Beginning

It was a long time ago when I first realized that if I didn’t do something about myself, my future wouldn’t look too promising. I was working in a glass factory at the time, where bottles were produced. Among many types, there were also beer bottles, from which you drink the beer from the supermarket. I was trained as a car mechanic. As a conceited adolescent, I thought it would be the right profession for me. And so, with a Car mechanic certificate and no idea of what I really wanted to do in life, I was standing there in the factory at a machine that produced one bottle after another non-stop. It was an unattractive environment. The unbearable heat emanating from the glowing molten glass and the stench of lubricant, which had to be used every ten minutes, gave people a hard time. And because of the noise, I had to wear earplugs in my ears all the time. One day, while standing at machine 32, I asked a colleague how long he had been working there. He casually, maybe with only a slight hint of pride, said that he would be there for twenty-nine years next year. I stood there and stared motionlessly. It was at that moment when everything seemed to stop for a millisecond. Such a timeless state in which nothing is, but from which something is born. In my case, it was a question:

“Can you imagine working in this environment for another thirty years?”

As soon as I uttered the question, I broke out in a sweat. And if I hadn’t already been sweating from the heat, I would have said that I was sweating all over my body. Something moved in me then, a kind of tsunami wave caused by the terrifying idea of spending more years in that inhospitable environment of hot, flowing glass.

So I started thinking about the future a little differently.

It was precisely that unacceptable idea that set things in motion. It wasn’t positive motivation. I didn’t know what I wanted, where to go, what to do. But what I was sure of was that I definitely didn’t want to stay in that factory. And so, negative motivation became the primary driver of my self-development - I really don’t want this, I don’t want to live like this, I don’t want to do this.
I quickly realized that my Car mechanic certification wouldn’t be enough to change my job. It was necessary to create a situation in which I would have more opportunities. However, it was clear to me that if I wanted more choices, I had to ask myself “What do I offer?”. My answer didn’t make me happy. But at least I realized that I needed to finish high school. And so, a plan began to form. I decided to finish my education. I found a a course in a private school in Prague which I had to pay for. As a machine operator, I didn’t earn much money at the time, so I had to plan my expenses carefully and patiently. I learned to make budgets. Then nothing would stop me from going to Prague and studying.

At the same time, I started attending English courses offered for free by my employer. There were two levels available. Because I started to enjoy English a lot, I arranged to attend both levels. I also started to learn English intensively at home. Soon, I realized that I could learn much more at home than in the courses at work. So, I stopped attending them. I realized that I was a self-taught type. But even a self-taught person needs a teacher to have a proper conversation. So I found Lenka. A teacher who prepared me for my first FCE English certificate, which I received in 2002, a year before completing my high school education.

New opportunity

After obtaining my First Certificate in English (FCE), a new opportunity presented itself, and I started teaching English. It still seems strange to me how a person gets into a profession they have never thought of doing. In 2003, I left the factory and set out to gain new experiences as an English teacher. Soon, I also completed my high school education. And a new stage of my professional life began, along with a lot of other work.

The beginning was intense and great.

I really enjoyed teaching. After the first year, I took on additional administrative tasks. There was so much new to learn. The transition from the factory to the classroom was a challenge, but my passion for learning new things drove me forward. In 2005, I started studying Business Economics at the University of West Bohemia. However, after three semesters, I decided that it wasn’t the right course for me, and I stopped. However, I continued to improve my English, and in 2007, I obtained my second CAE certificate. After prematurely ending my studies at the University of West Bohemia, there was a sort of vacuum, which I filled with the French language and obtained DELF B1 certificate in 2008. And because I enjoyed it so much, I continued and obtained DELF B2 certificate in the following year, 2009. In 2010, I also managed to obtain a third CPE English certificate. Then, I decided to study Humanities at the Faculty of Humanities at Charles University. This study was more in line with my interests at the time. Entering the field of education further awakened my interest in psychology and philosophy. I completed my studies in 2013. However, distance learning while working takes its toll. And I needed to take a break from self-education.

Creative period 2014–2018

After finishing my studies, I felt a strong need to create something on my own. So I started creating audio exercises for English. First, part 1, then part 2. For the second part, I added 1,000 sentences for translation, all with audio recordings. I also created 100 regular verbs in sentences and 200 irregular verbs in sentences. It was quite demanding because I had to record everything, edit it correctly, and check it many times. I learned a lot of things during this time, such as precision, planning, patience, and discipline. It was a pleasant period, and I enjoyed the creative process. In 2018, my attention shifted to audiovisual technology. I started a YouTube channel and began making videos about English. It’s interesting to see how much you can learn when you start turning your ideas into practice. You go from getting used to standing in front of the camera, being able to speak to it, ensuring quality image and audio, editing to finally publishing the final product. For educational videos, it’s important to create a script and a reasonable structure so that the video makes sense to the viewer. It’s a very interesting creative process.

Next wave of  self-development

In 2019, I felt the need to pursue further education and enrolled in a course of professional coaching, followed by an MBA course in Soft skills. I completed the course in December 2019. However, the unpredictable year of 2020 caused some delays in my MBA studies. I completed my MBA in May 2021. A few months later, I received an offer out of the blue to participate in an international project as a Deployment Lead for the implementation of SAP S/4HANA.
Although it was only a few months of work, I couldn’t refuse it. It was a big company and a real challenge, as well as an opportunity to try something new. So, I entered the world of IT and project management. I already knew how to work with people. What was new was the IT world and project management, and with that came an opportunity to acquire and develop new skills.
After ten months of work, the company offered me further cooperation, and I accepted. So, I got into Business Change Management and continued to learn. First, I obtained the PRINCE2 Practitioner Project Management certification, which helped me understand all the processes I was part of. Then I obtained the Business Continuity Manager and Change management certifications. For the ITSM I acquired ITIL4 Foundation and at the end of 2023, ITIL4 Drive Stakeholder Value certification. All of this helps me understand existing processes and, most importantly, it helps me familiarize myself with Best Practices in Project and IT Service Management. I am part of a large team and program where I have great opportunities to gain additional skills and develop my potential, and that’s great. In February 2024, I am going to finish my MBA Business Analytics course and continue to learn more about Business and Data Analysis.

Self-awareness, self-knowing

In self-development and self-education, there is always a process of self-awareness that contributes to self-knowing. My experience is that real self-development cannot be done without it. Self-awareness is a necessary condition for the maturation and development of an adult individual. If this process is consciously or unconsciously blocked, it significantly reduces the growth potential. In the text above, I omitted this part. I keep it to myself. It is a gradual and thorough process of penetrating the depths of a human being and asking an infinite number of existential questions.