At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our growing community. As part of this endeavour, we invited Inayat Sehgal for an exclusive interview with us. Inayat is a Certified Life and Mindset Coach. Let’s learn more about her background, journey and her advice for our community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Inayat:
Could you please talk us through your background and your journey?
I grew up in the beautiful city of Udaipur, did my schooling there. Then I went ahead to pursue my passion in fashion. Completed my degree in Bachelor of Design in the National Institute of Fashion Technology Bhopal in Textile Design. After that, I worked in the industry for 5 and a half years.
Where I was skipping hopping from one job to another (not a great decision). Then I got married and settled in Kolkata. After shifting to Kolkata, I tried my hand at business twice, but it did not work out. Either because of a lack of confidence or circumstantial issues. I then decided to study for a course and learn something new, I decided to study psychology.
While I was researching for courses, I stumbled upon Life Coaching. When I researched about it, I fell in love with the concept and started my Level-1 ICF training with Grow More Avenues. It has been over six months since I became a certified Life Coach.
How did you discover your passion?
By accident! I love fashion and design and always wanted to pursue a career in that, but something was missing. The feeling of being fulfilled was always missing deep down. That is what made me want to explore different avenues and I got introduced to coaching. Honestly, that is the best thing that ever happened to me.
Here, I want to mention something where both professions are an outcome of passions. I discovered now in life that for me fashion and gaining knowledge about it is more of a hobby as it did not give me a sense of fulfilment but a sense of joy. It was only when I started coaching, I understood the true meaning of fulfilment.
Despite the challenges, what keeps you going when things get tough?
The sense of purpose. Knowing the fact that how powerful and effective coaching is. It really is a powerful tool for any individual to understand their situation better and navigate through it. After every session I take it only reinstates my faith in coaching.
What are the three most important lessons you have learnt in your life?
Well, it is difficult to decide which are my most important lessons. The first and the most important lesson for me is the Power of words, people underestimate it, and usually are very callous with their words. As I often say, your words become your thoughts your thoughts become your actions which eventually becomes your present and future.
Then it is being an observer in life. This helped me understand my situation from a third-party perspective. It helped me be more rational and less emotional in situations to be able to handle them better and take better decisions.
And then there is being non-judgmental, this is a tough one but I try and consciously practice everyday. How is it an important lesson some may ask? By being non-judgmental your actions are graceful towards everyone, it helps you not to take anything personally and helps you be more compassionate towards others circumstances. It eventually creates a mindset where is no space for negative thoughts since there is no input of negative thoughts there is no output of it either.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
To me, success is about reaching a goal or fulfilling a purpose, whether it is in work, personal life, or just life in general.
Persistence: See challenges as paths to learning and build resilience.
Confidence: Trust in your skills to navigate and achieve goals.
Clarity of Purpose: Having a clear direction helps streamline your actions.
Positive Approach: Stay positive to inspire perseverance and teamwork.
Adaptability: Be flexible to change strategies for optimal results.
Decisiveness: Make informed decisions quickly to maintain momentum.
Mindfulness: Stay present and focused, which helps manage stress and stay on track.
What advice would you give students and young professionals who want to have a successful career?
I believe having resilience and a strong character is important because that makes you who you want to be. That is the core of the person and that will take you on the height you want to go to.
Everything else can be learnt and worked upon but only a person with a strong character rises. And by strong character I mean
1) Discipline
2) Commitment
3) Strong Work ethic
4) Growth Mindset
5) Hardworking
6) Compassionate
7) Non- judgmental
Last but not least, what about your journey makes it satisfying/exciting?
The change in energy at the end of every session. The session usually starts with a dilemma or something else clients need to work on and mostly by the end of the session they make progress towards solving that. Their energy is light and they seem content at the end of the session and that gives the sense of fulfilment.
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.
