After over 17 years in advertising, she left it all behind to follow her passion and be a ‘Victory Coach’. Today, she has empowered over 5,000 individuals across the world and helped them mold themselves into victors.

Farzana Suri calls herself a victory coach, someone who helps people achieve victory in their lives. Her belief stems from a self-made philosophy that “we all come into this world with a divine purpose with unique gifts and talents that allow us to be purposeful and fulfilled in our own distinct way. When we are living in alignment and anchored to our core values and purpose, we inherently experience joy and fulfillment and begin to create abundance within our world.”

In this interview, she elaborates on all the unique coaching techniques she uses and explains the power of positivity and life coaching. An advertising professional who had a knack of observing people, she puts her skills to use to add value to people’s lives. Excerpts: 

Walk us through the entire process that takes place when a client comes to you.

I coach and train with a common goal that people achieve victory in whichever area they aim to do so. I understand people with the help of numerology, which is a psychometric tool. Numerology helps me understand the person’s individual characteristics and their strengths and weaknesses etc. and based on that I use tools like NLP, art therapy, etc. for coaching.

I start with numerology to understand the person, for which I need your date of birth and name. Then we had a meeting where you tell me your goals and based on that I decide which technique will be beneficial for you to push you towards your goals.

Apart from numerology, what are some other techniques you use?

I use graphology which is handwriting and graphic analysis, doodling and art therapy to gauge your state of mind and conditioning. Then there’s NLP which is Neuro-linguistic technology which I use a lot as well.

Tell us how can organizations use life coaching to enhance productivity among employees.

Organizations can use life coaching to address specific problem areas, such as inhibitions in employees’ performances. For example, I came across this one person who lost confidence to give presentations, I had to apply life coaching to understand what made him so under-confident and bring him out of it.

In schools and colleges, we emphasise a lot on professional development and knowledge, do you think we should also give life coaching to students in school and college?

Life coaching is basically the ability to handle life. I think it should start from coaching teachers and care-takers, because even they come with their own baggage and problems and sometimes the frustrations pass on to students, so they should be taught how to handle themselves because only then they’d be able to handle students. For students, we need to pay particular attention to students on the extremes, such as backbenchers, because there’s always something that is causing this kind of behavior. I know there are many schools which have psychologists on board but they need to work with teachers to understand the students and let teachers know about the student’s psychology. Basically, I think for life coaching in schools it has to be a top-down approach.

What do you think is that one belief that holds back the true potential of an individual?

Resistance to change is something that inhibits people from achieving their goals. I staunchly believe that to bring about change in your life first you must change. Victory is always in our hands, and it’s just a matter of our willingness to stretch our boundaries and get out of our comfort zones.

Tell us some ways to discover our passion or our true potential. 

First, we need to understand that we always have a choice, there’s nothing that can stop us. Secondly, never undermine yourself or talk negative, be optimistic and believe that you can rule your own world. The way we speak to ourselves is imperative as well because positive self-talk will take us a long way. These few things can make life much easier and will help us follow the desired path.

What did you want to become growing up?

I always wanted to be a nurse to help people and to make them happy. Now when I look back, I realize that the universe has played its role in making me who I always wanted to be because I am in a position today where I can resolve problems and help people discover their happier selves.

Why did you choose to become a life coach? What inspired you?

I have always worked where I had to deal with a lot of people. Even when I was working in advertising, I was in the accounts section which involves a lot of client interaction, and I was the coordinator between internal team and clients. I guess now I am doing the exact role, i.e., connecting the external personalities of a person with the internal being. I didn’t plan anything, things just fell into place. I quit my job to do something that adds value to others, and that’s why I chose to become a life coach.

Has your advertising experience helped you with building any sort of skills to become a life coach?

Certainly! Advertising teaches you a lot about people. To design advertising campaigns and strategies we had to understand the consumer. Now I do a similar research to understand a person, so that experience has certainly helped me in developing these observational skills.

Can you recall that one time in your life, where you required a life coach?

There have been several such moments. One very memorable instance I remember is about a year after I quit my job and started life coaching, I ran out of money and had a massive EMI to pay in the coming week. I just sat down and closed my eyes and asked the universe about the path that I must take. Within an hour I got a call from an event which paid me Rs. 1,00,000. Also, I have a life coach whose advice I seek in times of turmoil in my life.

Please suggest one routine that everyone should inculcate to become more positive towards life.

One habit that everyone should inculcate is gratitude. We are never grateful enough for what we have instead we concentrate on what we don’t have. I began my day with a prayer of gratitude, then I think about how I can be more useful or add value today. Then I visualize whatever it is that I want to accomplish. I believe that if you visualize and direct your thoughts towards whatever you want, you will always get it.

Is life coaching an upcoming career option? What things should one keep in mind while pursuing this career?

Yes, it is an upcoming career option because our lives have become competitive and to stay grounded in such times you need a coach who shows you the right direction. Life coaches guide you without any judgments. One needs to be highly empathetic to be a coach. If one can enjoy and guide someone without expecting any monetary returns, then that person will be one heck of a coach.