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THE GLOBE AND MAIL - April 19, 2005

Top 10 life speaker visits Red Deer

Photo by CARL HAHN/LIFE staff
Azim Jamal fans out a collection of his best-seller books and other products that tell about his approach to finding happiness and balance in life.
By CARL HAHN
LIFE editor

Now here's a life philosophy you can live with: procrastinate.
That doesn't encompass the entire view of motivational speaker Azim Jamal, but it was surprising and refreshing to hear his approval of what many would consider a bad habit.
Jamal is a specialist in life balance, and bills himself as being one of the top 10 speakers in Canada. He was in Red Deer last week speaking to a provincial conference for accountants. Although Jamal doesn't have a PhD or MD behind his name, he's trying to ride his common-sense approach to life to become Canada's answer to Tony Robbins. His knowledge comes from his experience as an immigrant who studied at the school of hard knocks, from his volunteer work, and from being an accountant who has rubbed shoulders with multimillionaires.
Including his days of volunteer speaking, the Vancouver man has given presentations to more than a million people in 14 different countries, he says.
And the three books coming out this year will bring his total of self-published works to eight. Collectively they've sold more than 25,000 copies, and his first title, Seven Steps to Lasting Happiness, is a Canadian bestseller. An endorsement of that book from the controversial yet widely followed author Deepak Chopra now graces the cover of all of Jamal's other books.
And he did this by procrastinating?
Actually, he did it more by focusing and balancing. But procrastination is part of that. It's one of the simple tips he offers people on how to make small changes in their lives toward improvement.
"People do too many things," he says. "Pick what is most important in your life and say no to everything else."
Of course, some things refuse to be told no. Those can be delegated. But if they can't be delegated, then set them aside without feeling guilty.
"If it's not important, procrastinate; it doesn't matter," he says. "If you have too many priorities you have no priorities."
He also recommends an Hour of Power, every day. Since he grew closer during his youth to his religion, Ismaili Muslim, he has meditated regularly, about five days a week.
The Hour of Power is best in the morning, he recommends. It consists of 20 minutes of meditation, 20 minutes of physical exercise and 20 minutes of inspirational reading. But all his quick tips lead back to the seven steps: discover yourself; maintain positive attitudes; hone your life skills; build healthy relationships; let ethics and values be your guide; awaken your spirituality; enjoy the ride.
His theory isn't that complex, and certainly much of it has been said before. But he found as a volunteer life skills teacher within his spiritual community that many people still needed to hear it.
Jamal says in the past two decades he has averaged 15 to 20 hours a week doing volunteer work, and a healthy portion of that was chairing the social work board for the Ismaili community council from 1993 to 1997. He would meet with families and individuals who were having various problems, and would help them.
"I was not a counsellor, but I had to get involved, so I had to take courses," he explains.
"It really helped me in my own life. Nobody told me how to be a good husband; nobody told me how to be a good father."
If he was told anything in his early life, chances are he wasn't listening to it anyway. While he excelled in sports, he says he was a "dumb kid" growing up in Tanzania, hanging out with bad influences and getting the lowest possible scores in all his subjects except English. It wasn't until going to high school in Kenya that he learned to meditate and discovered self-discipline. Then after graduating from college as an accountant in London, England, Jamal came to Canada in 1980 with his family. He was influenced by the Eastern perspectives of his parents and the Western perspectives of his children who were growing up in Vancouver. And he tied all that together in offering advice to the people of his community.
His first real public speaking experience was essentially forced on him - one of those dirty jobs nobody else wanted to do.
It was at a symposium of Ismaili teachers like himself, and it ended with a standing ovation. Demand started to grow for his speaking, and he travelled as far away as Australia and New Zealand to speak to other members of the Ismaili community. He still didn't recognize it as his true calling, however, until after a trip to Pakistan.
As an accountant he was asked to help set up a budget for Focus Canada to help Afghan refugees. But after spending 15 minutes interviewing a family about the atrocities they experienced, Jamal had to leave, "sobbing like a baby" the entire half-hour cab ride back to his hotel.
He realized that even at $200 an hour he would never make enough money as an accountant to do much good for Third World nations. But everyone seemed to love his speeches, so he made his goal to be an international public speaker, and some day sell a million books. With only one brief period of self-doubt, he has been a bulldog after that goal ever since. Jamal has been speaking full time for 3 1/2 years now, and compares favourably to other members of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers, based on the number of people he's spoken to and the books he's published.
And he feels his airplane has just left the runway. He has plenty of fuel left, he says, including support from his family and friends, and soon he will soar.

Mehfil - Power of Giving
Azim Jamal and Harvey McKinnon
www.azimjamal.com

There are many ways one can give. Giving creates abundance in the home, at work and in your community. Here are some ways you can give.

Sharing Skills
Everybody has something that they can do better or more easily than other people, some talent or skill they were born with or that they have developed. Your skill is another thing that you can give, either by using it to help an individual or a group or by teaching it to others.

Since we were children, we have constantly learned from others — from our peers and from adults. Each interaction with others, each new experience, enhanced our knowledge. Sometimes we learned new lessons, sometimes not. Because we know we’ve learned so much from others, we believe passing on our skills is a way to repay those who taught us so much.

Sharing skills also gives back to you. The more you share your skills with others, the more you enhance them. You might also learn new skills

Expressing Love
True love is selfless. It is free and liberated. It encourages change and growth. Love is timeless, and deep love continues to live even after our death. Love that is not expressed, however, does not reach its full potential, because the more one expresses love, the deeper it becomes. We do recognize that giving love often takes effort. How many people think they are too busy with their own lives to give time and love to others? How many really support the people close to them? Support means encouragement. It means unconditional love. It means letting go of your plans for how you think their life should go and accepting them for what they themselves want to do with their lives. This is one of the greatest gifts that you can give to the people close to you.

Forgiving people for past mistakes and hurts is also a way to express love, and forgiveness is a wonderful thing to give. Like you, other people are only imperfect humans. Keeping hurt and anger in your life is often an excuse to avoid getting close to people for fear they will hurt you again. People want to know that they are special in your life and that you care about them.

Give with Humility
One of the best ways to give is with utmost humility. Not everyone knows how to give, or even gets a chance to give. So when you get an opportunity to give, do not hesitate. Take it with both hands and give of yourself with respect, dignity and compassion.

Compassion has been defined as “your pain in my heart.” You can feel someone’s pain in your heart when you have taken the time to listen carefully and attentively. Compassion starts with ourselves; we need to listen to ourselves to be aware of our deep thoughts.

Compassion and humility come about when we practice another great giving habit: being non-judgmental. Rumi says, “Beyond right doing and wrong doing there is a field. Meet me there.” If you are humble and respectful, you will refrain from judging other people. You will realize that the way you see the world is not how the world is, but how you are; how you see others is more a reflection of you than of them.

Everyone you meet is trying their best in the only way they know how. Plato said, “Be kind, for everyone is fighting a hard battle.” A goal for each of us could be to give people the benefit of the doubt and be non-judgmental. Instead of judging, be there for people when they need you. When you lend your hand to others, the universe lends its hand to you. You invite abundance into your life. The universe and nature, after all, do not judge — they just provide lessons and consequences.

Give Unconditionally
If you give because you want credit for what you have done, it reduces the impact of giving. Remember, true giving is unconditional! Nature gives unconditionally. The flower gives its fragrance, and the sun its light, without seeking anything in return. True love is to love others not because they are lovable or because they love you, but simply because you love. When your giving is unconditional, you receive intangible benefits. The very act of unconditional giving is the reward because it is also a gift to yourself.

In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: “It is one of the beautiful compensations of this life that no one can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.”

When to Give
The short answer is . . . today.

Some people believe that they can only give when things are going well. The reality is that you can give at all times. We have a lot to give no matter what our circumstances — consider a gift of a smile, a gift of a lovely thought, a gift of some kind of natural skill you have. If you give when you are hurt or when you are in hardship, you sometimes create the energy that can help you through your hard time. That is the power of giving for the giver!

Excerpted from the new book The Power of Giving: Creating abundance in your home, at work, and in your community by Azim Jamal and Harvey McKinnon, available at Amazon.ca, Chapters.ca and better bookstores. See www.thepowerofgiving.com for more on the power of giving.

Azim Jamal is an International Inspirational Speaker and author of several books, including The Corporate Sufi and the best seller Seven Steps to Lasting Happiness. Over 1,000,000 people worldwide have heard his uplifting message.You can get more information about Azim at www.azimjamal.com.