At Brilliant Read Media, we always strive to bring meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our growing community. This week we invited yet another passionate entrepreneur and Renowned Coach Igor Ledochowski for an exclusive interview with us. Igor is a Leader, Mentor, Life Coach, Best Selling Author, Change Enabler and Certified Hypnosis Trainer. Let’s read more about his incredible journey so far, his background and his advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Igor:
What made you passionate about ‘Coaching’?
I want to live in a world filled with strong, kind, and capable people. If there is such a thing as a Utopia, I think it would need to be filled with individuals that are kind, healthy, strong and very good at whatever they set their minds to.
It is a true honour to watch someone face what seems like an insurmountable problem and then break through it.”
Watching someone struggle to improve themselves and their life reminds me of my own struggles. Sometimes people helped me through those, and I am still grateful for those. Other times I had to struggle through on my own.
As a coach, I can ensure my clients have the support I wish I had had during those times!
‘Hypnosis Training Academy’ is such a unique name; talk us through more about it, please. Our audience would also love to know what kind of problem you are solving?
Hypnosis allows us to tap the hidden powers of the mind. I think that everyone is an exceptional human being with a unique contribution to make. Hypnosis has similar benefits to meditation, only it often works after a single session.
My hope is that one day everyone will learn this tool and use it to minimise their suffering as well as to maximise the good they do in the world. To do that, we need talented hypnotists to show others how easy it is to use their minds and tap the hidden potentials that lie within.
That is why we formed the Hypnosis Training Academy: it is an academy to train world-class hypnotists so that they can in turn bring hypnosis into their communities and make this wonderful tool available to anyone that wants it.”
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives you?
There are a number of things that drive me through the various challenges we have faced.
Firstly, I am in it for my students. When things get tough, I just think about how much my students will gain once we have resolved this issue and how delighted they will be, and that keeps me going.
Secondly, I think it is very important for people to live up to their word. If I make a promise, then I work very hard to keep it. I do not like disappointing others. The challenges we face are irrelevant if we agree to do a thing, we work very hard to get it done!
Finally, I am very ambitious. I would like to see hypnosis elevated from the fringes of society into a mainstream tool that everyone can use. That will take a lot of work to achieve and there will be many challenges on the way there. Even if I don’t manage to make that happen, I can at least set the groundwork for someone else to come along and finish the job!
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
I have always admired the great psychiatrist and hypnotist Dr Milton H Erickson. Whenever I get stuck in my work, I turn to his writings for inspiration or clues as to how to carry on.
I also admire my mentor, John Overdurf. He is an exceptional hypnotist that has applied these skills to living a wholesome, interesting and fun life. He reminds me not to spend all my hours working, but to put some time aside to live.
And that is where my wife comes in: all the success in the world is meaningless unless you have someone to share it with. I feel very fortunate to have her in my life to keep me grounded and to share my successes with!”
What are some of the strategies that you believe have helped you grow as a person?
There are a few:
1) Take time to dream. Without dreams, we lose energy and focus and get distracted by petty things.
2) Find a role model. Whatever you are going through, someone out there has faced something similar and solved it. Find them, study them and apply the lessons to your own life.
3) All problems are solvable. You just have to see the situation in a way you never saw it before. There is a story of a struggling factory that made purses. They held a meeting to fix the business.
One executive joked “I wish we could sell these to dogs…my dog has already chewed up 3 bags this month!” They found their success again when they started to make and sell leather dog chews.
4) Don’t do it all. It’s OK to ask for expert help when you need it. Some things are better left to others to solve!
5) If you fear it, DO IT. I’m not talking about taking stupid risks, rather about facing the inner voice that tries to tell you you’re not good enough and you’ll fail. Never let it win!
6) Learn from your mistakes. You just paid a terrible price for them, so you might as well get a reward!
What about your journey makes it satisfying/exciting?
When I look back at where I started and how much I have achieved in the meantime, I am a little perplexed by how far I have come. Whilst it has been far from easy, I would have felt overwhelmed if I had tried to PLAN to do this all at once! I wonder where I will be in 10 years time if the last 10 years have brought so much!
I love the fact that I can genuinely help people now. I joined this field because I wanted to do something useful, something that made a real difference. At first, I was not very good at it. I failed more often than I succeeded. That was very frustrating. Now, I succeed more often than I fail. And seeing the look of joy & gratitude in someone that I just helped…that is priceless!”
You are always positive and motivated, what keeps you going?
In a word: my dreams.
I see what is possible with hypnosis, what has not been done, where people suffer needlessly, where people give up on themselves … and I know that we have something precious to offer.
At those times it stops being about me, my focus turns to what COULD be instead and I work towards that!
Please share with us, how do you motivate your clients?
Everyone has dreams, goals and things they value. When they tap into these, motivation flows freely.
When faced with a problem that seems bigger than their own dreams… people will move mountains for those they love even if they would give up for themselves.
Success breeds success. Get a win, no matter how small, and keep building on it.”
If in doubt, trick people into succeeding. Get them to do something where they will accidentally succeed at something they thought was impossible. It is hard to argue with something you have already achieved!
Find the Hero in people. Victims are just Heroes that haven’t decided to stand back up and fight yet!
In your opinion, what are the keys to success?
Success is driven by luck. But, You make your own luck!
Opportunities exist everywhere. If you cannot find them you’re either looking in the wrong PLACE or you’re looking in the wrong WAY. Either way, it’s up to you to change.
People forge opportunities. The more people you know and talk to, the more opportunities can come your way. Opportunities are the raw materials of luck (and thus success!)
Be kind to others. First of all, they deserve it. Secondly, you never know what opportunities a kind word or deed might shake loose!
Opportunities are often like coconuts: they come in a tough shell. You will need skills, tools and determination to crack the shell. But when you do, it will all have been worth it!
Solve problems that need solving. Don’t find fake solutions to fake problems.
If you fear it, do it! When faced with an opportunity, jump and figure out how to stick the landing on the way down! Trust that everything will work out for the best… and work like a madman to make sure it does!
What are the business mantras you have embraced as you sought to establish your success story?
(a) Work smarter and harder
(b) Make your own luck
(c) If you fear it do it
(d) Try it and see what happens
(e) Good enough is good enough
(f) People bring opportunities and opportunities are luck in action. You need people to succeed! Do what everyone else isn’t doing.
What advice would you give students and young professionals who want to have a successful career?
– Learn to dream bigger.
– Learn people skills – who you know is as important as what you know.
– Become a craftsman in your field. Skill matters. So learn from the best you have access to.
– Success is based on solving OTHER PEOPLE’S problems. Find what problems matter to the people that matter to you (your customers, your bosses or the CEO) and figure out how to solve those!
– If in doubt ask someone how you could be more useful to them!
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
