The Samotivation Podcast

Bullying is a very important topic and one we believe should be addressed more. In this LIVE video podcast, we talked about our experiences with bullying in school, why bullies bully others, how to respond to a bully and mental health and wellbeing as a whole. Enjoy!

You can listen to the audio podcast or see the LIVE video for yourself today. Part 1 and 2 below!

Part 1:

Part 2:

---

This episode is sponsored by

· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

---

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/samotivation/message

Thank God it’s Friday! OMG weekend. FRIYAY! TGIF!!

Let’s add other acronym to the above. STFU PLS.

BS.

WHAT BS!

Allow us to take an empirical approach to breaking down the TGIF mentality. Ready for an experiment? Did you put your protective goggles and gloves on? This could be some highly explosive and flammable stuff we are dealing with right now! We might have to apply water to the burned area here.

I hate 3/4 of my life!

Let’s assume you work from Monday to Friday and get two days off. This is how a typical week looks like to an average Joe or Joette:

Monday - Back to work after the weekend :(

Tuesday - After Monday :(

Wednesday - Hump day. Getting closer to Friday, but still :(

Thursday - One day before Friday :I

Friday - TGIF! Last day of the week OMG! :)

Saturday - Weekend :)

Sunday - Still weekend :) but not for long! Back to work tomorrow, so…  :(

Note: You can shuffle these around depending on where you are in the world. In Qatar, the equivalent of a Friday in America is a Thursday and the equivalent of an American Sunday is a Saturday. Same same as they say in Qatar!

So after my comprehensive research and mathematical calculations (I failed Calculus in uni and withdrew the second time around btw! :D), we discover that you hate 5/7 days of your life each week and only enjoy 2 (the weekend).

So that means that you spend about ¾ of your life in anticipation of a third. In other words, you hate the majority of your life! You hate your job, your career, your university and where you are in life. That’s even sadder than the above week breakdown. Now is the time to apply water to the burned area :(

You have to earn the right to say TGIF. If you worked your ass off that week and gave it your all then you can say TGIF. But for the most part, looking back at the week that passed we all know that we could have done so much more than we did. So none of us have earned the right to say TGIF. I include myself in that equation.

2) You do the minimum, yet expect the maximum.

Minimum effort = maximum results? That’s not how it works and you don’t need an A in calculus to understand this mathematical and logical fallacy (said the guy who failed Calculus). You expect to do the minimum with as little effort as possible and want to reap massive rewards. It sounds great when you think about it? But we both know that this is not how things work. If you want amazing results then you have to put as much effort into what you are doing as possible. 10X FTW! Imagine planting a seed that needs a liter of water every day (okay. It’s an exaggerated amount. A liter will probably kill the plant, but let’s assume that it needs a liter of water every day. Hey. Listen. I ain’t Old MacDonald. I don’t have a farm). So back to our seed, it needs a liter of water every day to grow into a beautiful tree with little birdies chirping on it. However, the TGIF mentality whispers into your ear seductively: “Hey… How YOU doin’? This is TGIF… Did you miss me? How about just watering the plant with as little effort as possible. Just use that 250ml cola bottle over there. That’s all you need!”

Do this for 5 years and your little seed, has turned into a raisin that was probably eaten by a squirrel or rat and now turned into organic compost :( Speaking of shitty situations btw…

3) TGIF gave me diarrhea

By TGIF, I mean the restaurant, as well as the mentality. Yes, I got food poisoning from TGI Fridays, as did 2 of my friends. Both the restaurant and the mentality gave me diarrhea. Physical and mental diarrhea. I was not satisfied with the quality, nor the quantity of my output (this sentence h...

---

This episode is sponsored by

· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

---

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/samotivation/message

- “Come on, Sami! GET UP! ONE MORE!!! DON’T QUIT!” - says Sami’s Karate Sensei as Sami lies on the ground hyperventilating.

- “You can’t do it. You’ll never make it. Give up already. You are not as good as the others anyway. You are just a white belt noob. Who do you think you’re kidding, man?” - uninvited, Sami’s brain replies.

- “STFU! YES I CAN! WATCH ME! GET OUT OF MY WAY, BRAIN!” - Sami’s body feels like it’s going to give out soon and yet somehow manages to pull through and do the exercise/stretch/punch/kick through SHEER WILLPOWER.

Damn son. I didn’t know my brain could limit me and at the same time push me towards my goals. Powerful epiphany. Take some time to think about it.

You can use your brain in any way you want to. You can choose to let it limit you and make excuses or you can change your limiting beliefs, push through and tell friggin Obstacle Mountain to get out of the damn way, so you can achieve your goals.

A typical Karate session goes like this: me being exhausted, sweaty, hyperventilating and about to give up; to me doing it and surprising myself with how I was able to!

The benefits of Karate go far beyond the time you spend in the dojo. This is something I realized after a month of attending Karate classes. An hour of training does not just make you a better fighter and increase your flexibility, agility and strength; it makes you a stronger and more confident human being, i.e:

Karate (and other martial arts) make you a better person.

A bold claim to make, isn’t it?

Let me explain why.

Martial arts is more than just learning a few kicks, punches and throws. Martial arts is about bringing out the strength, power and confidence that lay dormant inside each and every one of us, and have been eager to come out and show you (and the world) how amazing and powerful you really are. Karate teaches pacifism. Not aggression.

Seems like a paradox, in it?!

Karate is a combat sport afterall. If executed with enough force, a karate punch or a kick could actually kill your opponent. So, karate gives you the ability to kill. However, with the ability to kill comes the responsibility to protect others (even those who try to hurt you).

If an attacker were to approach you with a knife or a gun, karate doesn’t teach you to hurt them, but to disarm them and disengage them from combat by knocking the murder weapon out of their hands and demobilizing them through a body lock, kick or punch so that you minimize harm to not only yourself but to them as well.

Which leads me to the first thing that I learned from Karate:

1) SELF-CONTROL

You might acquire superhuman strength, but that doesn’t make you powerful.

What determines a person’s strength is not their power, but their self-control and their ability to respond with the right amount of force (which could mean no force at all) in any given situation.

In the case of physical assault, sometimes a physical response is necessary to protect yourself. A good punch or knockout kick in the face is usually enough to disarm an attacker. Karate can teach you how to do that very well! :D

However, sometimes by avoiding a confrontation and not responding to taunts/slander you have already won the fight, i.e. you used less force than the person who tried to taunt you. Let them wear themselves out with all the BS they are throwing your way and saying about you. Remember that when they point a finger at you, they have four fingers pointing back at them. Everything they say and do will go back to them, call it karma, God, destiny whatever. Usually what they are saying about you is actually what they think about themselves.

---

This episode is sponsored by

· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

---

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/samotivation/message

Immigrants are 3 times more likely to become millionaires than Americans are. Facts.

That’s just one of the things that I learned from Grant Cardone’s ‘Hustle Like an Immigrant’ episode (below). Grant says that immigrants are 3 times more likely to become millionaires than Americans are? I will go farther than that and say that: Refugees are 6 time more likely to become millionaires than the people whose countries they flee to, running from war, bloodshed, starvation, and poverty.

That’s right! Refugees are more likely to succeed than those living in their own countries. It seems that the most marginalized peoples and communities end up becoming the most successful, such as African Americans, Jews, Palestinians, Syrians, Iraqis, Yemenis, Armenians, Indians, Africans, Asians, Latin Americans and other refugees and immigrants from marginalized backgrounds.

Basically, those who history has done the most damage to or attempted to erase from itself, through genocide, slavery, the pillaging of resources (both material and human) and forced migration. Those people are more likely to become millionaires when they go to a new country, than the people in that country itself are.

The immigrant/refugee mentality has made these people so successful and that is what Grant Cardone talks about in his CardoneZone episode.

More about this later and in this new episode.

Let me tell you a bit about Grant Cardone, who inspired this episode.

Grant Cardone is an NYT best-selling author, sales expert, might I say Sales GOD! , world-renowned speaker, real estate mogul and someone who made it from ZERO to almost a BILLION dollars in real estate holdings. That’s a lot of cash money!

Grant (or Uncle G as many call him) is someone that I respect a lot because of what he has been able to achieve and make out of himself despite all the odds stacked against him (losing his father at the age of 10, losing his brother 10 years later, a severe drug and alcohol addiction, being raised by a single mom and being broke and scared all the time, labeled ADD, ADHD, OCD and more. He was constantly told by ‘professionals’ and family to chill out, calm down, relax and take it easy. Sounds very familiar :D

I’ve been told similar things: “Relax, Sami.”, “Good things take time, Sami!”, “You are too young and naive and inexperienced. Be patient.”, “You have an attitude problem. You think you are better than everybody else.” and etc. I see some things in Grant that I can relate to a lot.

To give you a sense of this guy’s mindset, let’s look at some of his book titles (You can get all of these audiobooks FOR FREE with this exclusive Samotivation link just for you! All you have to do is register for the free trial!)

- If You’re Not First, You’re Last

- Be Obsessed or Be Average

- The 10X Rule (the basic idea of this book is that to achieve a goal, you must set it at 10X the initial goal to make it happen. 10X the goal, 10X the effort and 10X the determination will make your goal possibl...

---

This episode is sponsored by

· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

---

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/samotivation/message

We all know what people’s opinions are, but what the heck is a Zimbabwean Dollar? Let me explain.

The Zimbabwean Dollar is a currency used in Zimbabwe (Mind-blowing, I know!) up until 2009, when hyperinflation caused the currency to lose value so much, that it reached denominations of up to $100 trillion (that’s 100 with 12 zeros! I just learned that!) banknotes. At the time that same $100 trillion banknote was worth just USD 0.40, which made the Zimbabwean dollar one of the lowest valued currencies in the world, until it was eventually abandoned completely. At some point, Zimbabwe’s central bank could not even afford the paper on which to print these worthless trillion-dollar notes!

Now what is the connection between this valueless currency and people’s opinions? Well.. in many cases people’s opinions are just like the Zimbabwean dollar. There is so much of them, yet most of them are not worth much. And just like some currencies are worth more than other currencies, some opinions are worth more than other opinions.

It’s also a term that I’ve adopted to describe people, places and things that are average in nature, baseless and available everywhere (i.e. nothing extraordinary), in other words there are so much of them that they hold no value, significance or importance in my life.

Picture a cliche with two legs that can walk. Sometimes that cliche can take a human form or the form of an malicious opinion or judgement that is thrown at you out of envy and a desperate cry for help and attention.

These days, it seems like EVERYONE has an opinion on EVERYTHING and EVERYONE. Every person is an expert on everything and anything (or claims to be so). In the age of social media, the human ego has been magnified to unimaginable proportions. Everyone thinks their opinion is valid and important (including myself ahahah). We have so much information available at our fingertips, we are bombarded with it everywhere from every angle, advertising, social media, family, friends, enemies, that random dude that I keep on seeing in the gym who always has to comment on my squat stance, and everybody else. Everybody claims to be an expert and sometimes it is so difficult to sift through all this junk information and find the information that is true and of value to us, the information that will make our goals possible.

Jesus said that the truth will set you free (not an exact quote from the Bible, so don’t quote me on it) and I wholeheartedly agree with that sentence even outside of the realm of religions and the divine. You don’t have to delve deep into any religion to understand the truth of that statement. So what isn’t the truth (what is the opposite of truth? Falsehood? OK. Falsehood.).

Falsehood and false information will enslave you and take your liberty away. False information about life, success, health, relationships and false information about you (gossip behind your back and unwanted opinions etc.) will make you a slave to society, silly social constructs and understandings of life and other people’s drama, BS and self-imposed limitations, that they are eagerly trying to impose on you. In other words, the world has a number of Zimbabwean Dollar printers who give you the wrong information and when you reach out your hand to take dat cash money (or opinion), you become a slave to it and other people’s BS.

Zimbabwean Dollar printers?! Who are they? Haters, doubters, naysayers (which sometimes includes the people who love you the most), self-proclaimed and self-appointed experts. Let’s take a recent example.

I learned that I “have an attitude problem” and that I “think I am better than everybody else”. What’s funny about comments like these is that they usually come from behind your back.

---

This episode is sponsored by

· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

---

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/samotivation/message

How many times have you come up with the perfect plan to do something and then end up doing nothing at all because you feel paralyzed?

I have done this many times. *Sam Smith in the background* And I am sure that I am not the onlyyy oneeee! Okay, bad joke. Nevermind, moving on.

Let’s take an example. You want to lose 5 kgs, so you decide to create a plan to follow:

* You hit up Uncle Google (that’s what we call Google in Bulgaria hahaha). Search: “Weight loss plans” and you get millions of hits with all types of workouts (Full body workouts/Aerobic/HIT/ Cross-training) and countless types of nutrition plans (Keto, Paleo, Vegan). It confuses the F out of you! So you spend time trying to figure out which plan is the best and which diet to choose. Research. Research. Research. You ask friends and family for their opinion. You do research on which diet to go with. Just thinking about this process makes me dizzy!

2. After countless hours of trying to figure out which workout to choose, you finally decide to go with a full body workout (because that’s what 50 Cent recommends in his book Formula 50. I tried it. Didn’t like it tbh) and you pick a vegan diet (NO CHICKEN!? How will I ever survive without chicken!?)

3. And now you try to get yourself motivated. So what do you do now? I’ll tell you what to do, Comrade! Go back to Uncle Google and Google images of models and athletes with 6 packs. And with the click of a button you have access to billions of photos of steroid-infused, plastic surgeried (gotta add that one to the dictionary :D ), photoshopped and airbrushed ‘beautiful people’, who you aspire to be and have the same body as. For bonus points, make one of these people your desktop wallpaper!

4. Now it’s time to find a gym. And again we go back to Google. You check the location, membership costs, instructors, equipment you need. This one is cheaper than that one, but that one has better equipment and this one is closer to my house and that one is closer to McDonalds and Burger King. That’s the one I want! Done!

5. You pick the gym. Now it’s time to get gym clothes. “Which mall should I go to?” - you ask yourself. “Which shop, should I go to?”. “Gym shorts or pants?” “Nike or Adidas?” (Answer. Adidas. Because a true Slav only wears Adidas. Adidas Slav ryeprezyent.)

6. Now it’s time to go to the gym! YESSS. You made it! Give yourself a pat on the back! And now you are thinking: “But I feel so demotivated and overwhlemed! I also lost the energy and enthusiasm that I had before making this plan. I’ll just wait for myself to feel motivated again. I’m sure I’ll feel ready tomorrow. Yeah that’s right, I’ll do it tomorrow.”

7. Tomorrow swings by.. yet you don’t swing by the gym! You are too busy waiting for the perfect moment, where the conditions are perfect and your perfect self feels ready and motivated enough.

8. Many tomorrow swing by. And guess what? Your goal of losing 5kgs also swings by and you gain 5 more kgs! You don’t feel ready so you delude yourself into believing that maybe your plan is not complete so you spend even more time perfecting the workout plan and your nutrition plan. You further waste time from taking action by seeking advice/guidance/validation from people. You forget why you wanted to lose the 5gs in the first place. And what ends up happening is….

You never go to the gym.

You planned so much and did nothing. The perfect plan became the worst plan ever because it was not followed by action. However, the plan is not the problem. The problem is that by the time your plan is complete you continue to spend time on it. All of your energy goes into making a plan, as opposed to taking action and this exhausts you....

---

This episode is sponsored by

· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

---

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/samotivation/message

Sami, why didn't you release any new episodes!?? Because I needed some time to rethink Samotivation and what direction I want to take it in (and also because I've been traveling all over the place and carrying a half kilo mic is not the smartest thing to do!) But now... I am back.. STRONGER and BETTER than ever!

If you want to improve the quality of your life, staying committed is key. That's something that I have not been doing lately. This is why I have decided to release an unedited, unfiltered and unscripted 15 minute Samotivation Podcast episode EVERY. SINGLE. SUNDAY. Enjoy this new episode!

---

This episode is sponsored by

· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

---

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/samotivation/message

Friendzoned. Heartbroken. Rejected. Hurt. I lived a great part of my life like that. Stuck in a series of unfulfilling relationships, where I was not given the love and understanding that I wanted. Chasing after girls. And getting nothing out of it. Basing my fragile confidence and attractiveness based on the results of those meaningless pursuits.

At the time, I did not understand the art of attracting women because I was too busy chasing them. And when I got rejected or hurt: I blamed myself. I thought that there was something wrong with me: that I was not good enough, attractive enough and that I was being “too nice” and etc. And like many guys, I was told things like “Sami, you are just too nice.”, “I only see you as a friend.” and the list goes on and on and on. Can you relate?

A post shared by Hi! I'm Harvey Hooke :) (@gethimhooked) on Apr 18, 2018 at 3:46am PDT

Experiences like high school and university only validated those ideas for me and I turned from super nice guy to super jerk. It seemed like girls always went after the guy that treated them like shit. So that’s what I began doing and results started to come in. How did that song go? “Nice guys finish last, that’s why I’ll treat you like trash.”? I look back on that and laugh, but it worked at the time for reasons I understand only know. Continue reading to find out why!

You need to treat girls badly for them to be attracted to you? Nonsense.

But at some point, it made a lot of sense. I always saw the jerk with the super kind girl. The so-called “nice” guy is not in the picture at all. The nice guy is friendzoned and rejected left and right, for what seems like his kindness. However, that is not true. He is not rejected for being kind.

A post shared by Hi! I'm Harvey Hooke :) (@gethimhooked) on Mar 24, 2018 at 8:40pm PDT

Do women like being treated badly? Of course, not. No stable and sane human being would tolerate that behavior. But women like to be challenged (that’s what flirting is after all) and know that they are with a mentally strong man that is sure of himself and knows what he is doing. The jerk gives off that vibe, even though all he is doing in reality is masking his own worthlessness and self-doubt with his ego.

Broken people attract broken people. The nice girl is with the jerk, because on some level she feels that she deserves that type of abusive treatment and that she is not good enough for someone better. So these two broken people attract one another, while confused and bitter Mr. Friendzone does not have his priorities straight. He chases women and ends up scaring them away instead. He bases his self-worth on someone else and then scratches his head in frustration, when he doesn’t get the girl, while the jerk does.

What do you think this means? A post shared by Hi! I'm Harvey Hooke :) (@gethimhooked) on May 16, 2018 at 9:40pm PDT

I was Mr. Friendzone..

---

This episode is sponsored by

· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

---

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/samotivation/message

For the very first time, I did a LIVE Samotivation Video Podcast on Instagram with my dear friend, Mohamed Al Balushi!

Mohamed was judged and mocked for being 132kg and overweight at the gym. He failed 5 courses and was told that he was a "LIABILITY to the image of the Petroleum Engineering program" at Texas A&M University at Qatar.

All the odds were against him. Yet, he proved everyone wrong. He lost 56kg and is now at a healthy weight of 76kgs, fit, healthy, successful and ambitious and graduating in just a few weeks time with a Petroleum Engineering degree from Texas A&M University at Qatar!

Guess he wasn't a liability after all!

Samotivation Podcast - Episode 3 - How a Liability Became an Asset. This was the first time, I made the podcast live, uncut and on video and I am proud to have done so with Mohamed Al Balushi. Congratulations and best of luck with your journey my brother!

---

This episode is sponsored by

· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

---

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/samotivation/message

The land of unlimited opportunity is not a country or geographical region.

The land of unlimited opportunity does not require a visa.

The land of unlimited opportunity does not need a plane ticket.

AND.

It is much closer than you think.

The question is...

Do YOU have what it takes to get there?

Today's guest on the show, Karate Master and Author of Mental Strength: Condition Your Mind, Achieve Your Goals, Sensei Iain Abernethy (the BIG BUFF Scottish dude with the charming smile on the top pic above!) will show you exactly where that land is and how you can get there!

Source: http://ohiobusinesscollege.edu/blog/comfort-zones-and-career-success/

The land of unlimited opportunity is RIGHT THERE in your face.  EVERY.  SINGLE. DAY.

It looks you square in the eye. Whispering tales of success, glory, happiness, health, confidence and fulfillment into your ear.

Only.. you refuse to listen. You tell the voice to keep quiet. Shut up.

Any time, it tries to take you by the hand and lead you to a better life, you cross your arms and ignore the hand it extends to you.

I don’t want to move to this land. I am perfectly fine where I am. I don’t want to get up.

Where is this land and how do I get there, you ask?

All you have to do is just take a few steps outside your comfort zone.

This week’s episode is about the comfort zone and how the life of your dreams is only a few steps outside of it.

But let me tell you something, first.

You comfort zone has been lying to you your entire life.. instilling you with fear, doubt and insecurity.

You thought politicians were thieves, huh?!

I hate to burst your bubble... but your comfort zone is the biggest liar out there.

Your comfort zone is a LIAR.  The BIGGEST LIAR OUT THERE. Bigger than any politician or thief (very often it's the same thing :D )

Now, let me tell you a secret...

You can use the lies your comfort zone tells you to bring you closer to your goals...

Source: www.Forbes.com

Getting out of the comfort zone will bring you the life and confidence you desire. Guaranteed.

On today's show, we are joined by Karate Master and author of "Mental Strength" Sensei Iain Abernethy, who will show you EXACTLY how to do that.

To live the life of your dreams, you are going to need a lot of mental strength. If you want to develop the mental strength you need to reach new heights in your life, then Sensei Iain Abernethy's book, Mental Strength is THE book for you!

Just click the picture below to get the book!

Make sure to like Sensei Iain Abernethy on Facebook and be sure to visit his website!

Iain Abernethy

---

This episode is sponsored by

· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

---

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/samotivation/message