Time Management: Weekly Resolutions - Featuring Chantal Souaid

Pity Party Over

Chantal Souaid is the creator of “The Weekly Resolution® Planner,” a time management tool that allows consistent progress without the cumbersome weight of perfectionism.

Chantal's schedule is very tight as a business entrepreneur and a mom of young twins. She believes that any goal and dream is achievable with consistency and the awareness that the most crucial step is to enjoy the journey as it unfolds.

For Chantal, staying in the moment holds greater significance than chasing perfection, firmly asserting that consistency sustains momentum while motivation initiates the trip.

Chantal Souaid is a three-month BARKAT Entrepreneur program graduate, an application-based 100% scholarship offering for Middle Eastern and African female entrepreneurs, and part of The Goddess Solution by Puneet Sachdev.

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TRANSCRIPT

Stephen Matini: Was there any person or any event in your past that somehow have impacted your professional choices?

Chantal Souaid: So I'll tell you about three things and I combined them all and I called them the tipping point in my life. And these things were: one, I delivered twins prematurely, which I wasn't expecting.

Two, living in Lebanon, we had the political economical financial crisis.

And three, the project that I was running, they just told us that they are closing from Lebanon to go to another country.

So when this happened and all these three happened at the same time, I said, you know what Chantal, maybe this can be your wake up call for you to do what you've always loved, which was train coach and help people live better lives.

Stephen Matini: Were you able to jump on the new idea right away or was it hard? I mean, did you have to take time to process everything?

Chantal Souaid: So let me tell you, I've had the blog since 2008. I used to and still like to write too much.

But it took me time to see how I will present myself to the world as an entrepreneur. Because for me, I've been employed an international development project for a very long time.

So what I did, I said, you know what? I was very good at putting New Year's resolutions, and these New Year's resolutions weren't working obviously because I had twins, things were going a bit different and I was a productivity trainer at the time and people used to joke with me and say, you're a productivity trainer, wait until you have kids.

The year was starting, it was 2020 and I didn't put in years resolution. And I was thinking, you know what? I don't want to put in years resolution. And at the time, my only goal every single day was just to take a bus for a mom with twins, breastfeeding them, taking a bath was the best thing ever.

So then I thought, okay, I'll make a like a weekly challenge. And I said, okay, if I try to do this and then if I do it every single week, then people would like support me with the follow through.

At the time I didn't call it “the weekly resolution”, so I said, I'll call 2020 weekly challenge. So I decided to film myself announcing the challenge and just posting it on my social media.

And I started it. My husband was very generous in filming me at the start and I said, I'll do it for the full year. I didn't have any plan. I didn't know what every week the challenge would be, but I said, if I announce it to people then I'll have to do it because I'm someone who really cares about what I say, what I said to myself.

Then every single week I started putting a video out and saying, this week this is what we're going to do. So the examples were very simple, like this week say thank you more or look at someone and say how grateful you are for what they did. So it started very simple.

Then Covid hit Lebanon and then the challenge was already going on. So people were more engaged. I had more people joining in. Somehow, sometime around April I decided, you know what? Everybody is joining in. It's very interesting.

And I said like, okay, if I go and tell people I want to help you achieve your dreams, the first thing they will tell me, okay, And then when did you achieve your dream and why am I going to listen to you? So I decided to achieve one of my very, very, very early dreams, which was creating a planner and the planner at the time I decided to call it the “Weekly Resolution Planner”.

I have a copy here with me, it’s the second version of the planner. And I thought, okay, this planner would be the crown on top of this year. It would help the year finish at the happy note. And this was it.

I did the first version of the planner then the year after another version. And that's like how the story unfolded of me opening up and then being able to start my coaching business, coaching and training and selling my planner and then just moving from a full-time employee into an entrepreneur.

Stephen Matini: The whole time management arena is not necessarily the focus of what I do as a coach and as a trainer. But you know, I do focus on soft skills. So time management comes up all the time. And the one thing that I've noticed over the years is that when you touch time management, you touch a really soft spot for people.

And very often people come up with the millions of different reasons why they cannot do what they want. So, in your opinion, what is it that some people somehow, like yourself, you keep going, and other people, they simply settle for something that is not necessarily representative of what they want?

Chantal Souaid: I'll tell you like two ideas about that. As I was doing every single week, my husband would come and tell me, Chantal, you don't have a plan until the end of the year. How can you keep on going? This is like every week you're just deciding on what you want and every week you're just reading more and then deciding what it's better if you had a plan. And then I told him if I had a good plan that I'm not implementing consistently, that's not something good.

On the other hand, if I had a regular plan and even maybe a bad plan that I was implementing consistently, this is way much better.

So what I had was a regular plan, which is to post every single week a challenge, but I was doing it consistently. And then I remember an interesting quote that I like that says something along the lines that motivation gets you started, consistency keeps you going.

And at the time my image, my self image as a professional was very important. And that's why when we are talking about goal setting, you always ask who will you tell about your goal? So I announced it to the world.

Now I'm someone, the world for me isn't like 1 million followers. The world for me was my family and friends and my close connections. But even if I said to these people that I'm going to do this for me as a value honoring my, my word is something very important. So this got me going.

If on the other hand I said, you know what, I will film every week a video and once the videos are all 20, then I'll announce it. Me knowing myself, I wouldn't have done it.

So going back to my husband, he used to tell me that if it were up to me, I would put the plan, I would film the videos, at least half of them, then I would go for it.

So this works for him, but for me, I know that if I put myself out there, if I tell the people and then every single week there's nothing that will stop me and I can do it, this is what would help me and this is how I move through it.

And this is how I usually notice that this is the only way that I can get motivated because I have to put it out there and then once it's out there I will not block out unless I change my mind and nothing like this has ever happened. So each person needs to know.

Stephen Matini: And what if someone is not consistent? Is there anything else that people could do? Let's say I'm not someone that consistent, but I have good intentions. Is it still possible in your opinion, to get your dreams, you know, out of your drawer if you're not consistent?

Chantal Souaid: A lot of people are not consistent and this is a very big problem and people come to me all the time about it. Being consistent doesn't start. If you're consistent, you wouldn't take any help.

The problem is how to start on the path. If your why isn't very strong, And if people don't feel that like really they want to achieve this dream, they will never achieve it. Yes, Lewis says, if you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there. And this is true.

So the problem is that the majority of people don't know where they're going or don't know what their goal or what their dream. Thus they can't consistently implement anything.

If they know what their dream is, And if they are adamant about doing it, then consistency can start simply by faking it in the start. But setting like a a small plan on how it'll go and then I can tell you how the weekly resolution can help them achieve it consistently every single week.

Stephen Matini: Have you always had clear what you wanted, or is it something that you learned along the way?

Chantal Souaid: A lot of times there were a lot of things that were very clear for me and other times things were not as clear and I didn't know where I was going, especially when I was starting my business and having the kids and me being, trying to get used to being a working mom and being a mom in general.

So a lot of these things weren't as easy. But what I learned along the way, and this is a a long learning process, was to just trust myself and trust the process and trust the universe.

So for example, there are some things that I know that are part of my values. What I'd like to do, for example, for me, ever since I was very young, I knew that my mission on this Earth or what I would love to be doing was to help people and help myself lead a better life.

So of some moments it was the big picture umbrella. But then somehow I'm learning to embrace the meaning of the moment. Every single moment that I'm going through, for me to discover myself better, to discover myself as a mom, as a business owner in this country.

So these pieces of the puzzles, I'm just putting them in the dots, and I learned something very interesting. If something is very hard and if I'm trying and trying and trying to work at it and it's not working and maybe I should like stop what I'm doing, either look into another direction or just think outside the box because somehow this is the universe telling me this is not the road you should be taking.

Stephen Matini: A lot of what you're saying is something that me personally I learned later on in my life. One example could be even this very podcast, if I had to do, let's say 20 years ago, I think I would've been so obsessed about doing it right. I would've probably waited longer to start it. I would've been incredibly critical paranoid about anything that I did.

It's about being in the present moment. And so I do hope you know this podcast and many, many other endeavors will do well, but I'm more focused on now, enjoying the process, doing my best, knowing that the next episode very likely I will do better. Very likely when I look back, you know, six months ago, I would say, oh wow, that was kind of cute what I did, I would never do that. So it really is a process in which you have a sense of where to go. But as I always say, you have to get your hands dirty.

Chantal Souaid: And so you're saying this is something very important because somehow a lot of people who are very professional, who are very accomplished, who value accomplishment as a value in their lives feel as you said, that we need to do things in the perfect way.

But then little by little, as we grow older and more mature, we realize that perfection sometimes isn't in the minute details. It isn't like in the way for example, my hair is done today. It's in me being present now as I'm being with you. If someone comes and gives us this recipe when we're still young, somehow we wouldn't really own it.

And you can go and tell someone who is very young to do this and they will say like, well this is a crappy person, what is he saying? But on the other hand, when we live it, when we feel it, it gets something that's so internal. This way we can actually live it and understand it. And you're very right.

Stephen Matini: Well also you are a mom, you have twins and I can barely take care of myself. So for me, like all of you moms are truly superhero. And I'm not trying to just to be nice, but realistically is so much work.

So to any woman that maybe has kids and maybe would like to not just to being a mom, there's nothing wrong about just wanting to be a mom, but maybe they also want to be a professional. Maybe they want to be an entrepreneur as you are. What is your suggestion as a first step to get it all?

Chantal Souaid: Okay, so here I can tell you about the own three life balance concept. So as I was doing the weekly resolution planner, I had to create a concept for life balance because for me at the time, my life wasn't balanced. I had the twins, I was working from home, either I had the challenge and I was trying to live this life balance to to see how all this works out for me. And it wasn't as easy.

But then all of a sudden I realized that the day that I woke up at five and I did my morning routine before the kids woke up and before my work started, I was much happier. I was giving better and somehow the kids were nicer and the kids were calmer and everything was much better.

So I kept testing it and then I realized, that in life and in my life and the life of every person, mom, not mom, every person, when I am better, when I'm giving myself oxygen, then I can help and give back.

And I always like the example of when we are in, in an airplane and the flight attendant gives the safety instructions and then she or he says, in case of oxygen drop, put your own oxygen mask before assisting others. So I'm giving them a favor when, when I'm taking care of myself.

Then we have three other important pillars. One is environment. The environment can be my home, my surroundings, my family. If someone has a dorm room, it can be their dorm room and if someone has a big mansion, it can be their mansion and we have a relationship, it can be love and social. Then we have fulfillment. So in fulfillment we have money, we have a career, we have hobbies and fun and we have learning and growth.

If I'm giving every single day, and this is what the planner does, if I draw my vision board, and I say this is what I'm doing to myself, this is what I'm doing for my environment, my relationships and my fulfillment. And then we put a beautiful vision for all of it. Then every single month I'll ask myself, okay, what am I going to do this month for myself? What am I going to do for my environment, for my relationships and for my fulfillment? Then we ask the same question every week, then every day

Stephen Matini: If someone somehow cannot find time for herself, right? Like I just can’t. What would it be a first step they can do in order to carve some time for themselves and overcome the sense of guilt?

Chantal Souaid: So hopefully I would know this person, I think I would shake them, I would tell them, God forbid if you were to die now what would happen?

And then they would stop and then they would say like everything would fall apart. And then I would say, okay. And then after it falls apart, and then after like nobody eats and after nobody does this task and after like a while, like someone else will be able to do it, someone else would be assigned to do it.

The problem with all of us is that we have a lot of expectations. We keep looking at Instagram, we keep looking at Facebook, at all the social media and we compare our lives to others and we want to do stuff like others. So we want to get this very big salary.

This person when asked them if you die, and then what would your life amount to, I'm sure that this take them to the core for them to remember that everybody can do their job.

And this is something that I learned it the very hard way. I kept wanting to be working to be doing stuff, but then I realized one day anybody can do anything related to my job, but no one would fulfill my role as the mother of my kids, Eva and Christopher.

And the moment I realized this, it like lifted a very big heavy burden on my back. And every single person have has like a very private story about their lives and they know that they can say stop, and they don’t need all the money, they don't need all these things and they can calm down.

So to this person, if they cannot carve time for themselves, to take care of themselves, then then one day they would collapse and go to the hospital and then somebody would have to replace them in a not nice way. Because if I were to offer the world, I better offer the world the best of me, not what's left of me. And if the person is not taking care of themselves, they will be offering what's left of them.

Stephen Matini: I agree a hundred percent. And it may sound as such a final thought, but the one thing that I always repeat myself is, and I'm really highly mindful, the more time goes by is, my time here has a deadline. So hopefully, you know, it will happen far in the future. But realistically I know as a fact that will not be here. I will not be here forever.

Stephen Matini: And the most important thing of all is not to waste my life. You know, I think it's an important reminder, it's a gentle reminder. I call it that I will not be here forever. I may worry about this, I may get cranky about that, but you won't be here forever. It somehow puts everything the right perspective.

Chantal Souaid: I try to enjoy what I do without even obsessing excessively. Is it gonna work? It's not gonna work. Is is this gonna happen? Will I get there? Well, hopefully I will. But now all that matters is truly how I spend my time. Have you always been this way or is it something that as you mentioned, became heightened as a result of you becoming a mom?

So no, I haven't been always this way. I think motherhood has had the, its its biggest lessons on me. So when I was at work, I was very adamant, I was very strict, I wanted things to be perfect. I didn't have any time to waste what stuff. I was hardworking as you were saying.

And then I was doing everything to be perfect. I was working with an international development organization and from an organization to the other project to the other, we had donors, we had beneficiaries, we had stakeholders. Customer service was like a hundred percent. An email wouldn't go without an automatic like spelling check. But then as I became a mom, I started realizing that life cannot be this way.

I do admire whoever can keep life this way and still be a parent. But somehow my priorities have shifted. I realized that before having kids, my main focus in life was to prove myself to be a very good professional. When I became a mom, I realized my accomplishments don't define me. So the title, I was a Middle East and North Africa Director, which was very sexy and very interesting and very big.

And I thought to myself like what? I'll be now a trainer, a coach. Like it was like so small for me and I said, I'll be a mom, just a mom. It was very like, don't get me wrong, but somehow it was like very small for me.

Then I realized I don't have to be any of this. I can just be myself. I like I am me. So this change helped me and it took a long time. It didn't come easily. And when I realized this, then I knew that this was my ego speaking. My accomplishments don't define me. My title doesn't define me because one day I can have a very big title and the other day if I don't, then I'm in my less. No, I'm not less, I'm much better because I'm myself and this wasn't the case at all and I grew into becoming this person and they say like the kids teach a lot, like having kids. And I, every single day I still learn. And it's an ongoing process and I think if we stop learning, we stop growing. And then what's the youth?

Stephen Matini: You are part of the Barkat project, which is a a phenomenal initiative. How did you come across the project? Because I talked to Puneet Sadchev, who started the project. I thought how incredible the fact that he's supporting entrepreneurs, female entrepreneurs in the Middle East and Africa. How did you learn about the project?

Chantal Souaid: So I am part of a group called Lebanese League for Women in Business. Among this group, they send a lot of announcements, but somehow when I saw this email and I read about it, the name was Shakti Barkat, and I was thinking like, wow, I like the name, I read about it. And it was something very interesting and I felt that yes, we women, entrepreneurs need to support each other.

And as a coach, I know the impact of coaching. And at the time I was feeling that as a mompreneur always. And I was finally thinking about it yesterday, like a mompreneur, the way I define it, as an entrepreneur mother whose priority is her kids.

So going back to you and I thought that, okay, this is this thing that I needed. I wanted my business somehow to be a priority. I wanted to be thinking about my business with other people. And somehow we are all in this boat together.

My struggles are struggles of someone else. Even if someone isn't married and doesn't have kids, but somehow they have maybe have an another type of a baby or another type of something that they're taking care of. It can be a family member, it can be a side project.

So I felt what a beautiful and empowering thing for me to be part of such a program to learn from a professional like Puneet and also to be learning and sharing me among all the other ladies that are part of this program.

So for me, I know that we started in June, we have until September, and these are the months where I will be focusing on my business.

We put a deadline, we put the, like our intentions for the program, both professional and personal, and then somehow this framework, this like very nice framework and me knowing that I'll be meeting with these people one week as one week know knowing that if I had a problem, I will be following through with it.

This alone, as simple as it can be, other than what's happening during the coaching session was very important for me. I set goals, I set intentions, I write my gratitude, but somehow my business isn't always the top priority.

And for me, putting my business as number one during these four months has been phenomenal.

I've never been coached for my business. I've been part of different types of trainings but never been coached. Puneet is so good in how he coaches is us. So he might be giving a hotspot for someone and putting someone on the hot seat and you'd think that like he's just coaching these people.

And then somehow as the session goes, he would've coached all of us and we'd all come out after this question with this specific person with like list of things that we need to be working on.

Stephen Matini: Thank you so much for sharing all this with me. And my wish for you is to be around for as long as possible, so that yo can help as many people as possible because you're really fabulous.

Chantal Souaid: Thank you. Thank you Stephen. And thank you for opening up this opportunity for people to listen to you, for people to come over with you. You cannot imagine how sometimes just listening to a podcast of yours can change the life of people.