask you the right questions. Frederic Pistono shortly said in a talk: “You need to surround yourself only with people who believe in you. It’s not for the fact that they believe in you, but for the fact that you start believing in yourself.”

Do you have any rituals that help you keeping up your own consistency?

I like getting up early in the morning to remind myself that I can make a decision each and every day. That I can make a decision to change something, that I can do something or simply do nothing. I have two healthy hands and feet and a passport that takes me wherever I want to go. Who else has such privilegues? I think to make us aware of this is one of the most important things in life. I can go for whatever I want to go, every single day of my life. Even if the price might be high. For me that’s an immense quality of freedom. When I feel this freedom to create, to reflect, to develop, to listen, that’s just incredible. So incredible, that sometimes I need to force myself to do something normal, like cooking and then concentrate on not cutting my fingers off because my thoughts wander away.

What is the “Why?” behind your work?

It’s funny, it was exactly 8 years from now when I had a real down, I’d say a deep mid-life crisis. I had just quit my dream job, traveled around the world with my wife and my two daughters (1 1/2 and 3 at that time) and then I came back to reality. Into a reality that I felt I can’t go on anymore. In this phase it progressed so far that I imagined what it would be like being ill, just for the reason that being ill means that one doesn’t need to function in our system. What helped me at that time was to think about some important questions: What would I love to do? How does my life ideally look like without thinking of anything that was told me before?

And I felt how those feelings challenged me, because normally, nobody challenges you to aks yourself these questions. And then you ask them to yourself and you realize how difficult it is to start this process. Because in this process, after every 2-3 steps you take, your mind comes back and says: You can’t do that, it’s not realistic. And then you overcome those thoughts, and after a while you realize, that whatever you ever imagined, chances are high that some years later you look at your life from a bird’s view and you realize that many of the things you do are exactly the things that your mind once told you are totally unrealistic. The art behind that is having the attentiveness to realize: This is exactly what I dreamed some time ago. Once you realize that, you will feel a deep thankfulness. And you get better in it every day. And of course there are bad days involved in this process, days of doubts, but the feeling of luck that you can do what your heart tells you to do will help you overcome the bad days.

For me, the next step was that I found out: If I can do that, everybody can do that. That’s what I truly believe in. It’s deep inside of each and everyone of us and once you realize it, you will realize that you can take the messages of the ad industry of what we need to give to each other, what lists we need to write, what goals we need to set and so on, you realize that you can take these messages and throw them into the garbage.

And that’s why I do what I do – help people develop their inner dreams.

What is your wish from Santa?

I think it’s that wish to even more delete the things that are on the list, deep inside my brain. And to get even more confidence to do what I’m here for. I can’t really describe this. It’s like a flock of birds. You can say it just flies. But it’s way more than that. And altough you know that you’re on the right path, you think you’re crazy. You have the feeling of not fitting in. What we do is so far away from everything normal. It doesn’t fit into any format. In our society we learn to measure things, things are bigger, more beautiful etc.

But what we do is far away from normal. And often I start asking myself why I’m doing that. It leads to downs that you can’t even imagine (tears in his eyes). Why can’t I be a little bit more normal. Why can’t I just adapt a little bit to the norm? But in the moment when these questions come to my mind, I know that I don’t want to do that. What for? I feel that there’s a completely different way of doing things. And then I remind myself of the positive sides of my work. Because when you go through the downs, you go through even higher ups. That way, you experience the entire spectrum of life. It’s not mainstream boredom, a life without real emotions, it’s much much more. It needs just a little confidence. No matter if I’m sharing cookies as Santa or just stand at the river and stare onto the water, it needs so less. But in our performance-oriented society, it’s different values that count. Most of the time, those things that are important in life are the things that you can’t sell that well. And if they don’t bring any profit, why should you do them? In such situations you find yourself thinking: Why do I do what I do if it doesn’t bring me any profit?

But isn’t that what makes a real dreamer? To follow your dream, no matter which obstacles appear along the way?

Definately. But at the same time it’s a huge challenge. Because you often find yourself in a situation of failure. But you need to stand up again and keep on going. And make yourself aware of the fact that you are in a very privileged situation. Make yourself aware of the fact that you drink clean water, wear clothes and people don’t wear weapons on the street. That’s the challenge.

When I look around me, for example in a supermarket, I rarely see happy faces, though we apparently have everything we need. And when I see that, it motivates me to never be satisfied with the status quo. That would feel as if I would deny myself.

Another risk is that people will think: He’s always happy, he must have a great life. They don’t see the downsides, the hard work, the bad moments. Then you hear things like: “It must be great to live your life”. And you think to yourself: I doubt that. The problem is, that we tend to hide the negative sides in our society. So if somebody feels really bad, he just sees the people who are seemingly happy and thinks everyone is happy while he’s the only person who has a down. We need to develop that confidence that it’s OK to have bad moments during the development of our dreams. Think about how Jeff Bezos must have felt when he was cooking Burgers at Mc Donald’s. Do you think he had the awareness he has today back then? I think this fear of such moments comes from how we were raised. Most of us were not taught to take much risk in life.

How do you recognize that somebody is really bent on achieving his dream?

What I find very exciting is, that the dreams of people who come to us often break within a few moments, after you ask a few in-depth questions. After that, the process of questioning begins. What do I really want to do in life? Is this dream really what I want to do or only a thing I wanted to do to get love and respect? And then the magic happens. They feel the clearliness. Because when you start thinking about what you really want to do in life, you often start to feel fear. Because it means to take a big step in life. But once they take this step, you can see it in their eyes. You can simply see it. You can feel if somebody is really dying for his dream.

Often people tend to use money as an excuse for not fully commiting to their dreams…

My advice for that is to reflect about the thoughts that are linked with money in your brain. How did you learn to know the energy of money? Which situations did you experience around money? When I thought about this 10 years ago, I would have been happy to make it for one, maybe 1-1/2 years. If somebody would have told me that at the end of the year 2013 I would only just make it. That I’d quit my building loan, my life insurance and finally give my house in pawn. I would have never believed him. But I feel that this basic trust in life nurtures. It’s like releasing from everything that seemed to give you security. And if you then see what can happen without much money. What you think how much money you need at the beginning and how much you really need at the end. For people who work on their dreams with full passion and commitment, money is never an issue. It’s just an excuse that you sometimes use when times are not so good. It’s an excellent excuse in our modern society. What would Mandela have said? Or Gandhi? Did they say: I can’t do it, I don’t have a budget?

“INNOVATION OFTEN STARTS WITH A LACK OF RESOURCES.”

It’s just our rational thinking that tells us that money is the issue when times are not easy. Innovation often starts with a lack of resources. It makes you find new ways that need way less effort. You learn to save resources, make more sustainable decisions and act more efficient. And that is actually very positive, it will help you later on. If you managed to reach your goals with less resources, you will be able to achieve big things if you once have the resources. And you will still make sustainable decisions and be efficient. I see this pattern of behaviour often with people who have dreams that impact on many more people than just themselves. When I see their shining eyes and how they take one step after another and stand up again each and every time. Such people never give up. That’s pure energy.

When I ask myself what keeps me going, it’s the question: “What will I tell my children in 20 years if I don’t start acting now?”. “What are we all waiting for?”. Are we waiting for politics to come up with the solutions? That’s an illusion. To hand this planet over to my children with the knowledge that I did everything I could to make it a better place for them, that’s what drives me.

And it shows me the importance of great mentors that challenge you to go for big. And there are some of them in my life, my wife, my partners, all people that believe in me, maybe my children being the greatest. They teach me to look at things like a child. To think without limits. An ability that has mostly been killed by our system. For me, to know that they believe in what I do is worth more than any money in the world. When I think about that, I am just thankful for what I got to do. And for that feeling, you are ready to accept things that are far outside your comfort zone.

Thanks for the interview.

Your dream works.

Additional information:

DreamAcademia was founded in 2007 by Harald Katzenschläger and Hermann Gams. Their first project was to help a 12 year old ice hockey player with his dream of attending an international hockey school in Canada. Until today they helped to develop a big number of dreamas, one supporting the leading members of 2013  Solar Decathlon winners Gregor Pils and Andreas Claus Schnetzer from Team Austria. In 2009 they organized the first TEDx-Conference in Austria, TEDxPannonia which will occur for the 4th time in 2014. Currently they work on their vision “Dreamicon Valley”.

The post Harald Katzenschläger quit his job to become a dream developer appeared first on DREAMA TV.

So we met a true anarchist. What comes in your mind, when you think about anarchists? Stone throwing, black wearing trouble seekers? Spittin´, stinkin´ sittin´drunk punks in the streets asking for your change? You´re completely wrong. Get over it. Ladies and gentlemen, we proudly present: Jon Gnarr! Comedian, anarchist, author, punk musician and the former mayor of Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital.

Before Gnarr and his friends from the “Best Party” promised free towels for everyone, a polar bear named Björk for the local zoo, an entertainment park for the poor, where the unemployed could stroke Goofy and that they won´t keep any promise.

And the people of Reykjavik elected them. What a shock, even for Gnarr. And in the four years of their legacy they kept their promise. No  polar bear, no funpark, no towels. Instead they erased the brutal amount of public debt, brought the electricity company which was about to ruin the city back to reasonable behaviour and drove the conservative people in the parliament crazy with their gandhi-style way of politics.

And when it comes to the peolpe of Iceland, Gnarr would be still sitting behind a mahagony desk and deciding how to bring the city to the next level. Some want to see him as their president. But Gnarr resigned just before an almost certain re-election. Just because he thought that the best way to fuck the system is to go shortly after the greatest victory. So we met him in Vienna for an interesting talk about fucking peoples heads with bright humour, true expertise and a huge amount of craziness.

So, feel free to meet a man with an extraordinary laughter, a sharp-shaved skin and a big tatoo of the British punkband “Crass” on his lower arm.

INTERVIEW

Do you still feel as an anarchist after four years in a mayors office?

Absolutely. I’ve never doubted my anarchist believe, my anarchist conviction. People have different opinions and ideas about the word. And the word “anarchism” is quite stigmatized. It’s like the word “god”. If you ask ten people about the meaning, you get ten different answers. I try to liberate the thought from the word, the feeling from the word. As an example: In Iceland, there is no McDonald’s. I have five children. Every time I take my children to a foreign country, they ask me: “Dad, is there a Mc Donald’s?”  I reply: “Yes. But you know, little fellas. It’s the most terrible place in the known universe. It’s everything that is horrible in this world.”

And you refuse to take them to this aweful place?

It´s the first thing we do when we leave Iceland. Fucking McDonald´s. And right after this we go to the next horrible place: Fucking Toys´r´us. But that´s the point about anarchism. I really don´t want to spend my money there or even be there, because their policy is in opposite to mine. But I would be an aweful dad, if I refuse to take them there.  Anarchism is liberal democracy. The five voices of my kids against mine. They are in majority. Anarchism is a form of democracy that respects the individual rights of everyone and the individual liberty of everyone. Anarchism is about getting the full flavour of life doing everything you want as long as you don’t harm other people with your behavior. Education is to tell my kids that we don´t go there every month and to explain them why this food isn´t healthy for them.

What is the main concept behind anarchism?

For me anarchism is about creativity and the search for a free will. Both are in a way childish, naive or utopian. And that’s something that we really need to understand in our society. Basic rights. Some people are very very upset, because the man next door may be gay. Get over it. It doesn’t have anything to do with you. As long as he’s not trying to have sex with you.

In difference to other anarchist’s concepts, like Kalle Lassn’s “Occupy Wall Street” you´re trying to change the system from the inside. Is this perhaps a new way of modern anarchism?

Anarchism has many faces. And one of the most effective faces is probably Christian anarchism. Christian anarchism, and the godfather of Christian anarchism is Leo Tolstoi and his theory “The kingdom of god is within you”. His ideas inspired the catholic workers movement in the US which has been beneficial to the labour movement in the US and in a whole other way it inspired Mahatma Gandhi. It became the philosophy of his movement and the revolution in India. The Christian terms change to Hinduian terms, but with the same elements and ideas. Anarchism is still strong in our societies, but it has other labels.

The idea of anarchism is too precious and too valuable to be kept away and now it has evolved somehow. What we see as anarchists, are very intelligent, creative people, who critizise everything in society through the security of their own home; from their laptops usually. I’m not sure if I totally agree if that’s anarchism. I think anarchists in general should be more concerned and more pro-active. They should maybe start and get more evolved.

Do you consider to become the president of Iceland?

Well I feel very honored that people really consider me as somebody that they would see as a president. It’s a little too early to say or even to decide if I could think of doing it, because I’m still recovering from the other job. I never was as tired as after the four years in the city council. To resign was like ending a relationship. We were kind of going in different directions. So it’s bittersweet. It’s like a break-up. And I would say, it’s too early for me to go into another relationship, because I need time with myself.

How will it go on with politics in Reykjavic after you decided to resign as a mayor?

Some people say: Things will never be the same. You changed the landscape of politics. On the other hand there are people who say that nothing has changed, because Jon Gnarr is a clown. We did everything different. Nobody knows how that will effect the future. If it will inspire people to do something completely different. I mean Björk completely changed the Icelandic music. Music will never be the same after Björk. So maybe “The Best Party” is the Björk of politics.

Why did you decide not to go for a second term as a mayor?

Well it was never my intention to go for a second term. And I was always very honest from the beginning. I had a countdown: How many days do I have left? It was something that I considered a concept with a beginning and an end. It was over for me. I did not really understand, it’s like writing a book. You know, you have this end. And people say: “Oh I liked this book so very much, why isn’t it longer?” Because it’s the fucking end of the book. Yeah, and my time in the mayor’s office was a good read, though.

Do you feel relieved now?

Yeah, I feel relieved now. But it’s mixed. It’s also sad. Because I got to know so many very good people and worked so close with people. For me it’s like any other project, that I’ve been working on like if I’m playing some character or something. When it’s over it’s a relief, but also a sadness. Sometimes you wish that you could go back and be in that production, but it’s over. So you have to find a new production, new project.

You didn’t expect to get elected. How was this transforming process from a comedian who can shit on everyone´s head to the most important person in politics right after the president?

It was a shock, really. For me it was like being put in a rocket and shot to Mars. Like walking around in a jungle. I had no idea where I was. But I compared with the situation of becoming a father for the first time. From being this guy, hanging around, having fun to the guy who suddenly had a kid. Of course that changes everything. “Oh, I think I go out tonight. Oh, no, I have a kid. Oh, I have to go to the store and buy formula, and feed the kid.” I know, I will never be the perfect father. There will never be a book with a photo of me on the cover that’s named “The perfect father”. But I really tried my best. I really tried to be honest and I tried to do an as good job as I possible can. I think the same applies when I was a mayor. I tried to do a good job, I tried to be polite, affordable, honest, I didn’t drive around in circles. I was an anarchist at that time, it didn’t change. You are leading in a way. And you’re encouraging, inspiring all the people. And that’s what I tried to do.

In those four years as a mayor, how was the communication with your colleagues? With people you didn´t choose as colleagues?

In the beginning we cooperated with the social democrats in the city council. And it went well. They were a bit afraid, but it went well. The leader of the democrats was told by everybody: “Don’t go into a cooperation with the best party. Because if it works out well, they will get all the credit.  And you won’t get any. If it won’t work, they will all blame you. So whatever you do, it’s a lose lose for you, and a win win for Jon Gnarr.” But they decided to do it anyhow. And I’m happy to say that it went very well and we have never had any serious disagreement, we have been able to discuss any problem that came up.

But there must have been people in the City council how literally hated you…

The opposition has been quite frank with their opinion on me. In their opinion, I’m just a populist clown and nothing more. They have been very brutal and disrespectful. And yeah, quite rude. We decided to deal with it in non-violent methods. That’s to say to return disrespect with respect and rudeness with politeness. And of course some people, especially from the right wing party, the Independent party, who were in the majority before, some of them were just shocked, upset and angry. And didn’t really understand what had happened and maybe were very much afraid of me and that explains why they were rude. But I say, you know, from this time as mayor I have not gained any enemies. I don’t consider anyone there an enemy of mine.

They will look back differently.

JG: If one of them attacked me really hard and told me that I am the worst major, selfish, arrogant and a shame for the whole country. I replied, that that is true. That I love myself and that I have to friendly oppose his position, that in my opinion, I´m a very good major and that I love him or her, too. Not in a sexual way. But that I´m proud of being in the same race like them.

We don’t have any philosophers, writers or scientist in our parliaments. Did we lose the culture of politics or was it never there?

Well we used to have it. There were more writers and poets and philosophers in politics. But for some reasons they all disappeared from politics and we now have the time of professional politicians. The professional politician is somebody who has never worked anything. Who has only been at school – usually a very good one – and is preferably a lawyer. They have found a way to be ahead in the game, to win the game, so from now on they are ruling. It’s complicated. That’s one of the reasons why I did what I did, I tried to involve creative people into politics. But then on the other hand you could say: What about the scientists? We used to have scientists in politics. Where are they gone now? Now scientists and politics are opposites. We have scientists say: “Well, we should worry about climate change.” And on the other hand we have politicians say: “Oh no, you are just lobbying, you are always lobbying for something.”

Could you imagine that the ideas of “The Best Party” take place in more parliaments in Europe or even in Brussels?

Yes, absolutely. Initiatives like “The Best party” are possible everywhere. All it needs are certain circumstances and bravery. In Slovenia, they have “The Strong Party” cleary inspired by us. I hear from people all over the world who are starting their version of the best party, which is usually a group of artists and creative people who want to bring about the change in their community, city or country. It’s an initiative that nobody had foreseen. And “The Best Party” is a way for the creative and the ordinary people to get more political.

But most of us hate politics…

Such a big part of democracy has been lost, especially through big business. Big business is controlling democracy and manipulating it. It is most visible in the US how big business is playing with politics. According to a 2013 study of a renowned American university, US can no longer be called a democracy. But democracy is for the people, by the people. “The Best Party” is the first little mammal in the world of the dinosaurs. The dinosaurs think: “We rule the world – you are little, meaningless and you cannot do anything.” But the time of the dinosaurs is over, the mammals are more cuddly and more nice and more intelligent.

Was the actual job more a show for you, an art concept, or was it politics?

I was playing, I don’t know which is more real, the mayor or me. Sometimes I feel the character is more real than me. So, I was very political, but also in another way, it was a character. It was in the role of the mayor. I don’t say that I’m not a politician, because I look down on politicians or disrespect politicians. It’s not because of that. It’s just because I’m simply not a politician. I don’t have what it takes to be a politician. I’m a creative person. I’m an artist. And that’s my true calling. Some people have a true calling for politics. They really enjoy politics. And that doesn’t mean that they are bad or cheap. I was just an outsider experiencing the world of politics from the inside. For me it was like playing a woman. And I like to play women. But I’m not a woman. And my advice to my friends and my children and people in general: Do whatever makes you happy. Do it. Whatever you do. Focus on the things that make you happy, because that’s what counts.

In retrospective: What would you claim as your biggest achievement?

If you consider the financial situation of Reykjavik in 2010 and compare it to now, it’s completely different. Reykjavik was in very heavy debt and especially the Reykjavik energy company. What the banks were to Iceland, the Reykjavik Energy was for Reykjavik with debts. And we put together an emergency rescue plan for Reykjavik Energy. And it was very ambitious and there were many people who didn’t believe in it and it was going according to plan. The plan goes until 2017. We managed to close the first budget in 2010 and present the budget. Some people will argue that “The Best Party” saved Reykjavik from bankruptcy. Reykjavik could have easily gone the same way as Detroit. We did something that hasn’t been done, that has been politically impossible to do. We finished a masterplan for the city and that’s just for anybody who knows city planning it’s a little book “the masterplan” which is a masterpiece of a book.

And your biggest failure?

When I look back at the time, there is nothing that I could find, that I’m disappointed with. I mean, there is no polar bear in the zoo, I was hoping to get a polar bear in the zoo. Preferably a female bear and name her Björk. In Björk’s honor. But there was nothing about the job. I think I did a very good job.

“WELL, MY DREAM WAS TO MAKE REYKJAVIK A MILITARY FREE CITY. THE FIRST MILITARY FREE CITY IN THE WORLD.”

Usually they had to dig into the dirt to succeed . Do you feel compromised or dirty as well after the years as a mayor?

No. Well, my dream was to make Reykjavik a military free city. The first military free city in the world. There is no army in Iceland, but we are a Nato country. I wanted to, and that’s maybe something I am disappointed we didn’t reach – I wanted all the military ships in the harbour, to go somewhere else. I made an agreement with the government, with the minister of interior, that there would never ever be any military traffic on the Reykjavik airport. And we signed this agreement, but they don’t keep it. They still have a military aircraft in the airport. They are very proud with that. That’s something I failed with. But I tried my best, maybe I was too polite, maybe I wasn’t aggressive enough. But I don’t feel like I have jeopardized my integrity or I have ever said something untruthful. I have nothing to hide or be ashamed of. I don’t regret anything. So now I don’t feel dirty or ashamed for anything. I feel I am more matured. I understand things better than I did before. It was very difficult task and it was difficult job, but I come out of it with hope, not with hope lost.

What kind of advantage does dilletantism have to the professionalism of politicians?

An unforeseen opportunity for change. And it’s very surprising. In the Reykjavik Energy company, representatives from all political parties were on the board of the company. So they take all the decisions. In times of who shall we blame, they will blame each other. “This decision was the worst decision and it was made when the social democrats were in the majority”. And then the social democrats will come up and will say “No, it started in ’86, when you were in majority” and so on… When had a unique opportunity to enter the field. Because we didn’t have anything to do with the situation. And as we did it without blaming anyone for the situation, that gave us the permission. In the tradition of the professional politics, there is something that is of political risk. You have to do something that´s unpopular and people will hate you and don´t vote you again. That´s a hard fact for politicians, because they want to be in politics.

I didn’t worry about it. I wanted to explain to the people. As a part of the emergency plan of the Reykjavik Energy we raised the service fees for hot water and electricity by 20% and that’s something that people were not happy about. But I told them taht we had to do it. And I think it was an advantage to not be a regular political party. I think traditional politicians would have tried to push on this and hide that somehow. And brush it under the mat.

Why do you think satirical parties have such success in these times?

It´s time for a political change. And comedy can be a bridge. We are going through a shift in the democratic world. The general interest in politics, especially in voting, has been going down. In the last elections in Reykjavik, only 20 % of the youngest group voted. Comedy is a way of getting them back on board. Politics has this image of being very serious and very boring. And that’s not the case. Politics is about how we organize our societies and our lives. it’s not boring at all. Politics is stigmatized. Comedy is an effective way to get messages to people. When you have political debates, most people say, that the discussions are very predictable, you know beforehand what they´re gonna say. And nobody is interested in it no more. But if you have a comedian in, there it may be unpredictable. It may be something that you show interest in. Comedy is an intelligence. It’s a part of what makes us human. Humor plays a key role. Humor is an essential intelligence of the future. Humor let us keep up the dialogue in politics and in our families. Humor even helps us to take our kids to Mc Donald´s.

Additional information:

Jon Gnarr published his first book Gnarr! How I Became the Mayor of a Large City in Iceland and Changed the World in 2014 and the first part of his autobiography “Indianer und Pirat: Kindheit eines begabten Störenfrieds in 2015.

Text: Bastian Kellhofer, Manuel Gruber

Special Thanks to: Aktionsradius Vienna.

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