Expert’s Take: Anil Keshari Shah – Indepth Interview – Life, Motivation, Happiness, Childhood and more

Anil Keshari Shah, the CEO of Mega Bank is one of the influential figure of Nepal. He is an idol to many young people. Shah has been inspiring, motivating and supporting young people of Nepal since many years. He has been awarded with series of business awards including Asian Idol 2007.

As “EXPERT’s TAKE”, We have interviewed him and talked him about his inspirational life journey, life’s mantra and many more.

Watch Anil Keshari Shah one minute motivational video

“It is important for one to be happy. I am happy to be in Nepal. I am happy to be a Nepali.”
“I would spend more time enjoying life and less time worrying about what is going to happen in my life.”
“First time, I felt responsible when I realized that there is somebody else too.”
“Enjoy every day. Don’t live your life from milestone to milestone. Enjoy the journey between the milestones as well.”
“You need to find out what is your unique happiness formula.”

1. How do you see your life right now?

I see my life actually in two ways,
1. I see the way the world sees it, which is a lot of youth look up and say ‘He is our icon; He lives an ideal life and want to be like him.’ Too many people say that to me that sometimes I believe that Yes my life must be really good.

2. But when I look at my life as Anil Shah, the person, the individual there is so much that I have yet to do. It is very difficult to balance my personal, social and work life for me because so much time is consumed in work. And then I do all the other youth related activities and have less time for my family.

But I am happy and that is what I think is most important. It is important for one to be happy. I am happy to be in Nepal. I am happy to be a Nepali. I am happy to be in the place I am right now – professionally and personally. So, if you were to ask me in one word, I would say I am happy.

2. If you were 20 years old right now, what would you be doing?

If I were 20 years old now, the question is would I know everything I know today or not. If I knew everything that I know today, I would spend more time enjoying life and less time worrying about what is going to happen in my life.

I think lots of people at the age of 20 spend a lot of time procrastinating and worrying about studies, career, work and so many things that they forget that 20-40 is most probably the most enjoyable time of our lives.

3. Which incident or which part of your life do you consider as a turning point of your life?

I think no journey that you will take will have only one turn. If you go from here to Naubise, think about how many turns there are in the road.

Life is like that, there are many turns and the sad part is that people don’t realize. They are waiting for big turn to happen.

Big turns in life are you start school, go to college, get graduated, get a job, get married, you have children, you retire and you die. How sad would a life be if all that you could define life were those 10 things that happened in life.

There are two ways a group of people can go to Pokhara from here.
One is you get in the car and you wait to reach Pokhara to have fun and complain about traffic at the time being taken to reach Pokhara.
The other way is you get into the vehicle and then you decide that the vacation has started and decide to have fun, talk about lives, have fun and enjoy.

You don’t care about how long the journey is to Pokhara because you are enjoying yourselves. Life is the same. I say enjoy the journey. Enjoy the little little curls.

For me, the major curls were –
one the positive side: the birth of my daughter. Her birth was the most inspiring moment for me.
And on the negative I think would be the death of my younger brother. It was all of a sudden and was a shock for the entire family. But from both positive and negative you learn to pull yourself up and move on.

4. Is there any witty or memorable experience during your childhood that you would like to share?

The first memorable thing that I would remember is when I went to a boarding school with my younger brother. I was in Grade 3. We went to Woodstock School in Musoorie. When we were first dropped off, my parents were there crying and they made us play in a play group and left.

And then when I realized that they were gone, there was fear, anxiety anticipation and amongst all of them I suddenly realized that I have a younger brother to look after.

That was the first time I felt responsible that it is not only me but there is somebody else too. So, I need to consume my feelings and be strong for this person, my brother. And that feeling has grown in me, the sense of responsibility not only to my immediate family but my friends, society and to the youth. I remember that moment so clearly as if it happened yesterday.

5. Where do you see yourself in ten years from now?

It is very difficult to say where I see myself in ten years from now but one thing I am sure about is whatever I’ll be doing, whoever I’ll be doing it with , I’ll be doing it in Nepal. So, ten years from now I see myself right here in this country. I’ll be here trying to do the best I can to contribute towards this country, towards all of us, towards making our little patch under the sun a little better for not only me but for generations to come as well.

6. What advice would you give to people 20 years younger than you?

First of all look inside yourself. Determine what is it that makes you happy.
Then you look at your strengths and how they help you to do things that make you happy.
And after you do these two things, don’t wait for major things to happen in your life.

Enjoy every day. Don’t live your life from milestone to milestone. Enjoy the journey between the milestones as well.

And if you do that then as I said, the destination of life is to be happy; you will be happy every single moment of the day.

7. What is your ‘life mantra’?

My life mantra is one word and that is to be happy. If people think deep enough as to what they want out of life – it is to be happy. That is what everybody seeks.

The happiness formula for each person is unique, What makes me happy will not make others happy.

But the ingredients that go into happiness are the same.

First one is family and friends.
Second one is money- economic wealth.
Third one is power- authority, social status.
Fourth one is health.
Fifth one is self actualization- God, meditation and all.

How much each of these things a person needs to be happy is determined by that person itself. You need to find out what is your unique happiness formula. Once you find out that, you determine what career, what professional path or whatever it is that you need to do to make sure you are happy.

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