Here’s the third and final part of my interview with Ankush Jain.

This part is all about how to move towards the work you’re drawn to without blowing up your life in the process.

Take it away Ankush:

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Tom: More than ever, it seems people are “successful” on paper but anxious, restless and dissatisfied. What do you think is going on here? Why is this phenomenon becoming more and more common?

Ankush: I’m not sure the phenomenon is new. I think it’s another expression of what I call the “outside-in misunderstanding”: the belief that something outside of us like a promotion, a salary, a title or a goal can create lasting happiness.

History is full of examples of people who achieved exactly what they wanted and then felt strangely empty afterwards. The idea of having a specific “purpose” only really entered mainstream culture in the 1950s. Before that, most people didn’t feel pressure to discover some grand calling. Today, it’s become almost expected and with that comes a lot of restlessness.

Goals can be meaningful, exciting and even motivating. There’s nothing wrong with wanting more or wanting to achieve things. But real satisfaction has never come from achievement. It comes from within. You can see this in all sorts of research, just like how people who lose a limb eventually return to their baseline level of wellbeing. Human beings adapt far more quickly than we think.

The same thing happens with career milestones. You get a £5k pay rise or a £20k pay rise and it feels amazing for a short while. Then it becomes normal. The boost fades. So people keep chasing the next thing, convinced the next achievement will finally make them feel how they want to feel.

The misunderstanding is believing that fulfilment lives “out there.” It never has. And the more pressure we put on external success to create internal peace, the more anxious and dissatisfied we become.

Tom: In your new book, Awakening the Coach Within, you talk about your time with the legendary coach Steve Chandler. When you reflect on your years of being coached by him, what do you think coaching actually does for someone? What's the thing that happens with coaching that can't happen without it?

Ankush: I worked with Steve for about a decade and I’m working with him again now. His impact on my life has been enormous. I honestly wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today without him. I wouldn’t be running my coaching school and I might not even be married. In fact, towards the end of the book I write about my marriage proposal. That might sound like an odd thing to include in a coaching book, but even that was shaped by coaching. The way I showed up, the clarity I had, the confidence behind it… all of that came from coaching.

There’s no part of my life that coaching hasn’t touched. Some of that came from Steve Chandler, some from the coaches I worked with before him, and some from the work I did later with The Ultimate Coach, Steve Hardison. He also had a profound impact on how I see myself and what I believe is possible. This book wouldn’t be the same book without that work.

I was always interested in personal development, but things really changed only when I started hiring coaches. Before that, people would tell me I was growing, but coaching supercharged everything. Over the years I’ve invested hundreds of thousands and maybe even close to a million dollars in coaching, development and training. It’s the best ROI of anything I’ve ever done. If I’d invested that money into the stock market it might have generated a certain amount of income, but I wouldn’t be the person I am today. I wouldn’t have the same confidence, the same career, the same ability to provide for my family, or the same capacity to be a better husband, father, and human being. There’s no aspect of my life that coaching hasn’t helped.

So what’s the thing that happens with coaching that doesn’t happen without it? World-class coaching can fundamentally reshape how you see yourself and what you believe is possible. I honestly don’t know if I’d have had some of the shifts I have in my self-esteem, how I see myself and what I’m up to in the world without that coaching.

If you take coaching out of the equation completely and rely only on books, videos, or self-reflection, it’s not even close. I’ve had real, deep identity-level shifts that I don’t believe would have happened without the coaching I received. Coaching accelerates growth in a way nothing else does.

Tom: What’s one tip or takeaway you’d like to leave readers with about creating a career or work life that feels like their own?

Ankush: One takeaway I’d love to leave with readers is this: don’t wait forever. If there’s a career or path that genuinely calls to you, start moving toward it. Life goes by quickly, and you don’t want to reach retirement wishing you’d made a change decades earlier. I’m deeply grateful that I began this journey when I was 30. I’m 43 now, and I don’t know if I’d have taken the leap if I’d waited much longer.

At the same time, don’t rush blindly. I’ve seen people quit their corporate jobs with no financial cushion or with only a six or twelve month runway, and no real structure or plan for what comes next. That can create a lot of unnecessary pressure. If you’re building a business, it makes sense to have systems, support and some level of stability. If you’re switching to another paid role, the considerations are different but the principle is the same: move forward, but don’t leap without thinking.

So my advice is simple: go for it, but go for it wisely. Take steps. Put a structure in place. And don’t let fear or perfectionism make you wait forever.

Tom: Where can people go to find out more about you?

People can find more about me through my website https://www.ankushjain.co.uk. But if you really want to get to know me, the best place is my books. My first book, Sweet Sharing, and my new book, Awakening the Coach Within, are both very personal. I tried to write them with warmth and vulnerability.

Even The Ultimate Coach Steve Hardison, who coached me for nearly four years, told me there were things in Awakening the Coach Within that he didn’t know about me. So if you’re curious, the books are definitely worth checking out.

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Thank you Ankush for such a fascinating, insightful interview.

That wraps up this promo for this week.

Have a great weekend.

To fulfilment,

Tom

p.s. if you pick up a copy of Ankush’s new book Awakening The Coach Within and send me your receipt (a screenshot is fine) by 7pm UK Time on Friday 12th December, I’ll send you a one-time discount code.

You can use that code on one of Ankush’s trainings, The Secret to Radical Transformation.

This training usually costs £19.99.

But with the discount code?

Squadoosh!

That’s right. You can get the training for free.

You can read all about this training right here.

To recap:

Buy Ankush’s new book Awakening The Coach Within and send me your receipt by 7pm UK Time on Friday 12th December.

In return, I’ll send you a discount code that lets you grab Ankush’s training The Secret to Radical Transformation for free.

You’ve got about 8 hours until this special offer goes poof.