Dawud Gurevitch is a coach, personal trainer, and practical psychology author who uses movies in a unique way – to mentor his clients. Dawud believes that by watching films we can learn powerful life lessons that we can then apply to our own lives to make positive, lasting change. Find him online at https://www.dgmentoring.com/
Tell us about who you are and what you do
I love to serve people. Some of the ways that I do this include providing success mentoring for clients, personal training for others and positive, practical self-improvement content for the press and radio in the UK and US.
Tell us about your new book and who it’s for
My new book is about ten inspiring, motivating and empowering contemporary Hollywood films and how they, like the case studies and practical exercises I also include, can change your life for the better. Like my life coaching and personal training services and also my featured self-improvement content, my book is for anyone who’s hungry for development – that is people who are courageous and committed to working hard for change, to being the best versions of themselves that they can possibly be and to living the remainder of their lives to their fullest potential.
Can you tell us about 5 Hollywood films and the life lessons we can learn from them?
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020) can teach us many things such as the lesson that we can choose to work towards a common goal, despite our differing backgrounds and worldviews, whether that be eight anti-Vietnam War Activists determined to hold a peaceful protest, or whether that be different personalities within the same family consciously choosing to put their differences aside in the name of familial unity.
Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017) is a convincing tale of how even a morally upright citizen can go to desperate measures when faced with crisis in their life, but also how the same person can choose to redeem themself and work voluntarily on a project for years that has the potential to benefit future generations to come, whether that be the lawyer Roman Israel (Denzel Washington) or someone like the real-life activist and legend Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wonder Woman (2017) is a fantastical and yet inspiring story of someone who risks it all in the name of world peace, something that many beauty queens such as Gal Gadot who plays the lead role, have promoted in the past. This is something that the world needs now, not just with all the wars and conflicts that are going on but also with the coronavirus pandemic.
Avatar (2009) is a great example of finding a higher purpose in life and going after it, whether that’s protecting the inhabitants and environment on planet Pandora as Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) does, or whether that is someone like the activist Greta Thunberg challenging world leaders to take climate change seriously.
The Matrix (1999) teaches us that when self-belief is combined with action to educate and upskill yourself, then anything is truly possible, whether that is breaking free of the Matrix, a malevolent cyber-force controlling all life on Earth, as Neo (Keanu Reeves) does, or whether that is someone in real life who breaks free of a destructive dependency such as alcohol, drugs or gambling.
Tell us your future vision for your brand. How far do you want to take it? What is your dream about taking it to the next level?
I want to continue to serve people from different countries in the English-speaking world and eventually become fluent in Arabic so that I can serve people in the Arabic-speaking world, too. One of the ways that I look forward to doing this is starting and running my own YouTube channel whilst still putting out written content in various UK and US media outlets.
What message would you like to give to anybody who has a plan of creating something of their own and making a living through it?
My message would be the same as someone once gave to me:
- Believe in all your dreams
- Be strong
- You have enough positivity and enthusiasm to achieve your goals
- Don’t let pessimists bring you down
- Anything is possible
- You can become a successful [xxx]
- You give power to what you believe in
- Be inspired
- Pursue your passion
- We may be weakened by the negativity around us, but we all have a high spirit within us that constantly seeks to become manifest
So, dear reader – may you live long and prosper.
Dawud Gurevitch is a life coach, personal trainer and author of May the Source Be with You: A Filmic Guide to Change Your Life, out now, available on Amazon.