Exclusive Interview With Anurag Rai ‒ Executive Coach

Anurag Rai is one of the UK's most sought-after Executive Coaches. A few years ago a series of events forced Anurag into being homeless. After studying about the power of the Mind and doing a lot of experiments in his own life, Anurag went from being homeless to an Accountant working for a Big 4 firm, to becoming a bestselling author, to an award-winning Coach and Speaker. He is the founder of Superhuman In You, an organization committed to helping individuals uncover their Superhuman Self. His Clients include Police officers, celebrities, sports personalities, and some top-performing business leaders. He is the author of the US Bestseller ‒ "The Power Within", and host of the podcast ‒ "Unleash The Superhuman In You". His mission: A world full of Superhumans.

Anurag Rai, Executive Coach

Anurag, you ran a restaurant business, then you were an accountant, and now you are an Executive Coach. Tell us what inspired you to make those career changes and start Superhuman In You?

When I talk about my journey, I like to start from 2005. This was the year I came to the UK with 100 pounds in my wallet, few clothes in my bag, and zero contacts in the country. So, it was a very humble beginning. From there I had plenty of experience in creating and losing and then creating again. My first job was as a team member in McDonalds. I then worked with various multinational fast-food chains in senior management roles. I started my restaurant business in 2011 and soon suffered a huge loss due to multiple events within a week. We were going through an economic downturn, there was a theft in the restaurant, and then the council shut us down due to a fault in the wiring.

I had wages and bills to pay and no source of incoming. The first place I could think of to cut costs was the £1000 per month rent that I was paying. So, I moved into the storeroom of my restaurant. There was no heating or lights as the electrical supply was cut off by the council. While sitting on the floor in a corner of a dark storeroom with bin bags of clothes lying around me, one question kept repeating in my head repeatedly – “Why me?”. I was a big believer in Karma. People say if you do good Karma, good things happen. “Well, I had never done anything bad to anyone. Then why me?” As I kept this question kept repeating in my head, I heard another voice from inside me. “Why not me? There are kids dying in warzone countries, they have not done anything wrong, then why not me?”

This one thought shifted my perspective in life. I went from feeling frustrated and stressed to grateful and empowered. I started to realise that it’s not about good karma or bad karma. It’s about responding to whatever life throws at you. I managed to get the restaurant back up and running. Then in 2014, another shift happened, when my son was born. I decided to switch careers and become an accountant. Initially, when I started studying accounts, nothing went in my head. This was because of the damage I had done to my body and mind while working long hours in the restaurant. So, I decided to do some work on me before I would be in a position to learn something new. I spend the next 2 years reading over 100 books on human potential, took many courses and attended many seminars. I used my body and mind as a gunnie pig to test what works and what doesn’t. As a result of the transformation, I was able to finish a 3-year accounting qualification in 9 months. During this time, I also had a young family and a full-time job. Everyone around thought that I was doing something really superhuman in nature, but to me, it felt like an easy life. I then started working for one of the big four accounting firms.

But I knew that I have found something. I knew I was different. So, I created this website based on what friends called me then ‘superhuman’. Superhuman In you was born in 2019 and initially, it was just a platform for me to share blogs. Then in 2020 I published my first book – ‘The Power Within’. The book went on to be an Amazon US Bestseller. Soon, more people started approaching me to find out more about my work. I started giving unofficial coaching to friends and family. I enjoyed it and they got results. That’s when I decided in September 2020 to quit my corporate job and start coaching full time.

You have helped many individuals and entrepreneurs to achieve their goals in life and business. What’s your purpose, mission, and driving force for all the amazing work you do?

I feel that most people live their whole life without knowing and living their true potential. The shift I see in my clients, just after few weeks of working together is what drives me to do more. While we start with certain life and business goals in our mind, my intention is always on how I can transform the person. I help powerful people realise how powerful they really are. My mission is to positively impact 1 billion lives.

When you speak with entrepreneurs, is there a common challenge that many of them face? How are you helping them to overcome this challenge?

Entrepreneurs have many challenges, such as competing commitments, fear, self-doubt, time management, people issue etc. But in reality, it all boils down to just one thing – Whether they are using their Mind or being used by it. It’s all about knowing how powerful our Mind is and then using it for us and not against us. My coaching has two elements Doing and Being. Together with my clients make a clear strategy for the exact things they need to DO, and then help them to BE more positive, happy, present and focussed.

One of the ways your coaching is different that you help clients solve the problem and not the symptoms. How do you do that?

So, a lot of coaches have learned certain strategies that are effective in certain cases, and they try to pass this on to their clients. The thing with strategies is that it's often designed to fix the symptoms. Unless we fix the problem, the symptoms will keep coming back in other areas of life or business. This is the key reason why most of my work is focussed on the person. It’s the person that creates everything – their life, their business, their happiness.

For example, If someone is having problems with their employees, it’s not just about the employees and how to deal with them. But what kind of person or leader they would need to be to change this. If they are having problems with cash flow – it's not just about finding new ways to earn cash, it’s also about what kind of businessperson would they need to be to always attract and create steady streams of cash. A person is always more important than the symptom,

Is there a core value that you are most passionate about?

Most people are busy solving the symptoms. They are busy trying to control things, people, situations in life. They put too much focus on the strategies but not enough focus on the person that is going to use those strategies. They don’t try to improve their game.

Life is like a game. A game that we can not control. The Sooner we accept this, the better we play. And while we can not control the game, we can all become better player.

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