Reena Ranger, Chair of Women Empowered, is In Conversation with Rakish Rana as part of her regular series for ‘iGlobal’ to explore some inspirational facets from the life and achievements of prominent Global Indians.
Dr Rakish Rana, The Clear Coach, is an experienced Life Coach. With a background in IT and project management over a period of 20 years, Rakish took to formal coaching around six years ago, after graduating from the Academy of Executive Coaching with a practitioner's diploma. He uses a variety of coaching approaches to work with people on an individual basis to help them achieve their success by working on their mindsets. His clients include people from all walks of life – business owners, people in the media, and fashion industry, as well as people trying to establish themselves with start-ups.
As a life coach, what is the lesson that you try to live your life by?
My biggest lesson that I try to live my life by is to patiently enjoy the process rather than chasing after goals. A simple enough answer but it is multifaceted.
We all like to have goals in life, and as a life coach I work with people and their goals all the time. However, if we become too fixated on achieving them, we can soon lose focus on other areas in our life that may matter (family, friends, health, etc). It’s important to have a goal in life, but I find in this world of immediacy, too often people are wanting everything now. Rather, and what I believe, our focus should be on learning, improving, helping and providing value as you look to achieve a goal in life.
My goal in life is to become a world-renowned, coveted and hugely successful life coach. But more importantly I want this goal because of the type of person I know will become by achieving it; more knowledgeable, a better listener, a better parent and husband, a better friend, more grateful and at ease with life. Some would argue that I could achieve all those without becoming a coach, and that may well be true. But I will achieve them all by helping others and giving back in a way that resonates wholly with me (for right now at least), all whilst enjoying the process.
How did you find this career path?
Throughout my childhood, I was always told what to do, where to go and what to study. Studying came easy, and I continued it to a PhD level.
On completing my PhD in Toxicology, I didn’t remain in science, but instead moved into IT working for an investment back, as that’s where my interest lay then. On first starting work, though I was still being told what to do, for the first time I felt a little lost and unfulfilled with life.
Soon after starting my job, I got engaged and then married. A new house and children followed, and my career grew. This all brought some purpose and satisfaction, but always with the gut-feeling of there had to be more.
After a couple of role and company changes, I eventually engaged the services of a life coach to help me find some direction in life, as I realised that is what I was missing.
It was through being coached, I discovered that my passion lay in helping others, as that is what I had been doing throughout my life in some way or other. And through understanding the transformative power of coaching, I then decided it was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
If you could go back and give your teenage self one bit of advice, what would it be?
My advice would be, ‘you will learn more from people than you will ever from book, don’t be scared to speak’.
As I mentioned before, I loved studying. I guess because there was no other outlet for me except TV. I was never the kid who was encouraged to go and play outdoors, be involved in team sports or to have play dates with friends. And, as such grew up to be quite a shy introvert, always fearful of engaging with others and lacking in confidence to speak with people or ask for help. Looking back, I see many lost friendships, opportunities to travel missed, slower development in social intelligence and for the early part of my career no network to leverage.
As much I still continue to learn from books, the confidence I now have to engage and reach out to others and learn from them first-hand is priceless; whether that’s to further my own career, to be able to help those closest to me or to be able to build better and stronger relationships.
Which one person has had the greatest influence in your life, and why?
I think I’d have to say my father. From him I took how to and not to be. I can paraphrase something the famous coach, Tony Robbins, said about his mother (though in no way was my situation in any way the same); if he was the father I had wanted, I would not be proud to be the man I am today.
I could blame my father for plenty of things, but then in the same breath I need to thank him too. From my father I built my capacity for emotional intelligence and critical thinking. From him I learned how to respect everyone, no matter which colour or religion.
My strive for excellence came from him installing in me that no job was too small to do to the best of my abilities (including sweeping the factory floor – my, did I make it shine). And my love of food and travel came from him talking about his own experiences. My father still tells me to this day that I need to shoulder the responsibility of looking after others, and I guess that’s why I love being a life coach!
Reena Ranger is the Chair and Co-Founder of Women Empowered. In this exclusive “In Conversation” series for ‘iGlobal’, the dynamic entrepreneur-philanthropist will be catching up with high-achieving Global Indians across different fields to spotlight some insightful life lessons. (The views expressed in the answers are of the interviewees.)
*Watch Reena Ranger take on the jalebi challenge with the Great Mithai Cook-Off for DiwaliFest2020