Hossam Younes

Writing Samples:

Sample 1: “How succeed throughout your career - intro”

This book is designed to help two groups of people. The first group would like to change careers or start a
business, but has the nagging feeling that for one reason or another, the transition isn't possible. Perhaps
these people feel they don't have the skill or ambition to make the change, that the business they're
interested in is too competitive or not lucrative enough, that their families will disapprove or something
else.
The second group entered the working world feeling driven and passionate, but gradually the work
became uninspiring and routine. These people don't necessarily want a transition — they understand that
even if they changed jobs, they might end up in the same rut in a few years. They just want to find a way
to restore some of the passion and drive they had when they started.
In my coaching practice, I've worked with both types of people and I've found that — as different as their
situations may sound — they face essentially the same problem. The problem is that they've learned to
measure their worth as human beings according to their career success. Unless things are going smoothly
in their jobs — their pay is steadily increasing, their work is well-received, they have an outlet for their
creativity and so on — they feel inadequate and incomplete. What they lack is a sense that, no matter
what happens or doesn't happen in their lives, they are whole and worthwhile beings.
On one hand, this feeling of incompleteness holds people back from making the career changes they
want. They fear that if they don't succeed in their new job or business — if they aren't promoted quickly
enough, if the business is persistently unprofitable or however else they define failure — they won't be
able to accept themselves as human beings. They figure that, even if their current fields aren't very
fulfilling, at least they know they can do their jobs well and they aren't likely to suffer setbacks that would
damage their opinions of themselves.
On the other, the lack of a sense of wholeness also affects people who want more satisfaction in their
current jobs. Because their self-esteem is riding on their career success, they're constantly worried that
something will go wrong in their jobs and they'll be left feeling bad about themselves. They lose sleep
over their bosses' opinions of their work, the amount of the next bonus and so on, and this renders them
unable to take pleasure in what they do. Because they look to their jobs as the main source of fulfillment
in their lives — or second only to their relationships — they find their lives intolerable when work
becomes stressful or repetitive.
The solution for both groups is to develop a greater feeling of wholeness — a feeling that, no matter what
their circumstances, they are worthy of love and the world is basically a benevolent place.
We might also think of this as a willingness to accept whatever the world brings us without collapsing
into despair or fear when we don't get what we want. While most of us look to our careers to give us a
sense that we're adequate people, this book's message is that we'll perform most productively and feel
happiest in our work if we come to it with a preexisting feeling that we're “okay” and “enough.”
Hossam Younes

This book is based on my work of helping people cultivate a feeling of completeness in themselves, and
the teachings of others who have inspired me, including authors in the areas of business, psychology and
spirituality. The book is organized into four guideposts designed to lead you toward a strong sense of
wholeness that's independent of any success or failure you may experience in your work. Each guidepost
is accompanied by exercises usually involving meditation, visualization or conscious breathing to help
you achieve that goal. I'll briefly introduce you to the guideposts here.
1. You are not your career. As I said earlier, many of us rely heavily on our careers for satisfaction in our
lives. For some people (my former self included), it's as if our jobs are part of our bodies, and if we don't
see ourselves as successful in them, we feel almost physically unhealthy.
Unfortunately, this means we have a hard time feeling like complete and worthwhile people when things
aren't going the way we'd like. Even if things are “going well” by our own standards — maybe we're
getting our superiors' approval, regular raises and so on — we still harbor the nagging worry that
something will go wrong, and this makes it difficult to enjoy what we do.
Usually, we try to deal with this fear by numbing ourselves with television, alcohol and other mindless
distractions, or hurling ourselves obsessively into our jobs in the hope of forestalling any possible
problems. These are at best only temporary solutions. What we need to do, and what the exercises in this
section help us do, is fully experience our fear, let it subside and see that we remain on the other side.
This helps us physically experience the fact that, in our essence, we are greater than our fears, our jobs
and anything else we face in our lives, and it gifts us with a deep sense of peace.
2. Let go of your resistance. In many aspects of our relationship with our work — whether we're in the
office trying to get a project done, dreaming up plans for our new career paths or something else — we
encounter part of ourselves that resists our efforts. When we come into conflict with this part, it's as if
every cell of our bodies angrily opposes our attempts to accomplish something.
If this part had a voice, it would have little more to say than “No, I won't!” This is the part of us that's in
charge when we're procrastinating. I call this part our “inner resistance.” Some also call it “narcissistic
rage.” This part of us simply wants to be, and is sick and tired of constantly striving to do and achieve
more. Some psychologists suggest that this aspect of our personalities develops in our early childhoods,
when we learn that others won't accept many of our behaviors and feelings, and that we have to conform
to their expectations to survive and be loved. On some level, we're still very upset about others' failure to
accept us for who we are, and sometimes this anger has us simply go on strike and refuse to produce or
create further.
What this part wants most, as I see it, is acknowledgment and appreciation. It needs to hear that we take
its desire to “just be” seriously. However, most of us don't have a very loving relationship with this part.
Instead, we call ourselves lazy or inadequate when it interferes with our work. Of course, this only
strengthens our inner resistance. To give our resistant part the recognition and understanding it needs, I
suggest we should simply allow it to be there until it subsides. The exercises in this section provide ways
to greet and acknowledge your resistance when it comes up.
3. It's okay to have wants. Some people experiencing a lack of fulfillment in their careers have this
problem because they have trouble admitting or serving their own wants. At some point in their lives, they
learned it was selfish or inappropriate for them to go for what they wanted, and that they were supposed
to think only of others' needs. Because they chose their careers to please their loved ones and friends
rather than themselves, it's no wonder they eventually realized they weren't in the right place. Since they
aren’t used to putting their attention on their desires, they often have only a murky sense of what they
Hossam Younes

actually want. Sometimes I find that people with difficulty acknowledging their desires just need a safe
place where they can tell someone what they want, without fear of being judged or mocked. Others just
need to practice asking themselves what they want in each situation they face in life, rather than falling
back into their habit of trying to figure out what everyone else wants them to do. The exercises in this
section are intended to help you get comfortable with your wants.
4. Give yourself permission to enjoy what you do. When we aren't feeling passionate about what we do,
we usually assume something in our choice of careers or our working environments is responsible.
Sometimes, however, it's simply because we've cut ourselves off from our ability to experience strong
feelings.
When we're confronted with intense pain, fear or some other uncomfortable sensation, we sometimes —
consciously or otherwise — adopt strategies to avoid feeling those emotions. For example, perhaps we
dissociate — our awareness leaves our bodies — or we freeze — we clench our muscles and hold our
breath to numb ourselves to how we feel.
Unfortunately, when we shut down our capacity to feel strong unpleasant sensations, we also shut down
our ability to feel intensely pleasurable ones. If we do this, we can’t get particularly excited about our
work, no matter how fun, lucrative or prestigious our jobs may look to the outside world. The exercises in
this section are intended to help you regain access to the sensations you want to feel about what you do.
Note that I've separated the exercises into four guideposts to help you choose the practices that serve you
best in your particular situation. If you have trouble determining or asking for what you want, for
instance, I'd recommend you focus on the exercises described in the third section (“It's Okay To Have
Wants”). You don't need to do every exercise in the book to get closer to the sense of wholeness and the
results you want, although doing them all will likely have the quickest and deepest effect. Of course, if
you find only certain exercises in a section useful, feel free to do only those on a regular basis.
Whatever exercises you choose, try to schedule a time each day when you can consistently run through
them and ingrain them deeply into your mind and spirit.
Why This Book Is Different
If you've read a number of career-related books and articles, you may wonder how this book is different
from everything else out there and how it will add value to your working experience. I'll say a few words
to answer this question.
In our culture, we tend to believe we can only improve our quality of lives by changing the facts in the
world — by making more money, having intimate relationships with more attractive partners, buying
bigger houses and so on. Time and again, this belief proves false: Each expensive house or car we buy,
resume line we accumulate and intimate partner we take up with has only temporary and minimal effects
on our fulfillment in life. Although we aspire to live like celebrities and wealthy people, we constantly
hear stories about how unhappy such people are, how their relationship can't seem to stay together, how
they're addicted to drugs and so on.
However, since most of us don't know any other way to find joy and meaning, we just keep striving to
acquire more stuff, hoping eventually some type of stuff will bring us bliss. Thus, we tend to look for jobs
and business ideas that generate the most money possible, or perhaps we look for jobs that are seen as
prestigious so we can get others' approval. We might call this the “outside-in” approach to career
satisfaction because it assumes the best way to improve our emotional state is to change our situation in
the world.
Hossam Younes

But there's another, subtler example of the “outside-in” approach that many of us will find familiar. Many
of us think we'll find happiness if we can just find an appealing work environment. To some of us, this
means a place where we do an activity we find meaningful, interesting or fun. For example, some lawyers
enter their profession because they enjoy conflict or negotiation, while some professors enter academia
because they're interested in the subjects they teach. To others, it means a place with supportive superiors
and colleagues.
Unfortunately, as many of us have found, getting into the right environment or doing the right activities at
work doesn't create lasting satisfaction either. Even a “dream job” becomes dull and repetitive or stressful
after a while. We start worrying that we're not living up to our full potential, and envying friends who
look happy doing something else. For example, lawyers might worry that they're not giving their creative
gifts to the world, and artists might worry that they aren't using their organization skills and talent for
business.
We tend to deal with this kind of dissatisfaction by either grimly accepting that “this is as good as it gets,”
or jumping to another environment in the dim hope that we'll finally find peace for the rest of our days in
the next venture. This is also an “outside-in” approach to finding career satisfaction, as it assumes that the
right working environment will eventually fulfill us.
Most books on finding a job or starting a business emphasize “tips and tricks” for career success. Whether
they deal with the “right things to say” in interviews, the proper body language to display if you want to
look trustworthy or dominant, how to convince customers to close a sale or something else, these books
are about strategies for getting others to do what we want in a business setting. These books follow the
“outside-in” approach because they assume improving your outer circumstances by using the techniques
they teach will bring you satisfaction. In his classic book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience,
psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi gives a compelling critique of the “tips-and-tricks” approach to
finding fulfillment: What follows is not going to be a “how-to” book. There are literally thousands of such
volumes in print or on the remainder shelves of bookstores, explaining how to get rich, powerful, loved,
or slim. . . . Yet even if their advice were to work, what would be the result afterward in the unlikely event
that one did turn into a slim, well-loved, powerful millionaire?
Usually what happens is that the person finds himself back at square one with a new list of wishes, just as
dissatisfied as before. What would really satisfy people is not getting slim or rich, but feeling good about
their lives.
As its title suggests, the book you’re reading does something different. It presents techniques and
perspectives to help improve your experience of your work — to have you feel more whole, peaceful and
centered — rather than strategies you can use to change the facts of your life. It presents, as
Csikszentmihalyi does in Flow, a “process of achieving happiness through control over one's inner life.”
The inside-out approach emphasizes our experience of working because, in the end, our careers — and
everything else we do — are efforts to experience the world in more positive ways. In other words, we
seek careers that are lucrative, prestigious and impactful because we want to feel peaceful, successful and
so on. If we didn't think our careers could produce such feelings for us, we wouldn't care so much about
them. When we come to our careers from a place of wholeness, we have a more positive experience of
working and of our lives in general.
I don't mean to completely dismiss the tips and strategies taught by the outside-in approaches. Some of
that type of knowledge is useful and often necessary, but without a solid inner sense of completeness,
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people often end up with a nagging feeling that something is missing, no matter how impressive their
achievements.
What Feeling Whole Does For Your Career
We've talked about how lacking the conviction that you're a complete being can make it hard to enjoy
what you do. But how does developing a sense of wholeness help you find career satisfaction? There are
many ways, which I'll discuss throughout this book, but I'll give a few examples here:
• When we genuinely know we'll accept ourselves no matter what, we start having room to
relax and actually enjoy what we do.
• When we're no longer so deathly afraid of making mistakes, we become able to take healthy
risks — a factor particularly important to current and would-be entrepreneurs.
• We become more creative and productive, as we no longer get paralyzed by indecision and
second-guessing our work.
• We find room to actually become passionate about what we do once working no longer
seems burdensome and frightening.
When we come to our work already feeling whole rather than seeking wholeness from our careers or
elsewhere, new dimensions of peace and fulfillment open to us. As spiritual teacher Tsunyota Kohe't
writes in Full Circle: Seeking The Knowledge Within, “[t]rue happiness is a quiet happiness, a quiet
confidence and a quiet peace which is unaffected by external factors. True happiness comes from within,
and true happiness is maintained from within.”
It's entirely possible that you may come to this work certain that you intend to change careers, but after
cultivating a stronger sense that you're complete and acceptable no matter what, decide to change your
plans. You may find, in other words, that the fulfillment you were looking for in seeking a career change
was within you all along, and only needed to be unlocked. That's perfectly fine too. After all, this book
and your career are ultimately about giving you the feelings you want to experience, and if you can have
those feelings without making a transition, so much the better.
What About Your Work Ethic?
The most common concern people express about the “inside-out” approach is that feeling more whole and
fulfilled will rob them of their motivation. If you already feel like everything's all right with yourself and
the world, they believe, you won't have any reason to pursue your goals. You need to feel like you're
incomplete or inadequate to “stay hungry” enough to keep going after what you want. This way of
thinking creates a strange paradox. We strive for more money, possessions, degrees and so on because we
want to feel more whole — but if we never allow ourselves to feel whole, we'll never actually achieve
what we want.
More importantly, when someone voices this worry, I feel compelled to ask: Have you ever actually
allowed yourself to feel whole and fulfilled? Are you speaking from experience? Did you slip into feeling
complete at some point in your life and end up slacking off at work, watching too much TV and leaving
the house a mess? The answer is almost always no.
Hossam Younes

Most of us have never had the experience of feeling that we're complete beings, no matter what happens
in the world. We just assume, without any evidence, that feeling whole will destroy our lives and we're
really better off feeling incomplete and fearful. As Dr. Robert Holden puts it in Happiness Now!: Timeless
Wisdom For Feeling Good Fast, we have “an implied fear that if there's too little suffering, the world
won't be able to work as it is!”
In fact, the experience of feeling whole actually helps us explore possibilities and take risks we wouldn't
have considered otherwise. Take, for example, the fact that the world's wealthiest people are
entrepreneurs — people who have built their own businesses, often from scratch and with little help from
others. For instance, 99% of the millionaires interviewed by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko for
their book The Millionaire Next Door owned their own businesses.
To feel comfortable starting a business, you must accept the risk that it will fail, as most startup
businesses do. This requires some level of conviction that, no matter what happens to your venture, you'll
remain an adequate person. If you suspect you'd become suicidally depressed if your business failed,
you'll probably shy away from entrepreneurship.
Of course, feeling complete doesn't mean you don't want anything. However, the key point is that, when
you have a deep-seated sense of fullness, you don't collapse into fear and insecurity when you don't get
what you want. Instead, you accept that your plan didn't work out, and either try again or explore other
possibilities.
Ordinarily, when we talk about what we “want” in life — whether it's “doing what we love,” making
more money, having kids or something else — we're actually talking about what we think we need. We
believe we “need” something when we feel like we aren't good enough, adequate or complete without it.
To hear the desperation that enters our voices when we talk about getting that promotion, buying that
house or getting into the right graduate program, it's as if we were talking about food, shelter or
something else we absolutely require to survive. When we approach our careers willing to accept that we
might not get what we want, rather than trying to serve an unmet need, we experience a new sense of
freedom in our work.
My Own Journey
Finally, to give you an idea of where I'm coming from with all this, I'll tell you a bit about my
background. In brief, one morning in April 2006, I woke up and realized I could do what I wanted with
my life. This may not seem like a novel realization to some, but it was for me. Before this epiphany, I
believed life was all about doing what I had to do. I had to go to law school, become an attorney, buy an
expensive car, dress a certain way and so on. I didn't see myself as having a choice.
At first glance, this may sound a little strange. It wasn't as if someone was holding my loved ones hostage
and demanding I pursue a legal career. However, given my mindset at the time, this belief made perfect
sense. I was convinced that, to feel like a worthwhile person and earn respect, I had to have a fairly
conventional career that was high-paying and prestigious, and have all the trappings — the house, car and
so on — expected of people on that path. As I saw myself as having talent as a writer and little aptitude
for math, law seemed like one of the few options that met my criteria.
On the morning I described, however, I woke up with the unfamiliar sense that I didn't have to prove to
anyone that I was a worthwhile person, or do anything to establish that I had a right to exist. Though I
was lying in my bed doing nothing at all, I was a whole, perfect being and I didn't need to acquire
anything else to complete myself. This realization filled me with a deep feeling of peace, and I went
Hossam Younes

through the day smiling and dreaming of all the wonderful possibilities I'd explore now that I had a choice
about how to live my life, including potentially changing my career.
Sadly, when I awoke the next day, the bliss of my epiphany was gone and my fears regarding feeling
“good enough” had returned. The career choices and options in other areas of my life I'd seriously
considered the day before now seemed unreasonable and unreachable. Pessimistic beliefs like “No, that
will never work,” “So many others already do what I want to do,” “I don't have enough business savvy,”
and so on crept back into my mind. While my serene feeling had departed, I knew I'd had a glimpse of
what was possible in my experience of living, and that over time I could bring myself back into that state
on a permanent basis.
More importantly, this experience taught me that the only limits on who I am and what I can do in life are
imposed by my ways of thinking and feeling. The more free and empowered I feel, the more success and
happiness I can achieve.With this in mind, I stayed in my law job over the next year, but I took up several
practices designed to restore the feeling of wholeness I'd experienced that morning. I started meditating
and doing yoga regularly, and hungrily devouring all the spirituality and self-help books and workshops I
could. I won't go further into the specifics of what I did, as this book is all about the exercises I found
most effective. I'll just say that eventually, I did find myself drawing closer to the freedom and
empowerment I'd felt so vividly before.
Around a year before this writing, my feeling that I was a complete and perfect being was strong enough
to generate some significant choices and changes. I decided my highest priority in life was to introduce
others to the sensation I'd experienced. Within a period of a few days, I developed a clear sense of
direction: I'd pursue a career in writing and coaching with the goal of bringing others the peace I'd found.
Leaving the legal profession and striking out on my own came quickly and naturally, where before it
seemed terrifying or impossible.
So there's the journey that brought me to this point, which should give you some idea of the approach I
take here and what I want for you and others. Now let's go about helping you along your own path.

Sample 2: “How to lead a Bodybuilding Lifestyle”

No matter how big or small your fitness goals are, living the bodybuilding lifestyle can help propel you
toward your goals that much faster and make them a reality.
Whether you plan on, or have already engaged in, lifting weights to improve your overall health and
enhance your body composition by adding mass and/or stripping away body fat, one thing is for sure—
you are, in one way or another," bodybuilding".
No matter what your fitness goals may be ... to compete locally, to compete nationally in hopes of
obtaining a pro card, to just simply lift weights in order to build up a skinny/shapeless body and feel
better about yourself, or to gain some muscle and lose some excess fat for health reasons, living the
bodybuilding lifestyle can help propel you towards your goals that much faster and make them a reality.
When I say "bodybuilding lifestyle," I am talking about the many big and small aspects that help to create
and maintain a healthy way of living cornered around correct exercise, eating, and recuperation.
Hossam Younes

The quality of work you perform and the success you obtain in the gym will also reflect on the quality of
your life outside of the gym, and vice versa. Each one benefits the other, and a lack of attention in one
area can easily spill over and affect the outcome in the other areas of your life.
Your health is your life, and bodybuilding is one of the number one ways to improve your personal health,
allowing you to acquire and enjoy the most that every day has to offer.
WHAT'S ENTAILED IN LIVING THE BODYBUILDING LIFESTYLE?
In order to get the most out of bodybuilding and to reach your fitness goals, certain variables (such as
diet, training, and recuperation) must be adhered to consistently—day in and day out.
The best way to make sure that you are successful in achieving the results you seek as quickly as possible
is to incorporate these variables as part of your everyday life, instead of viewing them as mere chores,
which can then seem like inconveniences more than key elements to living a longer, healthier, more
prosperous life.
To help maintain your consistency with diet, training, and recuperation, smaller variables, such as cutting
down on heavy partying, not smoking, passing up on unhealthy fast-food, checking over nutrition labels
of foods you buy, training with high intensity, setting goals, and giving yourself 8-10 hours of sleep
nightly, should be implemented as much as possible into your lifestyle. Take a step back and look at your
day-to-day lifestyle in general.
What kinds of foods make up the majority of your diet? Are you eating two or three big meals per day
instead of the needed 5-7 smaller proportioned nutritious meals needed to kick your metabolism into high
gear?
Are you training consistently on a proper program with 100% intensity? Do you have a plan or set goals
every time you workout ? Do you party or consume alcohol often, and not get much sleep? Are you happy
with your progress in the gym as well as the progress with your life in general?
These are just some questions you can, and should, ask yourself from time-to-time to determine if you are
making positive choices and living a lifestyle that is suitable for reaching your goals and obtaining
success.
THE NEED FOR BALANCE
Just as it is essential to follow certain guidelines in order to reach your goals in bodybuilding, you should
also strive to balance out your life by indulging in other activities and enjoyments that life itself has to
offer. Bodybuilding should not consume you or your life, and just like anything else, too much of one
thing can become destructive.
Bodybuilding is a 24-hour sport, which requires a certain degree of dedication, sacrifice and repetitive
work in order to prevail successfully—but one can, however, get caught up in putting "all their eggs in
one basket" and placing too much energy and focus into one thing only.
Instead, use what bodybuilding has taught you both inside and outside of the gym, and apply these
benefits in positive ways to other important areas of your life. Whether it be performing your job better,
being more successful in school, decreasing anxiety to better relieve daily stress, taking on new
responsibilities, setting new goals, or improving your overall mood and self-esteem.
Hossam Younes

By providing balance to your bodybuilding, as well as establishing goals outside of your fitness
endeavors, a more complete lifestyle can be had, and in return, your bodybuilding goals will continue to
remain fresh and in a progressing state.
THE BENEFITS OF LEADING THE BODYBUILDING LIFESTYLE
The benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle through bodybuilding are endless, and it is through
bodybuilding itself that many key ingredients for success, not only in bettering one's own health, but also
enhancing one's entire way of living, are readily provided, when the time is taken to realize and seek the
"bodybuilding lifestyle".
Being more fit equates to being physically able to do more life activities you enjoy doing with much more
energy and motivation, slowing down the aging process (living longer), increased confidence and self
well-being, better overall body functioning and performance, and knowing that you can achieve the goals
you set out to do, both inside the gym as well as in all other areas of your life.
Allow the hard work and discipline that you put forth in your workouts to carry over into the other aspects
of your daily activities, and I guarantee that you will have a more well-rounded and successful lifestyle.
Your health and fitness should be the last thing that stops you from enjoying both the simple and finer
things that life has to offer.
By combining your passion for bodybuilding/fitness and utilizing the three basic elements I've discussed
above (training, diet, and rest) correctly, while continually making healthy choices and balancing out all
other facets of your life, you can improve your lifestyle and set yourself up for optimal results both inside
and outside of the gym.
Living the "bodybuilding lifestyle" is an enjoyable way of life, but remember, it is not your whole life.
Realize what bodybuilding has to offer you, seize the benefits and apply them to your everyday life. Most
importantly, have fun, stay healthy, and maintain balance among all your daily life activities and goals!
And what better time to start enhancing your progress in the gym and making changes to the way you live
your life than now! New Year's is just around the corner and there is not a better resolution you can set for
yourself than to start living the bodybuilding lifestyle!" to help create success in all areas of your life!

Sample 3: “How to Become a Great Leader”

How would you describe a strong leader? In one study, leadership qualities such as assertiveness,
adaptability, intelligence, and conscientiousness were cited as the most important.

"Research clearly shows that transformational leaders—leaders who are positive, inspiring, and
who empower and develop followers—are better leaders," explains psychologist and leadership
expert Ronald E. Riggio. "They are more valued by followers and have higher performing
teams."

So what can you do embrace these valued leadership qualities and become a stronger and more
effective leader?
Hossam Younes

Transformational leaders are usually described as enthusiastic, passionate, genuine and energetic.
These leaders are not just concerned about helping the group achieve its goals; they also care
about helping each member of the group reach his or her full potential.

Consider some of the following tips for how to become a better leader and think about ways that
you can implement these strategies in your daily life.

Start by Understanding Your Leadership Style

Understanding your current leadership style is essential. What are your strengths? Which areas
need some improvement? One way to start assessing your skills is to take this leadership style
quiz to get a general idea of how you lead.

Once you have completed the quiz, read about the major characteristics of your dominant style.
Are these qualities helping or hindering your leadership? Once you've determined which areas
need some work, you can begin looking for ways to improve your leadership abilities.

Encourage Creativity

Intellectual stimulation is one of the leadership qualities that define transformational leadership.
Followers need to be encouraged to express their creativity. Effective leaders should offer new
challenges with ample support to achieve these goals.

One way to foster creativity is to offer challenges to group members, making sure that the goals
are within the grasp of their abilities. The purpose of this type of exercise is to get people to
stretch their limits but not become discouraged by barriers to success.

Serve as a Role Model

Idealized influence is another of the four key components of transformational leadership.

Transformational leaders exemplify the behaviors and characteristics that they encourage in their
followers. They walk the walk and talk the talk. As a result, group members admire these leaders
and work to emulate these behaviors.

If you want to become a better leader, work on modeling the qualities that you would like to see
in your team members.

Be Passionate

Would you look to someone for guidance and leadership if they did not truly care about the goals
of the group? Of course not! Great leaders are not just focused on getting group members to
finish tasks; they have a genuine passion and enthusiasm for the projects they work on.
Hossam Younes

You can develop this leadership quality by thinking of different ways that you can express your
zeal. Let people know that you care about their progress. When one person shares something
with the rest of the group, be sure to tell them how much you appreciate such contributions.

Listen and Communicate Effectively

Another important quality of transformational leadership involves a focus on providing one-on-

one communication with group members.

Good leaders should express sincere care and concern for the members of their group both
verbally and nonverbally.

By keeping the lines of communication open, these leaders can ensure that group members feel
able to make contributions and receive recognition for their achievements.

Have a Positive Attitude

Transformational leaders have an upbeat, optimistic attitude that serves as a source of inspiration
for followers. If leaders seem discouraged or apathetic, members of the group are likely to also
become uninspired.

Even when things look bleak and your followers start to feel disheartened, try to stay positive.
This does not mean viewing things through rose-colored glasses. It simply means maintaining a
sense of optimism and hope in the face of challenges.

Encourage People to Make Contributions

Let the members of your team know that you welcome their ideas. Leaders who encourage
involvement from group members are often referred to as democratic or participative leaders.
While they retain the final say over all decisions, they encourage team members to take an active
role in coming up with ideas and plans.
Research has shown that using a democratic leadership style leads to greater commitment, more
creative problem-solving and improved productivity.

Motivate Your Followers

Transformational leaders also provide inspirational motivation to encourage their followers to get
into action. Of course, being inspirational isn't always easy. Fortunately, you don't need
motivational speeches to rouse your group members.

Some ideas for leadership-inspiration include being genuinely passionate about ideas or goals,
helping followers feel included in the process and offering recognition, praise, and rewards for
people's accomplishments.

Offer Rewards and Recognition

Hossam Younes

Another important quality of a good leader involves knowing that offering effective recognition
and rewards is one of the best ways to help followers feel appreciated and happy. It may also
come as no surprise that happy people tend to perform better at work.

According to researchers Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer, leaders can help group members
feel happier by offering help, removing barriers to success and rewarding strong efforts.

Keep Trying New Things

Who says leadership is a one-way relationship? As you work toward developing some of these
leadership qualities, don't forget to look to your followers for feedback and inspiration.

Pay attention to the things that have been effective in the past and always be on the lookout for
new ways to inspire, motivate and reward group members.

Sample 4: “How to improve your critical thinking skills”

Every day, I’m amazed at the amount of information I consume; I listen to the news on my morning run,
scan the papers while I’m eating breakfast, check my social media accounts throughout the day, and
watch some TV before I go to bed, all while getting constant updates via email and Twitter. That’s pretty
overwhelming on its own, but things get really interesting when some of that information is biased,
inaccurate, or just plain made up. It makes it hard to know what to believe. But even with all the
competing sources and opinions out there, getting the truth — or at least close to it — matters. What you
believe affects what you buy, what you do, who you vote for, and even how you feel. In other words, it
virtually dictates how you live your life.
So how can you sort the wheat from the chaff? Well, one clear way is by learning to think more critically.
Critical thinking is as simple as it sounds — it’s just a way of thinking that helps you get a little closer to
the best answer. So the next time you have a problem to solve, a decision to make or a claim to evaluate,
you can decide whether it’s likely to be true — and if you should do anything about it. Here’s how.
1. Don’t Take Anything at Face Value
The first step to thinking critically is to learn to evaluate what you hear, what you read, and what you
decide to do. So, rather than doing something because it’s what you’ve always done or accepting what
you’ve heard as the truth, spend some time just thinking. What’s the problem? What are the possible
solutions? What are the pros and cons of each? Of course, you still have to decide what to believe and
what to do, but if you really evaluate things, you’re likely to make a better, more reasoned choice.
2. Consider Motive
We recently got a call from our cellular service provider about changing our very old, very cheap cell
phone plan. They claimed they could give us a new plan that would provide better value. But why, my
partner asked, would the company be interested in pursuing us so that we could pay less? Aren’t
companies generally interested in making more money? Good question, right? And the reason we were
asking it is because we questioned the cellular phone company’s motives. What they said just didn’t make
sense.
Hossam Younes

Where information is coming from is a key part of thinking critically about it. Everyone has a motive and
a bias. Sometimes, like the cellular phone company, it’s pretty obvious; other times, it’s a lot harder to
detect. Just know that where any information comes from should affect how you evaluate it — and
whether you decide to act on it.
3. Do Your Research
All the information that gets thrown at us on a daily basis can be overwhelming, but if you decide to take
matters into your own hands, it can also be a very powerful tool. If you have a problem to solve, a
decision to make, or a perspective to evaluate, get onto Google and start reading about it. The more
information you have, the better prepared you’ll be to think things through and come up with a reasonable
answer to your query.
4. Ask Questions
I sometimes find myself shying away from questions. They can make me feel like a bit of a dummy,
especially when whoever’s fielding them isn’t receptive. But mostly, I can’t help myself. I just need to
know! And once you go down that rabbit hole, you not only learn more, but often discover whole new
ways of thinking about things. I think those other perspectives can also help you get closer to thinking
through a problem or uncovering what’s what, which brings me to my next point ...

5. Don’t Assume You’re Right

I know it’s hard. I struggle with the hard-headed desire to be right as much as the next person. Because
being right feels awesome. It’s an ego trip almost everyone aims to take at some time or another. But
assuming you’re right will often put you on the wrong track when it comes to thinking critically. Because
if you don’t take in other perspectives and points of view, and think them over, and compare them to your
own, you really aren’t doing much thinking at all — and certainly not the critical kind.
6. Break It Down
Being able to see the big picture is often touted as a great quality, but I’d wager that being able to see that
picture for all its components is even better. After all, most problems are too big to solve all at once, but
they can be broken down into smaller parts. The smaller the parts, the easier it’ll be to evaluate them
individually and arrive at a solution. This is essentially what scientists do; before they can figure out how
a bigger system — such as our bodies or an ecosystem — works, they have to understand all the parts of
that system, how they work, and how they relate to each other.

7. Keep It Simple
In the scientific community, a line of reasoning called Occam’s razor is often used to decide which
hypothesis is most likely to be true. This means finding the simplest explanation that fits all facts. This is
what you would call the most obvious explanation, and the one that should be preferred, at least until it’s
proven wrong. Often, Occam’s razor is just plain common sense. Sure, it’s possible that the high-priced
skin cream on TV will make you look 20 years younger — even though you’ve never heard of it, and
neither has anyone else. What’s more likely is that the model shown in the ad really is 20 years old.
Hossam Younes

Critical thinking isn’t easy. It involves letting go of what we want to believe and embracing a whole
bunch of new information. It’s uncomfortable, but it’s also interesting. And when you do your research
and finally lay out what you believe to be the facts, you’ll probably be surprised by what you uncover. It
might not be what you were expecting, but chances are it’ll be closer to the truth.

Sample 5: “7 easy steps to become a better digital marketer”

Being a digital marketer is a lot different today than it was a decade ago. Where we used to focus almost
exclusively on website content and SEO, acting like specialized engineers, today's digital marketers have
evolved into something more akin to orchestra conductors.
And that's a big job, because there are a lot of instruments, a much bigger audience and a ton of moving
parts. To make everything work, you as digital marketer have to understand the nuances and how all those
parts interact. Otherwise, all you have is noise.
Digital marketing, then, is knowing how social and digital channels operate together, how they interact.
Let’s look at the ways you can grow your passion and become a better digital marketer, so your own
"orchestra" sounds less like an elementary school band.
1. Learn to leverage the data.
There’s a lot of talk about the importance of “big data.” But it’s not about the data itself. It’s how you use
it: You have to know how to become an analyst so you’re doing more than just regurgitating numbers.
The problem is, the landscape changes so fast that the idea of analyzing data makes some marketers weak
in the knees. But analysis is what is needed. It’s rare to find a marketer who understands and lives just by
the numbers.
If you’re not a numbers person, that’s okay. At least recognize the importance of creating and revising
strategies by the numbers -- then partner with someone who is your “numbers guy.” (Recommended
resource: HubSpot)
2. Get involved in paid social advertising.
The gold rush on "likes" and "follows" is quieting. The free global reach is still there, but social channels
like Facebook now have so much data they can sell it back to businesses, and those businesses get to
benefit. Research, in fact, shows that social ad spending will hit $25 billion in 2016, with Facebook
getting a huge slice.
The social media giant is winning in that regard because social ads, done well, can be extremely effective
due to Facebook's focused targeting.
Make yourself a better marketer by improving your social ad skills:
Learn more about granular targeting and how to customize your audiences.
Understand how to deep dive into Facebook insights.
Learn more about testing how creative images can improve the performance of boosted/sponsored
content.
(Recommended resource: Quick Sprout)
Hossam Younes

3. Get the most out of email marketing.

Social media is a great tool for brand awareness and engagement, but your most loyal and committed
prospects and customers want to keep in touch via email. Email has grown into a complex marketing tool
that delivers serious results.
Niche targeting and list segmentation, split testing and analyzing metrics, like bounce, open and
clickthrough rates, are powerful tools that are often underestimated. The result is that a lot of marketers
and businesses come up short, so you can benefit by being the expert. (Recommended
resource: Kissmetrics)
4. Do more visual marketing.
There’s enough research available to tell us that people engage better with visual content, from stand-
alone images to video, infographics, animated GIFs used in social and images placed within blog content.
Thirty-five percent of marketers in one study selected visual assets as their most important content and 65
percent of senior marketing executives said they believed visual assets were key to how their brand story
was communicated. That’s because content with relevant images gets 94 percent more views than
content without relevant images.
Learn how to use visuals to make your campaigns more successful. (Recommended
resource: QuickSprout).
5. Become a better content marketer.
Content is the foundation for all marketing. It’s why search was created in the first place. When content is
done well, and you’re delivering superior value to your audience, you’ll see an increase in engagement,
leads, sales and overall organic visibility.
But good content isn’t always easy to produce. The most important components you’ll need to learn and
understand are:
How to create a documented content marketing strategy
How to create really awesome "10x" content (content 10 times better than that of your competitors)
The best ways to promote your content
What kind of content your audience wants.
Start with those skills to build your content marketing strength and become a better digital marketer.
Hossam Younes

6. Get your hands on more technology.

There are new apps and software services coming out all the time. Some recycle the same features; others
innovate within their space. A good digital marketer knows to continually expand his or her tool box with
new technology tools to better manage the work and improve the results. Popular tools include:
Hootsuite
Buffer
Google Analytics
Quuu
HubSpot
Aweber
AdRoll
SproutSocial
Unbounce
CrazyEgg
Moz
Getting familiar with tools and platforms like those listed here will make you an asset in digital marketing
and will better serve you, as well as your clients/employer.
7. Dig into social media marketing.
Organic social engagement is the other side of the coin from social media; and it has a lot of moving
parts. Success comes from understanding the functionality of different social networks, which ones to
focus on, what goals to apply to different networks, which tactics will help achieve those goals, where
your audience members spend their time and the best types of content to use to inspire engagement.
If you’re marketing for your own business, you don’t need to leverage them all to find success. If you’re
marketing for others, it’s best to build your experience with a variety of platforms. The more skilled you
are with social media marketing, the more value you bring to the table for clients or employers.
Remember that no matter what the platform, knowing your audience and understanding how to engage
them comes before all else. (Recommended resource: Social Media Examiner)
Conclusion
The skills you need can seem like a long list, but getting better at digital marketing is a journey, not a
sprint. Prioritize what is most relevant to you first and start building your experience in each area, using
some of the recommended resources above.
Set goals and begin working through them. The only way to become a better digital marketer is to start
working on it today.