About This Episode
When you know who you are, what your why is, and what you are willing to commit to, even when you don’t feel like it, you are more likely to succeed.
That’s the belief that Alejandro Navia, our guest for this episode of Brilliant Thoughts, a SUCCESS magazine podcast, holds dear.
Born and raised in Colombia, he is the co-founder and president of NFTNow, the largest and most trusted omnichannel Web3 media company in the NFT space whose mission is to empower creators of culture and bring NFT from niche to mainstream.
But before he was someone who stood out from the rest, there was a time when Alejandro felt like a misfit.
The Importance of Identity
Bullied in his early years at school, Alejandro had his fair share of fears—of being rejected and made an outcast. Just when he thought he finally had a way in to be “accepted” by the system, he was suspended from Harvard.
“And I felt that I was rubber-stamped at the time,” he shares. It took him years to realize that his identity and value are something that is from within, not attached to external things like the school you go to, or the job you have.
One of the factors that helped him learn to forgive and accept himself was his favorite book written by Robin Sharma called, The Leader Who Had No Title. “This book almost gave me permission… to live an authentic and powerful life without titles. And without the need to be glorified or put on stage,” Alejandro says.
Knowing who you are, taking ownership of your identity, and living an authentic life begin with building a relationship with yourself.
“Our words are incredibly powerful,” Alejandro shares. “Abracadabra—As I speak, I create. I'm a firm believer that I speak my reality. I speak things into reality.”
The stories we tell ourselves are important because they manifest. The language we use to tell our narratives affects the way we see ourselves, other people, and the world around us. When we change the narrative in a way that builds self-trust, we are able to accomplish things.
NFT, AI, and the Human Capacity
“Self-trust is the beginning of creation,” Alejandro says. When we watch sports, we know instinctively whether a shot is going to go through or not based on whether the athlete in question seems to doubt or trust in themselves.
In the rapidly growing and changing world of NFTs, where art and AI meet, self-trust plays a huge role in whether or not you’ll thrive or be swept away by the tide.
According to Alejandro, generative AI tools for content creation such as ChatGPT, DALL-E, Midjourney, and the like do not just disrupt NFTs, but also enhance it.
AI, he says, is “making it simple for ideas and ideation and creativity to foster in ways that haven’t been done.”
They are tools for human enhancement, and are “going to take care of all the monotonous things that we no longer need to do,” Alejandro adds.
Despite the leaps and bounds in terms of fluency and “human-likeness”, AI tools are still in their early stages and tend to be inaccurate. However, the more prompts we feed it, the more we train the AI tools to produce better content.
Even though they are created for our benefit, a lot of people feel a sense of unease, thinking that AI is going to replace people’s jobs. That’s why Alejandro believes that the challenge and opportunity that AI tech brings will lead to an identity crisis for mankind.
“We identify ourselves through our titles and through our jobs,” he says. “…The moment that AI replaces the mundane, low-level task and even maybe the middle management task—what’s going to happen to an individual who no longer has a job that is part of their identity?”
This is an opportunity for new mental health advocacies, and a new level of truth-finding that Alejandro says is “going to help… potentially unlock the next level of creativity for the human capacity.”
He believes that, based on history, AI has the potential to start a renaissance in human capacity and ingenuity. “But before that happens, we need to start addressing identity,” Alejandro adds. “We need to start letting people know who they are and empowering them to self-author.”
Journaling and Harmony
“Everyone, everywhere will tell you, you need to live a balanced life,” Alejandro shares. However, the most fulfilled, loving, and kind people in the world that he’s ever met are in harmony with themselves, not in balance with themselves.
Humans tend to separate themselves from nature, striving for balance and seemingly afraid to live their lives in extremes. But Alejandro disagrees with this mindset. “Extreme people get extreme results,” he says. “What most people confuse as balance is harmony.”
Changing the way you think isn’t easy, but it is achievable through constant self-reflection.
Alejandro is a firm believer in journaling and has kept many journals over the past 17 years. To him, journaling is not just self-reflection, but also an act of prayer, manifesting his goals and dreams through creating, self-checking, and constantly refining the way he thinks by journaling.
“I think journaling is an act of self-love,” Alejandro says. “[It] has been the most profound form of self-care and self-love that I've ever seen and I've ever experienced.”
Secrets to Startup Success
Choosing the right partners can be the difference between success and failure in starting a business. Self-assessment of your strengths and weaknesses is crucial to succeeding, as well as effective communication, honesty, and transparency.
Over the years, Alejandro has operated his business and personal life with five values:
- Create value
- Create the perception of greater value
- Honesty
- Transparency
- Follow through
Anyone can create value by themselves, but finding people who can create a perception of greater value with you is powerful. In the same way, honesty and transparency go hand-in-hand. “When you have someone who is both honest and transparent keep them close,” Alejandro says.
Lastly, you need to take action and follow through with what you say.
“If you can create value and create the perception of greater value by maintaining honesty and transparency and taking action who's going to stop you?” Alejandro adds.
Follow Alejandro Navia
Get in touch with Alejandro and stay up-to-date with his latest stuff online.
Twitter: @LuisANavia
Instagram: @alejandronavia_
Email: navia@nftnow.com
Website:
DISCLAIMER: The people interviewed are well-trained experts and highly skilled in their areas of practice. They take many safety precautions prior to attempting the activities described. The activities or research discussed in these podcasts should not be attempted without qualified supervision and training with professionals.
