Transcripts
You can go to Syria.
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:There's a saying that you can go to any
traffic light and speak any language in
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:the world, and you'll find at least one
or two people able to speak that language.
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:The problem is there is
no solution for life.
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:The solution for life is to live life.
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:That's the only way.
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:And to live wherever you are,
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:The way you talk to a girl is by
talking to girls and the first, the
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:first few time you're gonna, you know,
put, have your foot in your mouth.
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:And then you learn oh, this
works, this doesn't work.
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:But how can you learn how to talk to
people by not talking to people, by going
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:to a course to learn, talk to people.
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:Russell Newton: Hello listeners and
welcome back to The Science of Self,
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:where You Improve Your Life From the
inside out, we have a guest today.
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:This is Hussein Halak.
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:He is an entrepreneur.
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:A strategist, an author, and several
other things From the look of the
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:website tell us about yourself.
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:Hussein Hallak: Absolutely.
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:Thank you very much for having me Russell.
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:So, I'm Hussein Halak I like to
think of myself as, you know,
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:entrepreneur and, which is a word
that I, that I had to learn I didn't
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:know that it, such a thing existed.
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:And recently \an author, I, I wrote
my first book after five tries.
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:I am, enamored and blown away
with the diversity and how
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:much we can explore in life.
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:I love for other people to live
life that way, which is more of an
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:exploratory discovery, journey they're
on and, get the most out of it so
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:that they can have joy, happiness,
and in whatever field that they want.
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:That is my mission and purpose
and that's why I'm here.
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:Russell Newton: Would you mind
giving us, as Americans, that grew
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:up here, some background and let us
understand a little bit about your,
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:childhood and your growing up time?
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:Hussein Hallak: A hundred percent.
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:Syria is a very, very unique place.
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:A lot of people can say that about
their country, of origin, but it is
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:in many ways, a very diverse country.
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:it's an area that had many
empires pass through it.
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:And that impact us in many different ways.
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:So it's a highly educated place.
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:We, we love learning.
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:We love education.
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:we love engaging with
people and kind of reading.
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:it's a brilliant place.
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:However, when I was growing up,
when I was a kid at the early
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:stages, it was, interesting.
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:But then, after that, while
growing up, In Syria was kind
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:of, you could live a great life.
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:people were paid nicely.
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:I remember my parents holding parties even
though we were not a very rich family.
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:We were mid class, middle.
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:But then, sanctions happened and
I remember vividly standing in
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:line to get tea, sugar and rice.
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:in portions, that's what we had as
a family to live until the early
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:nineties when things opened up again.
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:So that's kind of formed my upbringing
and, informed my questioning of why these
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:things are happening, how these things.
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:So that is the atmosphere
that I grew up in.
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:And, Syria is a lot of historic, nice
stuff, but it's also a country that
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:had been plagued with dictatorship.
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:at a later stage in 2008, 2009, and
10, the uprising, until the Civil
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:War in, 2011 where I wasn't there.
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:But obviously all my family and my
extended family, I've lost a few cousins
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:that I grew up with, in that war.
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:Russell Newton: you have so much
to draw from for your history.
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:Hussein Hallak: Funny enough
that you say that because I
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:liked America for the relative.
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:I think that connection between America
and Syria, first of all, that you, if you
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:grew up around a lot of people that don't
necessarily look like you and don't feel
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:like they should exist in the same place.
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:If you go to other places in the
world, you would find people look
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:like each other, have kind of a.
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:certain belonging that overall, I mean,
obviously different countries, different
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:areas in the world, but in general,
Syria is that unique place because if you
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:go to Jordan, you have less diversity.
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:If you go to Iraq, lesser diversity.
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:Turkey, I think has that diversity.
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:But if you go, Syria, Lebanon, they
are, they're known for that diversity
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:of heritage and the diversity of,
belongings As an ethnic belonging,
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:we had all kind of, religions all
kind of sects within the religion.
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:And you live next to each other and
you live with each other and you
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:learned how to navigate those things
we have a saying that religion's for
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:God and the country's for everyone.
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:Russell Newton: And that's great.
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:So is Syria
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:Hussein Hallak: No.
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:Russell Newton: you were growing up, when
did you leave Syria and where did you go?
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:Hussein Hallak: in fact, you are right.
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:after the sanctions happened,
the average salary of an engineer
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:there is a hundred dollars per
month, just to give you an idea.
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:it wasn't enough.
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:So, after sanctions, my family
turned from, a middle class
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:family to, a poor family.
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:We were not making ends meet.
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:in my, teens, I experienced what it's like
to be poor and not having enough money
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:and sometimes not having enough food.
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:we would have, one meal
a day or stuff like that.
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:when I went to university, I started
working to make money to kind of pay for
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:myself And as an adult, even though in
Syria you don't leave your parents' house
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:and live on your own until you're married.
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:So usually it's on your late twenties,
thirties, sometimes even you get
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:married and you stay at, if the
house is big enough, you stay there.
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:So it's a different culture that way.
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:by 2002, I started a company, that builds
websites online that are like games, and
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:we ended up working with a company called
Space Tunes the Disney of the Middle East.
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:We did a great job, and,
they echo hired our team.
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:Now I had no idea what Echo hire mean.
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:a lot of the early beginnings.
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:I had no idea what I was doing.
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:I was just trying stuff because
there was no other thing to do.
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:they ended up loving what we
are doing and that gave me the
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:opportunity to go to Dubai.
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:So in 2003, I landed in Dubai
and started my life there.
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:Russell Newton: Very interesting.
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:you talk about painting, you're into art.
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:What kind of music do you play
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:Hussein Hallak: I played a,
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:Russell Newton: you ever in a band?
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:Hussein Hallak: yes, I was,
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:Russell Newton: Excellent,
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:Hussein Hallak: my first dream and the
dream that I would leave everything
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:for, well, almost everything is being
a, you know, a headliner in a rock band.
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:It was my fascination.
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:I loved, white snake, Metallica, they,
the purple, you know, whoever I, I
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:was fascinated with, with rock metal.
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:and, and I joined, it's, it's a
small community in Syria because
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:it's an Arabic country, but there is
a small community that loves, rock.
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:In fact, rock is very big for Syrians
and in the Arab world, especially
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:the Levant area, there's a small but
powerful community that loves, rock.
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:So I ended up headlining
several bands there.
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:I had my own groupies was kind of famous.
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:I trained my voice and played guitar.
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:I loved the guitar, everything
that I got a chance to do, I did.
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:I headlined the band.
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:I drew paintings actually
exhibited them, and caricature.
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:acted in university plays as well.
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:everything that I had the chance, it was
like somebody says, well, there is this.
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:It was like, okay, let's try it,
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:Russell Newton: it.
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:Hussein Hallak: so that's one of the.
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:Philosophies that I encourage people to do
is that life offers you a lot of things.
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:it's okay to build a career, but stop
trying to act like this career is the
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:only thing that's available to you.
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:I'm vehemently against the idea of
focus, the way it's presented right
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:now, that focus is the way to success.
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:you need to define success
in a different way.
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:And that's how I lived my life.
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:And I, and I'm, and I've
enjoyed it thoroughly.
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:And of course there was ups and downs
all the time, but that's the way it is.
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:Russell Newton: Hussein is the
author of The Dark Art of Life
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:Mastery, why The dark art.
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:Hussein Hallak: Hmm.
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:Russell Newton: is Life
Mastery a dark art?
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:Hussein Hallak: Because it's
not straightforward and it'll
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:look differently for each one.
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:I like this, out of Harry Potter.
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:I like when they were doing potions.
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:things blow up in your face, even though
the teacher is there and telling them,
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:here's the potion and they have the
book, but somehow the personal factor.
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:There's that wizard, factor
that they have to apply.
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:So there is the formula, but there
is also your personal take on it.
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:it's art and it's dark because you're
kind of feeling your way through it.
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:you don't know how it's gonna end
up, how things are gonna unfold.
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:So that is, the atmosphere that I
wanted to tell you can get life mastery,
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:but it's something that you have to
work at It's not something you can
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:open the book and say, oh, okay, I
do 1, 2, 3, and I got life mastery.
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:Russell Newton: your phrase, embracing
true purpose, that encapsulates
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:a lot of things, I think, that
we talk about frequently here.
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:Understanding your personal
values and making sure that your
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:actions and your lifestyle blend
in with those personal values.
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:Is that what embracing true
purpose encompasses for you.
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:Hussein Hallak: Yeah.
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:a true purpose is not something
that sounds nice, like, oh,
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:my purpose is to help people.
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:It's, and for me, it's active.
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:It's active choice rather than, you
know, surrender so what does that mean?
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:I started my life wanting to become
a doctor because I wanted to open a
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:hospital and help a lot of poor people.
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:Life unfolded in a certain way
and I had certain opportunities
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:to take, and there was certain
doors that are closed in my way.
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:Does that mean I let go of that?
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:And does that mean I'm stuck with
that purpose No, I learned I can
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:choose something different because
the moment has shifted I think the
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:American dream is quite unique that way.
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:The idea of the American dream, doesn't
come from, just what people teach.
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:if you look at, the immigrants who landed
in New York, you would come from nothing.
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:You would come, let's say be Irish
for example, and even your Irish right
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:now, if you're Irish, you're considered
white and you're considered privilege.
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:But at the time, Irish people
were kind of, looked down upon
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:So if you're new to a country and
still you can build yourself up.
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:And become anything, you can become a
billionaire or something as a measure
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:of success and these kind of things.
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:So it became kind of, it's not
something that is told to people
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:as much as it's something that was
observed as the All American story.
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:And I think it's unique to America
because only in America was the country
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:where you could land from anywhere and
become something so much more than you
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:could ever become where you come from.
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:I think it's uniquely American.
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:the idea that you can become anything.
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:meant that every door is open.
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:And that's not true, because just
because you can become president doesn't
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:mean you should become president.
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:for example, I can become an
artist, but doesn't mean I should
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:become an artist because maybe
I have nothing to contribute.
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:So the question that needs to be
asked in my opinion, is what is
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:the thing that matters most to you?
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:And what is it that you want
to contribute to the world?
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:Russell Newton: Is a participation
award, something that is, prevalent
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:outside the United States?
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:Hussein Hallak: Yeah.
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:I think there is nothing wrong with it
to give people, participation awards
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:as long as it says what it says.
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:if you put everyone on equal footing,
as in like if you scored 10, goals
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:in a match or something, you are the
same as someone who just came, that
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:creates a false equivalence in people's
minds and doesn't say the truth.
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:I'm a very advocate of the facts
and the truth, being part of a
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:team, everybody plays a role.
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:And that is I think, where it comes from.
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:I'm a big believer in that if you look at
a company, it's kind of like when Kennedy?
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:I think when there was a space program
they asked the janitor, a famous story.
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:What is your job?
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:And he says, I'm helping
put a man on the moon.
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:in many ways, keeping, the desk
clean of the scientists and making
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:sure nothing is out of place.
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:These are important roles.
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:Everybody in society
has an important role.
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:the idea that.
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:Only an engineer or a doctor.
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:That's why you hated it In fact,
if you look at, let's say, I don't
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:know if it's prevalent among people
from my ethnicity or coming from
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:Syria, but I hated that fact.
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:I loved artists Picasso was the
biggest figure, or Dali or, the
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:musicians I listened to, these are the
people I dreamt to be I didn't dream
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:to be a doctor as a status symbol.
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:That was a status symbol because of the
influence of what you can do America has
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:all of the beautiful things about the
human, state and all of the ugly things,
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:because that's who we are as human beings.
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:Russell Newton: is fantastic at
the concept of you could, become
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:CEO of whatever company, but is
that what you should have done?
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:without knowing those internal
values that's where it all starts.
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:Without understanding that and being true
to that, you can't do what you should
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:do, whether it's, more or less than,
some of the other things you could do.
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:Hussein Hallak: That is, you,
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:Russell Newton: interesting.
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:Hussein Hallak: when you said that you
reminded me of, these reality shows,
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:like, America's Got Talent you see people.
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:show up there and you wonder
how did they get there?
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:Didn't they hear their own,
you know, their own voice?
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:Then people around them hear
them, why didn't they tell them?
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:it's fun to make fun of those
people, but it's very revealing
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:of the human condition.
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:When I started to play guitar.
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:the people I looked up to, and wanted
to, imitate were the best in the world.
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:And I was like, that's where I want to go.
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:I think there's this, I don't
know the actual name of it.
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:I think it's like, self-awareness,
but it's self-awareness of your
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:ability to measure your own
level in a certain skillset.
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:Like to understand are you good or not?
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:Or how good are you?
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:I wrote once that feedback is
not feedback until it hurts.
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:We hate feedback.
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:There's nobody, I don't care how
open you are, how comfortable,
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:and confident in yourself.
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:true.
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:Feedback hurts.
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:the person I love the most.
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:my wife, has the harshest feedback for me.
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:It's so hard I can count on my hand,
the times in my life that she said,
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:you've done something good Whenever I
show her an article or play something,
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:it's like, you could have done this.
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:I remember even writing poetry for her.
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:This is iconic.
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:I wrote poetry for her and she
sent it back with corrections,
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:grammar, corrections on my poetry.
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:Like I'm writing poetry for the
woman I love more than life itself.
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:And she sent it back with
corrections to the grammar.
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:Russell Newton: At the bottom just
because you can doesn't mean you
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:Hussein Hallak: Exactly right.
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:And I can tell you that woman has made me
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:Russell Newton: a piece of information
you'd like to put out there, service you
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:provide, a book you'd like to recommend,
or just a final piece of advice, I'd
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:ask you to share that with the listeners
as well take as much time as you like
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:and you've answered the, when we got
through that information, we'll do a
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:wrap up and be done with the episode.
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:So take it away.
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:Hussein Hallak: Thank
you for the questions.
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:Like everything in your life need to
align with what you're working on.
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:You need to have an area in your
life where your openness allows
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:for new ideas to enter your world.
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:And you can't do that without
opening yourself up to the things
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:that you disagree with, to the
things that, sometimes annoy you and
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:sometimes, make you uncomfortable.
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:Another way of saying it.
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:if you're not uncomfortable,
you're not being open enough.
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:You're not engaging in life deeply enough.
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:You have to engage in life to the
point that you touch something that's
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:uncomfortable, and then you ask
yourself, why am I uncomfortable?
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:that is something that has been
highly impactful in my life.
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:The other thing that balances that out,
because if you wanna be uncomfortable,
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:you have to find areas of comfort.
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:I think that is searching
for what real joy means.
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:we engage in our lives.
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:I've had this, vision board that used
to have on it climbing Mount Everest,
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:having a red Mercedes, becoming, the
best coach like, Anthony Robbins.
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:And I had all these nine things
that I wanted in every area of my
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:life to be the best, and I asked
myself one of the most important.
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:Things and I continue to ask myself, What
is the one thing that if I don't have
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:right now, nothing in the world matters.
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:when I asked myself that question,
it was around:
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:it was a happy, healthy family
at the time I had my second kid.
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:and it was so present, it was so
shocking that I didn't have any of
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:that in my vision board, even though
they're the most important thing for me.
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:that thing that matters most to you
is something you want right now.
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:And if it's present right now,
nothing in the world matters.
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:if you anchor yourself in that and
seek it, you will experience joy,
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:through joy is the path towards it.
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:having it again and again, you
never get satisfied from it.
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:It's like, if you love ice cream,
or some sort of food that it's only
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:available in seasons, not always
available, you know, and when you
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:have it, you're like, oh my God.
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:That's it.
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:That kind of feeling that the
thing that matters most to you will
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:give you every time you have it.
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:You can never get bored of it.
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:And once you experience that, you
start seeing things that you want to
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:accomplish, which are perfectly fine.
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:Being rich, having the cars,
having whatever it is that you
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:want, you start seeing them as.
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:Nice things to have when you have them,
you're happy a little bit, but then
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:they become normal like anything else.
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:So you differentiate true joy
from moments of happiness,
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:Russell Newton: versus
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:Hussein Hallak: Exactly.
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:And that has been the most insightful
thing that I continue to engage with
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:and learn what it means to me and
continue to explore areas of depth.
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:to answer your second question, I would
definitely love for people to engage
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:with my writing and engage with my book.
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:You can find me@husainhalek.com
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:and for my book.
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:And what I would only ask is that find
something to teach people around you.
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:That would be my calling for people.
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:Find something you can contribute and
teach people around you if there's
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:one practice that I've done in my
life that opened up doors that I've
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:never thought that would open is, the
willingness to contribute when I thought
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:I didn't have enough to contribute.
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:sometimes we think I have to be,
at this level to help others.
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:I remember playing guitar
for people when I was just
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:training, it wasn't to show off.
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:It was more like I wanted the joy of us
engaging together and I wanted, so when
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:you want to contribute even as little,
it's such a, such a great thing and it
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:opens up many doors and you start loving
up because you wanna contribute more.
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:It's, once you experience
it, you want more.
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:that is my wish for your audience and
whoever's listening those are my answers.
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:Russell Newton: Fantastic.
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:Thank you very much.
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:It's been a great time.
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:Thank you, Hussein.
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:Hussein Hallak: Thank you
for having me Russell.
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:I enjoyed it thoroughly.
