I just spent five extraordinary days at the Amsterdam International Film Festival 2018 with directors, filmmakers, scriptwriters, actors, and distributors from around the world.

The festival itself was founded by Carl Tooney to give independent film and script authors an opportunity to showcase their work, network with peers and submit themselves in competition for international filmmaker awards.

The festival is held in different locations around the world including London, Nice, Madrid, Milan and Amsterdam. It is a place where you can “seize the day” as you immerse yourself in the experience of watching films and documentaries across many genres and styles. It is a place where you can also meet amazing people, forge great friendships, find people to collaborate with on future projects and if lucky be nominated for an award and walk away with a trophy.

The phrase Carpe Diem was first used by the Roman poet Horace to express the idea that one should enjoy life while one can. This is the attitude that my client and co-creator of Living My Illusion Documentary Series Joel Van der Molen and me had throughout the festival.

In between films and every evening we got to know many film directors, scriptwriters, and the entire team behind this festival including Ray Davies, the co-founder of Film Industry Network, a platform designed to share film advice.

As someone who loves to know people, I took the opportunity to interview few of the film directors, music writers, and the marketing director of the festival Steve Grossmith, who kindly shared a lot of useful tips that every attendee of the festival could benefit.

In an age where domestic violence, addictions, loneliness, and depression is on the increase, Living My Illusion E1 – The Truth Hurts was co-created to shine a light on the toxic effects of suppressing your inner truth has on your mental, emotional, familial, physical, business, and financial health. The feedback we got from the festival goers was encouraging, humbling, and inspiring.

The Q & A that followed after the screening of our documentary was a testament to the importance of creating this timely documentary. It offers a mirror from which millions of people who find themselves in difficult situations can self-reflect and address the lies they tell themselves and the impact they have on their leadership style, family life, and the way they show up in the world. Little did we know that we would walk away with a trophy, be acknowledged in front of hundreds of amazing film directors from around the world and be selected as one of the winners.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Carl and his team for organising such a wonderful event, to Adam Tinnion, Dan Hickford, Roy Abbots, Chelsey Baker, Mark Doree, Brad Blain, Neil McEwan, Paul Eyres, everyone who has supported us on this life-changing journey, all the people who attended this event and the judges who selected Living My Illusion – The Truth Hurts as the Winner in the Best Story Category of this prestigious Film Maker Award.

As someone who has helped thousands of people achieve a quantum leap in their personal, professional and business growth, I know that to be successful in business and every area in your life, it is essential for you to learn how to seize the day no matter what you do in life.

To help you unlock the opportunities that are presented to you in every moment in your life, I would like to share these three principles I teach my clients that you can use every day to help you take your business to the next level

Principle One: It’s not all about you

One of the problems I noticed in many of the filmmakers, scriptwriters and the great people I met at this event is that every time they engaged in a conversation with one another their focus was on them, their film, their work, and not on the person they were having a dialogue with. This way of communicating not only closes the doors that potentially your film may have created about you but also unintentionally you are creating the wrong image about you in other people’s mind. What you could do instead is to learn to communicate in a way that awakens the curiosity in others. After all, we all have a kid inside of us.

Principle Two: Give before you take

When engaging in a dialogue with an attitude of what I can get from you, the person you may be speaking to knows this. This way of speaking to people not only makes them disengaged, bored, and uninterested, but it also makes you look extremely egotistical. Instead, you can adopt an attitude of what I can help this person with. For instance, I noticed how Steve, the marketing director of the festival was interviewing so many people, but no one thought of interviewing him. I kindly asked him if he would like to be interviewed and share his wisdom with the hundreds of thousands of my facebook followers, some of whom happen to be in the film and documentary making industry. One of the great advice Steve shared with my audience is to “treat others as you would like to be treated.” It is what I refer as “A Winning Attitude” in my four times International #1 Amazon Best-selling Book A Path to Wisdom.

Principle Three: Know how to pitch

Many of the filmmakers and screenwriters I met consider themselves as artists and found it difficult to pitch their films. Whether you are a filmmaker, scriptwriter, distributor, event organiser, or a business owner, never underestimate the power of knowing how to pitch correctly. I see many people going to amazing events such as this one and walk away feeling disappointed, resentful and not getting what they want. Having successfully secured millions of pounds in business by using the power of the pitch, I started to teach all of my clients how to create a powerful pitch. Learning how to deliver a good pitch can close or open many doors, especially if you are a filmmaker seeking a distribution partner or an investor.

Remember, no matter where you are, whom you are with, and whatever you may find yourself doing you can train your awareness to be of service to others and seize the day.

With Love and Wisdom,

Tony J. Selimi – Helping You Accelerate, Maximise, and Unleash the Freedom in Your Potential

PS – Whenever you’re ready, here are four ways I can help you jailbreak the prison of your mind and accelerate your journey to great health, success, and wealth.

#1 … To learn, grow and get inspired in the comfort of your own home, whilst on holiday or having a coffee break, get your copy of my #1 Amazon bestselling books A Path to Wisdom and #Loneliness

#2 … You can enrol in my online Udemy course. I am now accepting students in my Mindfulness for Higher Productivity, Performance and Profitable Life! Join me here now for 50% off.

#3 … Make the fastest progress by hiring me to work with you or your business on a one-on-one basis for a full day.  All you have to do is e-mail me and tell me a little about your business and what you’d like to work on together, and I’ll get you the details.

#4… Hire me to speak at your next company or industry event or be on a panel of experts. Click HERE to download my “speaker sheet” and fill in the form with your event info, and once I hear from you, I’ll send you back contract and fee info.