Tansel Ali is known for memorizing two Yellow Pages phone books in 24 days.

Sound like something you could never do? Not according to Tansel.

Tansel dedicates himself to memory coaching, specifically empowering people with the tools to train their minds and make the most out of their lives. Once a skeptic, Tansel learned that he could train his own mind relatively easily with the right tricks.

In our interview, Tansel explains how taking control of your memory can help you lead a happier life.

You are a world champion of the mind and of memory. What can you attribute to your amazing memory?

I would say being a skeptic at first as I never believed anyone could improve their memory. Once I was able to do it I never knew how simple it could be and that sparked an interest in memory improvement. Once I had “that spark,” it gave me the drive, energy and determination to better myself every time. So tasting small success gave me hunger for more and more success, which ultimately led me to achieving amazing memory skills.

Describe a day in your life.

Every day is different. I don’t have any set routine apart from dropping the kids off at school and daycare in the morning and then picking them up in the evening. I’ll sometimes make dinner at night waiting or my wife who works later than I do. During the day it’s very open as I’ll either coach clients, have meetings, do some emails, go out for coffee and lunch, go shopping, go to gym, go to mosque, play guitar, watch Netflix/YouTube videos, read and listen to books, play with my cars, play with my kids when they’re home, shower them and put them to bed.

Once everyone is sleeping I jump on my computer and do some planning work for my coaching sessions, listen to music, have tea with my wife, read and listen to books, more YouTube and Netflix.

Tell us about your experience as the Multicultural Ambassador for the Australian Football League (AFL). How do you promote cultural diversity within the community?

My experience as a Multicultural Ambassador for the AFL has been inspiring, as you meet amazing individuals who do a lot of great things in the community to make sure we are all living happily together from whatever backgrounds we come from.

In my role as Ambassador I use my public profile and host and facilitate multicultural events and forums, as well as assist people with initiatives they have to bridge communities together.

Describe your experience writing the book, The Yellow Elephant. What was most challenging and what did you enjoy the most?

It wasn’t actually challenging writing The Yellow Elephant. In fact it took me 10 days to write. This is because I already had most of the materials from my coaching programs and workshops so all I had to do was expand my workshop manuals and follow a particular process that will put it all together nicely for me. I enjoyed the finished product the most. Once you have a completed book it is extremely rewarding. For me even more so, because I never used to read before I got into the memory business. So for a previous “non-reader” to write a book was great.

Describe a dream project.

I have a number of dream projects and they mostly involve empowering society with skills to help them become better and make the most out of life. I’ve always wanted to create a “Homeless Memory Championships” whereby I train homeless people essential brain, memory, learning skills who are out on the streets to boost their self-confidence, obtain skills that not even well-learned people in society have, and give them an opportunity to find or create work with their newfound skills and belief. Maybe there’s people out there that would be interested to help me get this off the ground?

5 pieces of advice?

1. Find out what you’re passionate about. Sometimes it’s not easy to find this as I too had this issue. Dig deep and look into what gives you most excitement and makes you happy when you do it. Having a passion will not only make you happier but will give you something to work on if you ever wanted to pursue it as a career or help others.

2. Be persistent. Keep going no matter what. Success is only through failure. Just keep going.

3. Get help. Don’t try to re-invent the wheel or do it all yourself. You will save a lot of time just by asking for help and advice.

4. Slow down and enjoy your life. Life is to be lived so go out and enjoy it. Meet people, travel, have experiences, take days off work, don’t reply to emails straight away, give time for yourself. You will end up more productive and happy.

5. Keep developing yourself. Read, attend courses and seminars, do intense research, get involved in any communities of interest, surround yourself with successful people. Always try and find a way of being a better person.

What’s your experience been like with about.me?

I’m a big fan of about.me as I believe it does a lot of things right compared to other social mediums. The home page experience is better than seeing a tiny picture with a short bio. I enjoy it so much that my website address is an about.me page at http:://tanselali.ninja. To sum it up, I feel it is a beautiful, simple, to the point and people know who you are and how to connect.

In the end that’s what matters to me most and it works great.

Interested in setting up a personalized domain to your about.me page like Tansel? Read more about it here.

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