Category: Motivation

Tomorrow is always a new day

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This is the last Monday of the year… Some of you had a good year, some had a great one and some just didn’t. Either way, having a wonderful year is always about the combination of ups and downs, sometimes you lose someone special in your life and sometimes you gain someone who simply change your life, sometimes your career get a lifting and sometimes it just goes backwards…

At the end of the year, the curtain doesn’t close and that would be it… It just ends a chapter and starts another one, and it’s up to us to make it a sequel, a new beginning or a prequel to our life. And whether we liked it or not, the next day will come and the time we have or haven’t spent wisely is still gone to be replaced by another… And we will be given a chance… To live again for one more day.

This end-of-year Monday tip, is to always look at the brighter side of things… Even a broken clock is right twice per day… So make the most of your day, and remember if things didn’t go as planned, Tomorrow is a new day… always!

Happy new year & Enjoy your Week!

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Samer Chidiac

Samer Chidiac is a Sr. Strategist, Author & an International Innovation Expert.

The Monday Tip Weekly blog is part of the “Influencing the Life of Others” project

Be yourself no matter what they say

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When you are young, it seems that you have a combination of shyness and a thirst for motivation that makes you look for it in everywhere you can find it. It doesn’t really matter how  difficult your life really is, it can be a low grade in school or to wait for a defining moment in life… Motivation can come from anyplace… In my case, it came from Music, Although I didn’t understand the lyrics that deeply back then, but the song “Englishman in New York” had a very special effect in me.

Gentleness, sobriety are rare in this society… At night a candle’s brighter than the sun

Confront your enemies, avoid them when you can… A gentleman will walk but never run

So when you’re young is when the most you feel a little helpless when it comes to the social circle, you get upset when you get ignored or bullied or then when you start questioning life and existence for maybe the first time.

Over the years after, you grow up and your character and personality become more mature but that doesn’t mean that they become  immune to what others think of you or treat you but somehow, you become more resilient to their words, to their behavior and finally to their opinion.

This week’s tip is backdated to your childhood, when you thought of yourself that it was you, YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE THE PROBLEM, while there weren’t any problems at all. Be yourself no matter what they say!

It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile. Be yourself no matter what they say

~Englishman in New York | Sting

Have you had trust issues? did you get disappointed from a close friend? did you treat someone in a way that made you regret it afterwards?

All you need to do is remember that you’ve done was you’ve done because you’re YOU… and if things had to be done all over again… You’d do the same things and accept getting the same results… because what you’ve done, the way you acted was a simple declaration of your values and an aspiration to who you wanted to be.

Enjoy your Week!

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Samer Chidiac

Samer Chidiac is a Sr. Strategist, Author & an International Innovation Expert.

The Monday Tip Weekly blog is part of the “Influencing the Life of Others” project

Be the hero of your own story!

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For so many, Heroes are those who save lives and fight evil, posse extra-ordinary powers and in times of bad circumstances they are those who make it happen for the sake of others; For me, a Hero is someone who inspire others in times when they need inspiration the most, simply by doing what he or she does on a regular basis, it’s their life story that give value to the rest. Your father can be a Hero to you, your manager, your teacher and of course when you run out of options, there’s always BATMAN and SUPERMAN 😛

Heroes represent the best of ourselves, respecting that we are human beings. A hero can be anyone from Gandhi to your classroom teacher, anyone who can show courage when faced with a problem. A hero is someone who is willing to help others in his or her best capacity.

~Ricky Martin

Now a Hero is not a person, it’s a role played in a story… it could be a science-fiction story filled with spaceships and lasers, and it could be a real story of a single mother struggling to balance between her life, her dreams and her only child. either way, the Hero plays the main character in a story / movie, he or she is the center of attention and where everyone wants to be them :)… And at the end, he or she is the one to be remembered when everything is over, probably not the secondary actors and certainly not the 3rd level actors…

This week’s tip, is for those who don’t play the major role in their own story, who are passive to events, and are not being proactive towards their future, but rather reactive… When big opportunities arise, they are the supporting actors, and when the light is out… They were soon forgotten.

Once my sister told me (She’s the one who appears in the main post picture btw),  that failure is a word that we invented, along with every other word in the dictionary, and it’s up to us to write our own story, choosing our own words; at that time she was an average biology teacher, and later on that year, she won the prize of Innovative Teacher on a national level, then on the regional level and reached to take 3rd place among 250,000 other teachers world wide. She wrote her story, the way she wanted…

Failure is a word that we invented, along with every other word in the dictionary, and it’s up to us to write our own story, choosing our own words. ~Yusser Chidiac

So my tip to you this week, don’t be passive, you only live once, and your life is what you make out of it… Just think of yourself as the MOVIE Star of your own Story… Try and get your self an Oscar!

Enjoy your Week!

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Samer Chidiac

Samer Chidiac is a Sr. Strategist, Author & an International Innovation Expert.

The Monday Tip Weekly blog is part of the “Influencing the Life of Others” project

How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?

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December is a very special month for me, it’s the month when I first saw the light, about 35 years ago!

Unfortunately, and generally speaking, people would feel MORE the reality around them via pain, sorrow and unfortunate incidents…  If you take a look at any movie, where the actor is surprised and is in a state not believing his or her eyes, it’s always that they would ask another person to PINCH them so they are confident they are not dreaming 🙂 … Right?

When you fall in love with someone and you lose that person, you most of the time need to have a huge GRIEF in order to feel that you Loved them that much?

When your Birthday is finally there, you would start by counting the days, months and years and maybe reflect on the good, the bad and the ugly. And ask yourself, what’s next? If you’re one of the lucky ones who close their eyes while blowing off the candles surrounded by their loved ones and feeling completely satisfied with their life, then you’re applying this week’s tip without reading it…. Cause the past statement you just read is as subjective as it gets 🙂

Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!
~ Dr. Seuss

The Thing is that, we generally feel “old” or “older” with the number of unfortunate incidents we’ve survived in our life, so you may look at a 20 years old, and would think of him as if he was 40 due to lots of experience he had to pass through, yet you may look at a 70 years old and feel he’s still 45 due to the energy and LIFE he still has?

Does the above ring a bell for you? How Old are you? How old would you BE if you didn’t know how old you are?

This week’s tip is about you, and how YOU should value the life in your days, and not the days in your life…

You can start by asking yourself:

  • When was the last time I did something for the first time?
  • If today was my last day, how would I want to spend it?
  • AM I Content with my life?
  • What did I learn recently?
  • Do I bare grudges against anyone?
  • Have I expressed my love towards family and friends?
  • Am I spending quality time with those who matters?
  • Do you remember someone you hated 10 years ago? does it matter now?
  • …

If you do make asking yourself the right questions about life every once and a while, you’d be reaching your birthday in a different state of mind… so don’t just count your years, make your years count!

Don’t just count your years, make your years count.
~George Meredith

Have a nice week!
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Samer Chidiac

Samer Chidiac is a Sr. Strategist, Author & an International Innovation Expert.

The Monday Tip Weekly blog is part of the “Influencing the Life of Others” project

The bigger they are, the harder they fall

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This week’s tip is double sided 🙂

The first side is been said to emphasize that the more important or powerful a person is, the more difficult it is for them when they lose their power or importance

In his TED Talk about What Physics can teach us about Marketing, Dan Cobley, speaks about how brands can survive here’s an extract to read

So, physics and marketing. We’ll start with something very simple — Newton’s Law: “The force equals mass times acceleration.” …  But if we rearrange this formula quickly, we can get to acceleration equals force over mass, which means that for a larger particle — a larger mass — it requires more force to change its direction. It’s the same with brands: the more massive a brand, the more baggage it has, the more force is needed to change its positioning. And that’s one of the reasons why Arthur Andersen chose to launch Accenture rather than try to persuade the world that Andersen’s could stand for something other than accountancy. It explains why Hoover found it very difficult to persuade the world that it was more than vacuum cleaners, and why companies like Unilever and P&G keep brands separate, like Ariel and Pringles and Dove rather than having one giant parent brand. So the physics is that the bigger the mass of an object the more force is needed to change its direction. The marketing is, the bigger a brand, the more difficult it is to reposition it. So think about a portfolio of brands or maybe new brands for new ventures.

The Double Side comes from the same quote meant in the opposite direction, with an example from the great battle between David and Goliath.

Goliath, the champion of the Philistines, versus David, taking only his sling and five stones from a brook.

David and Goliath

David and Goliath confront each other, Goliath with his armor and shield, David with his staff and sling. David hurls a stone from his sling with all his might and hits Goliath in the center of his forehead, Goliath falls on his face to the ground, and David cuts off his head.

So the tip of this week, is simply to understand that becoming “Big” is never about the size, but about the impact that you or your brand can give to the world, so build yourself to become impact-full and even if your size is small now, you can defeat the giants by being focused and dedicated to your goals.

Have a Nice Week!

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Samer Chidiac

Samer Chidiac is a Sr. Strategist, Author & an International Innovation Expert.

The Monday Tip Weekly blog is part of the “Influencing the Life of Others” project

The Night is darkest before the dawn

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Let’s face the truth on something, at some points in time, we can be in a situation where our life seems to be falling apart… Problem after Problem, issue after issue… From personal to private all the way to social and professional… Nothing seems to work!

I have always had the same conversation with different variation on the same topic; Someone would be talking to me about how life is hard on him or her and starts listing the negative things happening in their life. And I would almost always bring out the same point:

“That’s not a big deal… You know why… Because REAL problems in Life are only health related issues… The rest is just a day-to-day issue to deal with” 

 You see, the well-being of you and your loved ones, is far more important than issues you may have in your school, workplace, in your social space or even in your house.

And I started realizing that whenever I (or practically anyone of us) would meet a dear friend, I would skim through a summary of the highlights in like 5 minutes and then start listing all the negative issues facing my life in like 25 minutes. But again 5-6 years later, If I were to recall a flashback to the same conversation, I realize that I had to pass through some dark times, to reach and enjoy the sunlight!

Just  when the caterpillar though the world was over, it became a butterfly

Funny enough, that Some of the really REALLY bad thing that happened to me at some points in time, worked great for me later on… If I HAVEN’T have had passed through these, I wouldn’t have taken some life changing decisions and I wouldn’t have reached to were I am right now… and Trust me I’m pretty happy with that 🙂

So for this Week, remember that whenever things gets darker and darker… The Darkest will be just before the Dawn…

Enjoy your Week!

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Image from the Movie “”Batman: The Dark Night

Samer Chidiac

Samer Chidiac is a Sr. Strategist, Author & an International Innovation Expert.

The Monday Tip Weekly blog is part of the “Influencing the Life of Others” project

The More you Sweat in Peace, The Less you Bleed in War

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While Growing up,  I used to rely a lot on Famous Quotes to bring my spirit up and keep me motivated to dream big while there were lots of reasons for not to.

One of these quotes was an ancient Chinese Proverb that goes like this

The More you Sweat in Peace, The Less you Bleed in War

This week’s tip would mean different things to different people, but there’s a common truth that I heard about famous musicians which distinguishes  between how amateurs and professionals approach practicing; Amateurs Practice Until They Get It Right; Professionals Practice Until They Can’t Get It Wrong. And in his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell (who interviewed famous figures like Bill Gates on the topic) repeatedly mentions the “10,000-Hour Rule”, claiming that the key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours.

Bill Gates

So if you dream to become a Future leader, you need to start practicing leadership skills and qualities while you’re still an amateur… at some points in time, some people will laugh at you, even your close friends will find you weird. But at a certain point, you’ll get your shot and guess what? you’ve practiced all your life for it and you’ll be more than ready!

Amateurs Practice Until They Get It Right; Professionals Practice Until They Can’t Get It Wrong

So our tip for the week is simple, start practicing when it doesn’t matter… So you get it Right when it Does.

Enjoy your Week 🙂 !

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Image courtesy of JJ Harrison /  Canberra Capitals vs Logan Thunder, Australian Institute of Sport Training Hall, Canberra, Australia

Samer Chidiac

Samer Chidiac is a Sr. Strategist, Author & an International Innovation Expert.

The Monday Tip Weekly blog is part of the “Influencing the Life of Others” project

Take the time to look outside while the train is moving

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I started writing this post while I was taking the train from Casablanca to Rabat. I had already spent an 8+ hour’s flight earlier that day from Qatar to Morocco and where something fascinating happened to me.

a view from above the clouds

For someone who travels as much as I do, you get used to particularly all the parts of the experience, nothing is as fascinating anymore. The safety procedures on the plane, the in-flight entertainment, “the annoying passengers”, the cute and adorable kids who makes your life worth that one moment when they smile at you, and the other small devils who make you want to stop wanting to have kids.

Irrespective of all the parts that collectively bring up your travel experience. There’s one element in particular I’d like to pause and reflect on this week, which is the world outside of your car, metro, train or plane.

The reason of the introduction is simply to highlight those of us who look, but don’t see… Who stare but don’t enjoy… Who watch but don’t enjoy, who can be so captivated into “capturing the moment” and worrying that the beautiful moment would be better captured on the phone / camera rather than in the memory. and Guess what, at some points I’m guilty of these charges. I’m used to the fact to use my mobile to capture great moments… That Later on I admire the image  but the experience itself doesn’t mean much to me. 

This time, and while the plane was going down to the beautiful Casablanca, we were still up in the sky… Above the clouds, and as usual, I held my phone and started taking photos… Worrying about how to capture a good shot to post online when an adorable baby girl who was sitting in the seat in front of me started “playing” a small game with me. She was probably little more than 1 year old, she kept on standing on her seat, look at me and smile then disappear, to reappear again in about 10 seconds.

This annoying, yet VERY adorable gesture, kept me from well positioning my phone towards the window, so I kept playing with the baby girl, (simply smiling and shading my eyes away every time was enough), and then I noticed her mother admiring her daughter… and she looked back at me and told me: “This is the best time of my life”.

The mother was not trying to capture that moment on a technological device, fearing that it will be forgotten. But instead she was not wasting a second of Enjoying this priceless moment. And that got me thinking…

I set my phone away, and tried to enjoy the view… and believe it or not… Those 10 minutes of admiring the clouds that resembled to snow mountains while the plane is so close to them is still vivid in my head than probably 100 other photos in my phone of the same topic.

So the tip for this week is as follow, from time to time, take some time to relax and look outside… Look, See and Feel  the moment… Because what makes a priceless moment will always, that associated feeling… and Not the quality of the captured photo.

Have a nice week!

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Samer Chidiac

Samer Chidiac is a Sr. Strategist, Author & an International Innovation Expert.

The Monday Tip Weekly blog is part of the “Influencing the Life of Others” project

Live everyday with No Regrets, So you don’t regret it one day!

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When I was studying Behavioral Economics, I read a very interesting analogy, about how “human” are different from “ECONs”  here’s how it goes:

Econs are mythical creatures that live on the pages of economics textbooks. They’re very smart, they can look forward infinitely, they can compute something called utility of objects, and they make perfectly rational choices.

Econs don’t care about emotions because they don’t have any. Econs have the ability of a supercomputer to make fairly complex computations in the snap of a finger. Human beings are people like you and me– very different. We’re different because we’re emotional. We fall in love, we sometimes do silly things, regret our choices, and sometimes we choose things just because, which is a concept that Econs would never understand. Human beings are impulsive. Human beings tend to make decisions on the spur of the moment. Human beings sometimes do things because other people would like them to do things. Human beings donate to charity. Human beings are also very forward-looking at some points in time, but often care only about the present.

So as the sum of us being Human, with all what was mentioned above, I want to concentrate this week’s tip on how to Live with NO Regrets.

Live Everyday with No Regrets, So you don’t Regret it on day ~ Samer Chidiac

I’m going to leave you with this small true story that happened with me:

Between the year 2005 & 2006  I was traveling locally in the US; Those who travel a lot can tell you that after a while, all the flights and travels will start to look the same… Same people, same faces, same issues with barely few details that change. that’s why I didn’t expect that flight to be any different.

The only difference this time was that I had the FLU, and although this might seem OK on a regular day, it’s NOT when you’re flying.

When the plane started to board, my head started to become more and more HEAVY…

I went to wash my face, and I saw it bleeding, I got terrified from the scene and even blood was coming out from my ears…

At that moment, I knew that I might be suffering from an internal bleeding and that if that was right… This would be my LAST trip.

Depressed… I went back to my seat, and placed my head on the window and started thinking… (I’m on a Plane, there’s almost NOTHING I could do…)

They tell you that when you become close to Death, you start thinking of Life… They are right… My Life was spinning in my head as a Video…

No Matter what you may think I was thinking… I wasn’t thinking about how much TV I watched, or how many songs I memorized; How many long hours I spent in the office… I was just thinking about the People who mattered most to me.

When was the last time I saw my parent? what’s the last sentence I said to them? did I spend good time with my siblings? I recalled my friends 1-by-1 and asked my self was I the example of a good friend? did I actually stood by their side in good and bad times? I was a Manager then, I recalled my employees and wondered what would they say if they knew that I was gone…

It’s a BRUTAL feeling, to see your self helpless before your end, and the idea that kills you slowly was that you won’t be able to  stand before those people and Express to them How lucky you were to have them in your life… That their Love and Care, gave your Life a MEANING…

Just when everything seemed dark and heavy, I felt as if the Collective Love and Care of those people … LEND me a Hand… I Opened my eyes and Said to my Self… “I WILL MAKE IT… and when I do, I will Change my life”.

That day, my Life changed… I started living everyday as if it was my last, with no regrets… Everyday I meet someone who matter to me, I act as if it’s the last day I will see him/her..

You see I never thought of that before, that OTHER people will give you strength to be THE BEST OF WHAT YOU CAN BE… To Defy the impossible!

And I do that Every day!

The Quote from that Experience that I live with it Every day since…

“Dream as if you’re going to Live Forever… and Live as if you’re going to Die Tomorrow.”

Have a Nice Week!
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Samer Chidiac

Samer Chidiac is a Sr. Strategist, Author & an International Innovation Expert.

The Monday Tip Weekly blog is part of the “Influencing the Life of Others” project

Be the purpose you would run for

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In a world where supporting a cause is a “click away”, it has become hard to REALLY tell if you would be willing to go the extra mile for your cause. You see it’s easy sometimes to support the hungry ones in Africa while sitting on your comfortable couch and pressing LIKE on a Facebook page before navigating away to do something else and never looking back, and it’s completely different when you would quit your job, and actually travel to Africa to work for free to help the unfortunate.

Although there are many ways to support your cause, from donating, to giving away your time and sometimes doing a physical effort to prove a point, (Like Climbing or running, etc). I want to be focus in this week’s tip on a very small and yet narrow objective… it’s called YOUR Cause.

We all run, some of us feel that life is more like a Treadmill, where you keep on running simply to remain standing still, but running has a lot more significance than just exercising a physical effort. Of Course there’s a nice physical reward to stay in shape and so, but the psychological impact that you would get impacted by running is far more great.

At one point in time, I have met a nice girl who works at the Bank I deal with, her name was Assia Y. and when I got to know her a little better, I discovered that her Silent Story was more Inspiring than much more than seeing a 1 Million Like on Facebook page; It’s plain simple, SHE RUNS… For Her Cause! The cause of becoming a better person, for the cause of making a difference, for the cause of learning, for the cause of ambition, the cause of aspiration and the cause of becoming successful. Assia knew that the 1,000 Step she took last time… Breaking her PERSONAL best of 10 KM, meant Career, Life, Social, Personal and much more… Silently… but Deeply.

What I always say to myself while running is: Never say I can’t.. U can and u will do it.. U will finish the race.. ~Assia Yassine

Inspired by Haruki Murakami from his book what i talk about when i talk about running “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional”

My tip for you this week, is to simply… Make yourself a Cause Worth Running for… And keep on Creating a personal Best! Every time!

Here’s a clip that I’d love you to see from a Movie What Women Wants featuring Mel Gibson & Helen Hunt

You don’t stand in front of a mirror before a run
wondering what the road will think of your outfit.

You don’t have to listen to its jokes and
pretend they’re funny in order to run on
it.

It would not be easier to run if you
dressed sexier.

The road doesn’t notice if you’re not
wearing lipstick.

Does not care how old you are.

You do not feel uncomfortable because you
make more money than the road.

And you can call on the road whenever you feel like it. Whether it’s
been a day or even a couple of hours since your last
date.

The only thing the road cares about, is
that you pay it a visit once in a while.

Nike. No games…just sports.

Have a Nice Week!
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Samer Chidiac

Samer Chidiac is a Sr. Strategist, Author & an International Innovation Expert.

The Monday Tip Weekly blog is part of the “Influencing the Life of Others” project

Look back without turning around

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I’m not really sure when would it be safe to assume that one has gone through enough in his or her life so they are considered old, mature or simply “experienced”.

It may have been one of the really first articles I’ve published more than 13 years back, titled “Whom to take advice from”, and basically I took the scientific and logical approach, saying that “You shouldn’t be taking an advice from someone unless they are doing better than you in that specific topic”, you see a lot of married women take advice on how to enhance their marriage from their single & never-married or even divorced girlfriends (same thing applies to men), and a lot seek life changing advice from people whom really have no clue on what you’re talking about but they would simply care enough for you to be giving you a genuine opinion.

This week’s tip is about you taking the advice from the younger version of yourself, looking back without turning around;

When you’re back to your house, closing the door and you’re finally by yourself, it doesn’t really help to pretend that things are going well if they weren’t and instead you should look for solutions to your problems; therefor it does help to take a deep look in the mirror, or to an older photo of yourself, and evaluate what went right and what went wrong. And although your younger self have a lot to say to you, words can’t and won’t come out… it’s just that Look in your eyes… That would mean the world to you… Will it be a look of Pride or a Look of Shame of a look of indifference?

Have a nice week!

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Image from “Reflections: Portraits of the Elderly Seeing Their Younger Selves”

Samer Chidiac

Samer Chidiac is a Sr. Strategist, Author & an International Innovation Expert.

The Monday Tip Weekly blog is part of the “Influencing the Life of Others” project

Be your best friend not your worst enemy

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Some people spend their entire life discovering who they want to be, and forget that the moment that is passing by is just as real as all the imagination that they blended with wishful thinking about the ideal they aspire to be combined together.

You can start this week with one question: “Am I my best friend? or my worst enemy?”

 The deeper I go into myself the more I realize that I am my own enemy.
~ Floriano Martins

I’ll phrase it to you in some simple terms…

  • Do you consider those who encourage you to pursue your dreams and goals and be there for you all the way Friends or Enemies?
  • Have many times you said to your self: “NO YOU CAN’T DO IT!! YOU SHOULD GIVE UP!”
  • How many times you laughed at your self when you’ve done something stupid vs how many times you blamed yourself?

This week’s tip, is about self discovery and how much you can be holding yourself back from reaching out to where you want to be.

Try to monitor your self for a full day, hear your inner-thoughts more, are they full of negatives? full of NO & CAN’T & SHOULDN’T ? or the opposite…

Remember that the moment you ACCEPT a person as they are, is the moment you can start loving them, and the same applies to YOURSELF, so start by accepting your self the way you are, just like you accept & respect your best friends with all the good and bad they have… and Only then you can start Loving your self and your life will start to flourish both professionally and personally.

I leave you with this:

Life is a valuable and unique opportunity
to discover who you are.
But it seems as soon as you near
answering that age-old question,
something unexpected always happens
to alter your course.
And who it is you thought you were
suddenly changes.

Then comes the frustrating realization
that no matter how long life endures,
no matter how many experiences
are muddled through in this existence,
you may never really be able
to answer the question…..

Who am I?

Because the answer, like the seasons,
constantly, subtly, inevitably changes.
And who it is you are today,
is not the same person you will be tomorrow.
― Richelle E. Goodrich, Eena, The Dawn and Rescue

Enjoy your Week!

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Image courtesy of Stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Samer Chidiac

Samer Chidiac is a Sr. Strategist, Author & an International Innovation Expert.

The Monday Tip Weekly blog is part of the “Influencing the Life of Others” project

Celebrate your Success, Every time!

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 The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.

~ Oprah Winfrey

On a Monday like this, one year ago. September 2013… This Blog Saw the Light!

They say that there’s nothing so powerful than an Idea who’s time has come, or as Jim Rohn re-quoted: There’s nothing so powerful as an Idea that comes at the right time!

At most times, you can be used to looking back at your life, at your career, at your projects, at your decisions, at your ONE activity or even at the last hour you spent and try to see what went wrong and how you can improve next time. But the question to you is the following, How many time you looked back to analyze what went right? what was the reason to your success… Even the Smallest progress you’ve made?

We’ve all have experienced success at one point in time… It could be the first time you walked, the first good grade, the winning of a great deal and so on… Once you’ve had that, your mouth will start tasting something you’ve never tasted before… It’s the taste of Success; and Once you’ve tasted that, there is no turning back, and you won’t be able to accept the mediocre taste of the average or the terrible taste of failure.

Now this week’s tip, is about Celebrating Your Success and Moving Forward!

You may think that “Celebration” is something reserved for BIG announcements, and you may be right, because the “size” or “weight” of an achievement is all in your head, you can see it as a “Big deal” or you can see it as a not worth it

The reality of this concept is simple, and it have been tough to us a long time by our parents; you see when you were a little baby, your first few “attempts” of talking carried a large and often high & joyful reaction and celebration from your parents, and the moment you said “ta ta.. da da” was the happiest moments of your parents’ life… so they celebrated YOU and with you… on your BIG achievement!! but let’s say we move forward to the 10 years old YOU who still is saying “ta ta.. da da” and can’t talk… 🙂 got the message!! 

No matter how small your achievement is, you need to celebrate it, even if it’s by your self, and even if it’s by rewarding your self with a piece of chocolate or soft drink… it’s important that you take that moment for yourself… and THEN MOVE ON.. and Raise your expectations… And then when you outperform your past achievement with a significant step, then it’s time for a new celebration!

When I started The Monday Tip, there were literally only 2 or 3 people reading it, and I kept on writing and publishing tips week after week, and was happy the day that I received even some attention, and fast forwarding to Today… I have more than 8,000 Reader. Now That’s something that needs celebration 🙂

In my own way of Saying Thank you. I’m giving away 520 Digital Copies of one of my Best Selling Books  The 10 Unbreakable Rules of Time Management

downloadFree Download  Hurry Up the quantity is Limited!
(After 520, the link will expire)

Enjoy your Week & Thank you!

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Samer Chidiac

Samer Chidiac is a Sr. Strategist, Author & an International Innovation Expert.

The Monday Tip Weekly blog is part of the “Influencing the Life of Others” project

Keep Learning to Become Successful, then Start Unlearning to stay that way!

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“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” ~Professor Leon C. Megginson

When you often hear about Change and Evolution, depending on your age, you might visualize Charles Darwin talking about how we, the humans, have evolved or you might simply take a glimpse and think about how the use of Mobile phones evolved to changed our life…

I’ve had an interesting discussion with the Former the Microsoft’s UK Head of Education, after she moved to the Middle East and took a leadership role in Oman; She was sharing some tips from her evolved lifestyle between 2 different culture of business and even between 2 different Eras and reminded me that the key to a successful evolution is adapting to change and most importantly… Unlearning.

For this week’s tip, we’re not going into a complete paradigm shift and change our current reality (like Neo took the red Pill in the Matrix and everything changed 🙂 ) instead, we need to take a deeper look at how we, as individuals, have several habits and learning that we are so attached to,  that we try to change the circumstances to fit what we know, rather than to change what we know to fit the circumstances.

What is Unlearning?

Unlearning is not reframing or refreezing or something along that lines. They all focus on an end state whereas unlearning is about moving away from something rather than moving towards something.

So unlearning is exactly what it says. Intending to let go of what we have already learned or acquired. It is not about right or wrong. It is about being open to and exploring something that lies underneath the judgment, underneath the right and the wrong.

How do we unLearn?

Margie Warrell once explained unlearning, by LEARNING TO BE AGILE (to be flexible!) and quoting from her article at Forbes.com

Unlearning is about moving away from something—letting go—rather than acquiring. It’s like stripping old paint. It lays the foundation for the new layer of fresh learning to be acquired and to stick. But like the painter who needs to prepare a surface, stripping the paint is 70% of the work while repainting is only 30%.

So to sum it up, YES change is hard, and it’s a slow process, but it’s not impossible, and just like in order to throw an Arrow you need to Pull back; changing and adapting will make you experience some decrease in productivity and enthusiasm for a little while, but it will help you STAY successful!

Have a Nice Week!
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Samer Chidiac

Samer Chidiac is a Sr. Strategist, Author & an International Innovation Expert.

The Monday Tip Weekly blog is part of the “Influencing the Life of Others” project