Camil's interview on Dubai Eye

Talking about the release of the new book "Do what you love, love what you do", Camil explains the importance of taking charge of your own life and start getting to where you want to get in life.

To listen just click on the title above

For Michael Schumacher, High Performance becomes a habit

In an article in the guardian Allen Henry quotes the world’s championship leader Jenson Button “Michael Schumacher is brave to be back to formula one”. This statement holds true from different angles. First, coming back as a seven times world champion, is not easy at all; you are a legend and you are expected to race as one, especially in Formula one where you are as good as your last race. Second, with all the new regulations, testing is not allowed, so Michael will only get in the F1 car, the same weekend of his first post-retirement race.

However Michael has been acting very normal towards the fact of his return and said in a blog posting on his website that he is looking to be very competitive.

How does a person like Michael Schumacher come back after 3 years in retirement and competes with the world’s top drivers?

Back in 1997, when Michael was competing against Jacques Villeneuve to the title, he couldn’t handle the pressure very well, as he drove into Jacques car in an attempt to drive him out of his way. This incident did not only hurt his image but also made him realize that in order to get sustainable results, one has to handle the pressure and make the best of it. Indeed in the years that followed that incident Michael was training hard to handle the pressure, and in several situations he has proven to the world that he acquired and mastered that new skill.

Now that the pressure is back again, and that the stakes are high, we tried to follow Michael steps and see how is he dealing with his return, and not to our surprise we found out that he is following what we call the performance CREDO. Communications, Relaxation, Exercise, Diet and Organization.

He first started to Communicate and consult the situation with the team engineers to see how to optimize the use of the car on the circuit.

He is also using relaxation techniques to stay focused and remove all the tense.

During the following 2 weeks, Michael will be following an intensive physical training course and a fitness and diet program to make sure he is in shape for the new challenge.

He decided to divide his time between meeting with the experts, trying to drive around laps (not in a F1 car as per regulations), and with his organization he feels he has more than enough time to be ready for the Valencia race.

So let’s observe together how this legend will be back on the peak of performance and handle the pressure that is magnified by his fans.

For additional information on how to help you and your organization establish high performance as a habit visit us on www.ideasgrp.com or drop is a line on info@ideasgrp.com

Stress, Anxiety, Pressure.... no thanks I know how to deal with it

Coping with anxiety

A big event coming, bills to pay, deadlines to meet, hiring a new employee, doing the job of others and things at home aren’t that calm either……, all of this leaves you with a lot of anxiety and pressure.

We do behave differently under pressure, however it has been observed that we can turn anxiety to our side and use the extra push that we receive from pressure to transform it into energy. First of all it is important to acknowledge the pressure and the stress we are facing, and that will be an easy step to do, because we all show signs of stress on two different levels: Physical and Behavioral.

Physical signs:

· General fatigue

· Sleeplessness

· Headaches

· Back or shoulder ache

· Upset stomach

Behavioral signs:

· Irritability

· Loss of concentration

· Depression

· Change in appetite ( eating more or less than usual)

· Drinking or smoking more

· Feelings of panic

Before you get too worried, there are effective ways of controlling all those stress symptoms. I use two very effects methods and those are Simple body relaxation and Visualization.

Simple body relaxation:

This method will help you relax your muscles, which in their turn will send signals to your brain.

This sequence is easy to remember and all you need is 10 minutes and a quiet room on your own.

Toes: Tense the muscles on your toes, and then relax;

Feet: Tense the muscles on your feet, and then relax;

Lower legs: Tense the muscles on your lower legs, and then relax;

Thighs: Tense the muscles on your thighs and then relax;

Stomach and lower back: Tense the muscle and then relax;

Continue the same technique on your:

Chest

Shoulders

Upper arms

Lower arms and hands

Neck

Head

If you follow that sequence, you will feel a warm wave of relaxation spreading up your body, it will help you feel comfortable and less anxious

If you only have time to follow a shorter sequence, just focus on your shoulders neck and head.

Visualization:

While the first technique works on your muscles, this one works on our motherboard our programming engine: our Mind.

Visualization is used by almost every winning sports achiever in the world, it’s also very common among successful entrepreneurs, and has the effect on focusing on the important task at hand. The idea is to put yourself in a daydream state and picture success. Scientifics have found through experiments, that repeatedly picturing something, clearly and vividly, acts on the unconscious mind. In fact the mind begins to believe the dream and starts to mobilize resources to make it a reality. In the same time because your mind is so focused on the successful income, you won’t have time to worry.

In order to use visualization you need to do the following:

· Make yourself comfortable: by using the relaxation technique, listening to music or going for a walk.

· Make sure that you are totally relaxed

· Think about a time when you were successful at something, a time when you achieved and were happy, imagine doing the same thing again and the feeling that comes with it.

· Now visualize yourself in the situation: whatever is the task you want to accomplish, try to record a mental movie of it in your mind with all the details.

Whenever I have a keynote with a big audience coming, I start using the treadmill, because running relaxes my body. After making sure that I have no tensed muscles I try to remember my last successful speech, and with the experience I simulate my next keynote and start visualizing all the details; what will I be wearing, how the conference room looks like, who are the people and what will they be wearing…. Strangely enough, because I imagine myself being on stage with a very fit body, I tend to lose weight every time I deliver a keynote or a speech without even changing my dietary habits, this is how powerful visualization is.

For more info on how we can help you increase your personal and professional performance drop us a line on info@ideasgrp.com

Ideas Group is a global learning and human capital development firm specialized in leadership and team development. We help our clients become high performance organizations and foster a sustainable growth.
We strive to continue on partnering with our clients, finding solutions for their sustainable performance through services that include management consulting, generic courses for immediate impact, tailor-made workshops and transformational experiential learning experience

My new book is out

"Do what you Love, Love what you do"

What do you think of Dubai taxis? I had a different experience ...

Dubai taxis drivers are known to be smelly, angry and rude, reckless behind the wheel and cause most of the road accidents in the emirate. They are also grumpy and wouldn’t step out of their comfort zones, ironically know nothing about customer service, whereas their job is all about service.

All of this changed in my head, as I took the best taxi ride of my life; I was going to the airport, my fiancée stopped a taxi and asked him to follow us to the sandy parking lot and then drop me to the airport; Fareed, the clean and elegant driver nodded his head and with a gentle smile followed. As I have entered his car, I was surprised, that although it has 400000km on the dashboard, it was cleaner than new cars, with a fresh fruity scent. He initiated a conversation and asked if he might know where I was heading to, I have answered I am going to Lebanon, he then started to comment on the current growth in the financial situation of the country and to my surprise he was right in all that he said, his knowledge blew me off. As we were cruising I couldn’t but notice his great driving style, it was amazing; he was very respectful of other drivers, gentle on the accelerator and never had to suddenly break, which was unusual for a Dubai Taxi. He taught me some new cultural aspects of his native Pakistan and told me that he was an auto engineer and was not supposed to be a taxi driver, however since he is stuck with this job for visa reasons, he has decided to make the best of it, and that means that he wants to give every customer a beautiful and enjoyable ride. 

As a result of Fareed's behaviour in my airport ride I have doubled the fare as a tip, and I am sure you would have done the same.

The important lesson that I have learned from this taxi ride, is that whatever our job might be, we should enjoy what we do and exceed the expectations of our customers (whether internal or external customers). By giving an exceptional service, we don't only make an impact on others, but we also increase the chances of impacting ourselves.

So remember keep your smile and do what you are exactly supposed to do, no matter what you job is, and one day you can make an impression strong enough to change the world.  As Malcom Forbes puts it: “Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs”.

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The crisis is killing long term growth...all it takes is a paradigm shift

What do smart managers do in Economic downturns?

Yes you are right they start laying off their staff.

And how do they do it?

They look at the salary figures and start eliminating the high paid employees, then will look at any other large expenditure, all in the aim of rounding off their numbers.

However what organizations fail to do, is to downsize their operations, following the staff cut, by production cut.

This imbalance is nothing but the old concept of Production/Production capability (by Dr. Covey). What this means in simple terms, is that, whenever our delivery will start affecting our quality, we should decline new business ; each good manager should know where that break point is located in regards to their respective business.

To paint a clearer picture, I will share with you my worst dining experience; Last weekend I went with my friends for a very late lunch at Locatelli, the Italian restaurant of the famous Atlantis in Dubai. The restaurant seats 210 persons and looks very neat, with a good design and a welcoming atmosphere. We placed our order which was composed of salads, pizzas and pasta dishes. 45 minutes later the pasta was served and then the salads and some items on the menu were missing, although in those 45 minutes waiting time we called the waiters at least 10 times, 2 of which, the restaurant manager attended us, and where we made clear that we want the salads and the pizzas first as an appetizer and then the other dishes. The problem was that the restaurant is understaffed,orders were mixed, and the worst part is that waiters started blaming their colleagues in front of us.

I wouldn’t be writing this blog if this was a one off; As I was telling this story to my friends, I heard some similar comments on the same top class restaurant.

Staff lay off is a short term quick fix, however messing up with the P/PC equation is a long term damage, and its effects are most of the time irreparable. 

info@ideagrp.com

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