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.

You are here because you are curious, because you are born to be a dreamer, and because you are seeking the art of creating your dream life. But, we all know that the process of making our dreams come true process is no different to the one of planting the seeds for the fruit and vegetables we want to have in our garden.

If we want the seeds we plant to grow so that one day we can harvest the fruit and vegetables that nurture our body-mind, then we all know that once the seeds are planted, we ought to spend the time that is required to consistently nurture those seeds.

The art of creating your dream is no different to this process. Give it a go, and see how your destiny changes.

Eleanor Roosevelt, the longest-serving First Lady of the United States once said:

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

Deep inside your mind, heart and soul you know you have a dream you believe in, an inspired purpose, vision and a calling that you would love to bring into reality and into the world.

But, as the societal indoctrination takes hold, many of us stop believing in our abilities; we doubt ourselves, and become afraid to dream big. And I mean really big.

According to the Scranton University research, did you know that a staggering 92% of people that set New Year’s goals never actually achieve them and 98% of people die without fulfilling their dreams.

That is billions of people who are killing trillions of dreams.

I’ve done it many times, and if you’re like me — a driven, type-A entrepreneur — failing to meet goals can set you back and leave you discouraged and frustrated.

My aim for this blog is to share three principles I have used to not only make my own dreams come true but also the dreams of the many of my clients from all around the world.

One of these clients that I helped make their dream come true is Joel Van der Molen, the MD of Vandercom, with whom we recently launched into the world “Living My Illusion”, a real life, thought provoking, and mind blowing coaching documentary series. Once a childhood dream it now became Joel’s reality.

It is only you who can take the same decision as Joel did two years ago that can put you on a path to realize your dreams.

Here is a fraction of the journey that led me to discover the art of creating my dream life. Let me share with you just one of my dreams that it took over forty years to realize, but I did it, and I know you can too.

I was born in a ghetto area of Gostivar, a small town in western Macedonia, and as a boy, I dreamed about three things: becoming a heart surgeon, an engineer who travels the world and works for the betterment of humanity. I dreamt that one day I will speak at the United Nations about the importance of preserving the sanctity of a human life.

My parents who were restaurant owners instilled in me the importance of education and listening to my heart played a significant role in achieving my dreams. By the age of ten, I already knew how to cook, work the land, and sell homemade farm produce to the local gypsy community.

Even then, I knew that someday my dreams would lead me to travel the world and work for the betterment of humanity. I felt it so deep in my soul. At the age of twelve, following an illness that kept me bed ridden in a hospital for over two years, I knew I will write a life manual, like people make manuals for fixing TV and Radio sets.

Then, in my late teens, the horror of civil war fell upon us – to save my life, my mother put me on a one-way flight to London; however, with very little money in my pocket, I had to live homelessly on the streets.

On this journey, I faced some of the worst adversity that life can throw at you. I experienced injustice, bullying, war horrors, homelessness and many disappointments, fears, rejections, and the feeling of abandonment.

But misfortune is often the catalyst that leads to powerful change, that’s what happened to me. I went from feeling alone, desperate, and hopeless to graduating with honors, successfully leading multi-billion pound IT programs, writing two best-selling books, travel globally and take people on a journey to boldly go where alone they are afraid to go.

Overcoming many of my life’s adversities also gave me the knowledge, tools, and the wisdom that kept pushing me against seemingly impenetrable boundaries and I believe that’s possible for you, too – for every one of us.

It is what I dedicate my life to, assisting others to breakthrough perceived limits and realizes their dreams, whatever they may be.

To help you on your journey, here are the three transformational principles you can use to master the art of making your dreams come true:

1. Exercise the power of choice; deep down you know you can choose to break through what’s blocking your path.
   2. Thrive to daily educate your mind. It is why you landed on this blog. It is what can help you efficiently learn how to use your time.
   3. You are the most important person in your life. Learn to love the unlovable in you, make a list of all the things you dislike about you and do something about it. It is what will synchronize your body, mind and heart.

Once these three core principles become habitual for you, you start to master the art of creating your dreams.

It took me forty years of consistently pushing through every adversity but also learning, training, and educating my mind. I went from being homeless to writing two bestselling and award-winning books. It is what gave birth to A Path to Wisdom and a year down the line to #Loneliness and what contributed towards being invited to speak at the United Nations in New York.

I am feeling so excited that my other dream, to be a TEDx speaker, is about to come true. I am among 37 speakers from 3 countries including Australia, British Virgin Islands and the United Kingdom and 14 states including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and Virginia who will be giving 35 talks which are guaranteed to change, inspire, and enrich your life..

I would love you to join me, be part of this amazing conference, and meet inspirational speakers. Click HERE to grab your tickets now and be one of those I helped and made their dreams come true.

Opportunities related to your dreams will be secured in any endeavor you choose to dedicate yourself to. Because, I believe, it is your commitment, consistency, and a grateful heart that lights up your path and makes you a shining star.

Remember, Creating Your Dream is Not a Choice-It is Your Destiny.

I thank you and love you.

P.S. If you are ready to create the alignment required to become a healthy, wealthy, successful, inspired and purposeful leader, then do get in touch. Your first step is to book a two-hour clarity coaching consultation and find out what my range of custom made coaching programs and the principles of TJS Evolutionary Method® that I use daily to help leaders, celebrities, and successful business owners from all market sectors resolve their problems can do for you.

As your trusted coach I can ensure that you have an epic 2017 and beyond by helping you learn principles that can accelerate your personal, professional and business growth.