Zacharias Siatris, a Greek software developer, lost 130 pounds over 1.5 years starting in May 2012 by refusing to quit. He argues technology should serve people, not control them, and credits Richard Branson's advice to say yes and learn on the job. His daily mantra: a Confucius quote about belief determining what's possible.
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All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Zacharias Siatras. He is from Greece and he is into technology and computer science. His main expertise is software development, and nowadays he is also interested in life coaching. So welcome to the show, man.
Thank you so much, Tyler Wagner Wagner, for inviting me to your great, like, Business Blast podcast. I really appreciate it, and I'm really looking forward to starting it.
Of course, man. Grateful to have you on. And the first question we ask on here, man, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Okay, well, I'll take you back in 2012, more specifically on May 15th. That was the day that I, you know, decided to change my life totally. To be honest, it was like a 180-degree change, and that is because I had to change the way that I was eating, you know, the eating habits. I had to start training and doing all those stuff. So the result was that I lost in about 1.5 years about 60 kilos. Well, that means that it's like 130 pounds more or less. The message that I would like to, to share, you know, with the people here is like I failed a lot of times, you know, I kept trying, like trying and trying all the time, but I didn't succeed. But because I persisted on that, luckily and fortunately, you know, I did it. I did it. So I'm really happy and, you know, it was like one of my greatest personal achievements that I've experienced up until now.
And then what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Well, as you mentioned also in the introduction, I'm a software developer, so I'm into technology. I would like to say that, you know, technology is something that helps us in our everyday lives, like either at work or at home or whatever. But I would like to say that humans must be above technology and have control of it. We must not like forget the human factor in all these applications and social media and computers and all this stuff. I would say that I really want to, you know, like a new era where people like stay in touch with them in personal. And they don't like communicate all the time with their mobile phones or with the messengers and all those stuff. So we must not like replace the feelings and the communication we have as human beings, you know.
No, absolutely, man. I could not agree more. I think that's kind of one of the problems that's happening is people are getting so caught up in it that they're forgetting the other needs that we as humans have. Exactly. Yeah. So I agree. So the next one is, what is your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.
Well, I would say that, you know, I want to see like people to, you know, like dare to go out of the safety zone. It's like maybe if I may, like out of our expertise zone. You know, sometimes we are afraid of taking decisions of, you know, like learning something new or working in a new environment, etc. But I would like to mention Richard Branson, who said a really nice quote, and he said, if somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you're not sure you can do it, you know, just say yes. Then later on you will learn how to do it. So this is kind of my motto and my overall advice that I would give to everyone. So dare to do things and, you know, just get out of your comfort zone. That's it. That's it.
And then if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Um, well, it's kind of tricky, uh, but I would choose like, you know, to, to give a piece of advice like You know, Zach, it's like, you know, not only to Zach but also to people out there, but that you have to say no to people that don't deserve your time. I mean, helping people is one of the greatest and most important things in our lives, you know, it's a thing that makes us feel fulfilled, but we shouldn't waste our time and especially our energy on people that just bring negativity and more or less they won't appreciate your help. So try to be a helpful man, you know, try to help others, but do it to the people that deserve it and they will appreciate it. That's my piece of advice, yeah.
And then in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
Well, I would like to just say a phrase first that, you know, everyone is like, we know all the things, but we are living in an over-consuming era like a period where people have really greed, you know, really hunger for buying things more and more all over the time. And to be honest, by the way, today is Black Friday. That's a hell of a coincidence. Yeah. So yeah, I would say that, you know, buying all these things and overconsumption is just the case, like for a short time, you know, temporary happiness. So I would say that the key to the true happiness lies in giving and like giving and helping people, you know, generally, and of course making them happy. And there is nothing better than giving, you know, so you can feel, as I mentioned before, like fulfilled, you know, you will feel happy by helping other people and making them happy, you know.
No, I could not agree more, man. I think what I found as the more and more I work, the more I serve and the more I give, the more it comes back around, but it's not in such a direct way. It just naturally happens. And it's just like this consistent win-win relationship. That's—
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah. So if you can like— and it's hard when we're younger, I think, because when we're younger, we just view jobs as being transactional. But if you can get out of the transactional mindset and just provide as much value as possible, you know, usually things work out pretty well.
That's true. That's true. Totally agree with you, buddy.
So then the next one I got for you is what is the best book that you've read and what's the number one thing you learned from that?
Well, another tricky question. So I will be honest with you. I'm not going to characterize myself as a book lover or something like that, even though I've read some, some like tens of books during my lifetime. But asking me like to say specific book, I would choose "The Secret." It's one of the books that helped me and kept me motivated during my life. It's about like, it's based on, let me say like, a belief of the law of attraction. So it says and describes that the way you think will result in the experience that you are about to live. And of course it will change your life, so that is that as soon as you think in a positive way, for example, all the things that may come to you, even this is an obstacle, or even if it's a hard time, you are going to face it, and in the end you are going to face it in a positive way. So as soon as you think of it, you, you know, the results will be the same. So it's one of the books that Uh, it taught me to, to think of that way. And as soon as I want to achieve something, I have to put it in my mind and, you know, to, to complete it, you know, to, in order to achieve it, I have to put it first in my, in my mind. So it was a fantastic book, really. So I suggest everyone out there to, uh, you know, to, to study it, you know, to, to take it.
And then what is your favorite quote and why?
Alright, well, even though I mentioned the Richard Branson's one, but I would like to mention another one, if I may. I would choose one from Confucius, and the quote says, "He who says he can, and he who says he can't, are both usually right." So, that's one of my motto, and to be honest, like, I have it in my desktop, on my desktop, sorry, of my computer so I can, you know, look at it every day and keep being motivated, you know?
Yes, man. Dude, I love that quote. Well, thank you so much for coming on all the way from Greece, by the way. So the last one I got for you before we let you go is where can our audience best find you online?
All right. Well, I'm as a technology guy, you know, like I'm into social media generally. But the last couple of months I'm getting like, you know, overwhelmed by LinkedIn. So I would choose like LinkedIn. So, you know, our listeners like can connect with me on LinkedIn and they can find me just by my name. It's Zacharias Siatris. So they can, they can connect with me anytime and I will be more than glad to help them.
Perfect. Thanks again for coming on, man.
It was my— it's my— it's my— like, you know, I'm happy for having me on your podcast, and it's really, you know, I'm totally respectful about that, and I really appreciate the fact that you invited me to your Business Blast podcast, and I'm really looking forward, of course, to, you know, having a chat with you again.
Yes, of course, man. I look forward to it as well, and I definitely got to get out there to Greece.
You have to, you know, it's one of the best and beautiful countries maybe all over the world. I don't know. You have to say, you know, and review it. So I'll be looking forward to it.
Awesome, man. Thank you again.
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