Holger Kraus

Full transcript: Holger Kraus on London Real

1:13 This is London Real, I am Brian Rose. My guest today is Holger Kraus, recent graduate of our Life Accelerator. Welcome to the studio. I’m happy to be here. Tell us about you. Where are you from, what do you do? Yeah, I’m from Cologne in Germany. I work as an IT consultant, I mainly develop software for bigger companies. Yeah, but actually I started my career as a social worker, so at some point I already switched my profession. Yeah, and besides that, I really love running.

1:56 Yeah, so that’s what I’m also doing. Okay, good. We’ve got a 5K run today with the class at graduation, so it’s gonna be fun to run with you. You’ve got a lot of marathons under your belt, so respect. What was going on with your life, personally, inside, outside, to make you come seek us out on the Life Accelerator?

2:20 Yeah, actually I was a little bit surprised that I started it, because I already received all your emails before, and at some point I was always thinking that’s not for me also. But that changed, yeah, two months ago, because, yeah, I felt stuck in my life a little bit, and I knew I have to do something. I know it. And I, yeah, I need some trigger that pushes me.

2:57 And another thing that, yeah, bothered me, let’s say, I have a success story that I’m hiding, because, yeah, I experienced a very serious sexual abuse in my childhood. Okay. But I’m already at a point where I can say that’s behind me, but at the same time I don’t, yeah, live it as an open part of my life. Yeah, so it’s more like I’m hiding my strengths.

3:30 And I thought the Life Accelerator is just a nice way to make a big change regarding this, and to integrate my complete life into my daily life. Yeah. Okay, good. I want to hear more about this. Yeah, it’s a complex topic. And, you know, I’ve done a lot of work with John Joseph in America. He struggled with a lot of those same issues. It definitely altered the course of his life, and coming to terms with it changed his life a lot.

4:04 So why London Real? Well, London Real, because it’s really very action orientated. Yeah. So I think I don’t have a deficit in understanding what I need to do or so. I just needed something that, yeah, pushes me a little bit. And what I really liked about the course, that you have to do a lot of stuff, and you even don’t have the time to think too much about it, because you have to do so much.

4:38 And that was really good for me, because I also have a tendency to do everything perfect, and that’s just not possible when you, I don’t know, you have your 40-hour job and afterwards you have to do all the laundry stuff. And so it really helped me just, yeah, not thinking too much, just do it, and that was just good for me.

5:04 Yeah, perfectionist paralysis. So you pull the trigger on the course, I drop you in, you know, you’ve got all these different people from around the world. I’m asking you to like start all these habits which are strange at first, right? You know, active meditation practice, gratitude, affirmations, a lot of goals, I’m getting you to move and change your diet. You know, what are those first couple weeks like, of accountability, of live calls, this new group? How did you react to that?

5:30 What I really liked was that it started with meditation, because I already started meditating two years ago on a daily basis, and I found that very helpful for myself. And, yeah, meditation was already a part of the course in the first week, and I really, yeah, felt at home, because I was thinking, of course, it starts with meditation, can’t be so wrong.

6:04 And of course you have this list of things that you have to do, and, I don’t know, there are things that, in the first place, you think, oh, I won’t do public affirmation or stuff like that, or I won’t dance in my flat and take a video of it. But I really enjoyed it at a point. Yeah, you really get used to doing stuff where you feel uncomfortable with, and that helped me a lot.

6:32 And that really is the main thing. I don’t know, when I try to explain people we had to dance in our flat, they ask why, yeah, what’s the sense of it? But when you’re doing it and you see all the videos of the other people, you just realize that, yeah, I don’t know, everybody is not perfect, but it’s really nice to show the side of you. Yeah. Nice.

6:55 What did you struggle with the most? What was the hardest module? The hardest… I remember some key points where I really felt I’m doing stuff that I didn’t expect to do. Yeah. For example, we had this gratitude thing, and I was really surprised that when it came to gratitude I was thinking about my sexual abuse, because when you think of gratitude you think of nice things also.

7:26 But I had this deep feeling of, I’m really grateful that I have overcome it, and that this is a part of my past, and that I have a normal life these days.

7:42 And then there was this decision: do I share this on Facebook? Is that really a good idea? That’s strange. But I thought about it, and I was thinking, okay, when I don’t do this, the complete course doesn’t make sense. It’s about me, and I can make up something different, but then it’s not really my core. And so I just decided to do it, and I received really nice and, yeah, encouraging feedback.

8:16 Wow, so you went to your personal Facebook page and did a video and talked about this abuse? Not only, my Life Accelerator. Okay. Right. What did people say? That they can feel my strengths, actually, and that, yeah, I can be proud of what I achieved.

8:35 And, yeah, the next is the personal Facebook page. Maybe, yeah, we’ll see. Actually, I was really thinking how deep should I go in this interview, but for me it’s really, when I got this invitation for the interview, I was really thinking, maybe that’s really the point where I just talk about everything, and then it’s just behind me, I don’t have to hide anything anymore. And that’s what I like about it.

8:58 Yeah, it’s tiring hiding things. You know, I came out recently and talked about my heroin addiction and overdose, and, you know, I told myself that it was in the past and that no one needed to know, but it was somehow holding me back. And I was very scared about telling people about it, but once I did, I realized it was just exactly what I teach: fear, false expectations appearing real. Nothing that I thought would happen would happen. I got more support, I feel more empowered, I feel stronger than ever, our brand is better than ever, our business is better than ever, and it’s just like, the truth is powerful, and just letting people know.

9:38 Just, yeah. When you hide it, it will never be just the past, because it’s always in the present, because you have some effort hiding it. And in fact that’s something where I think it’s necessary, because actually I’m proud of what I have achieved. Yeah. So, me too, exactly. Tell me about the community. What are these people like that you went through the course with, all these strangers? You’re seeing them here on graduation weekend. What’s it like being with these people?

10:12 I really like them. It’s, of course, it’s in the first place an online thing. You just see all these videos, but you also see everybody is struggling and everybody has fears to do this stuff, and it’s really encouraging also to see that everybody has difficulties to do stuff, and just nice that everybody is just very open and authentic. Yeah, no, very much so.

10:43 And tell me about you. How have you changed over the course of this Life Accelerator? If we went down on the street and bumped into the Holger that didn’t take this, how is that guy different? I mean, so one thing, one thing that I understood in this course that was really interesting for me, because I didn’t expect that, was I have a complete different relationship to procrastination now, because I finally understood procrastination is fear.

11:13 It’s really, on the ground of it, it’s fear, and it’s not, you can’t just say, I don’t know, okay, I do that tomorrow. So if you understand that fear is behind it, you have to take it more serious. And what I’m really trying to do now is, yeah, developing a routine to really focus on my daily fears, because I think really they show me my direction. Yeah. So when I feel fear, it means it’s in some way important.

11:52 And what has also changed, because I have this history that I’m having, but I also sometimes used it as an excuse not to do things, because, I don’t know, you think I have to resolve everything regarding this history before I can do, I don’t know, just speak for an hour. So, yeah, but actually it’s not connected. It’s just your excuse, and that’s what I started to understand during this course.

12:24 Yeah, and that’s really interesting. And just by things like Getting Things Done, if you just focus on daily tasks and you ask yourself, what I’m feeling right now? I have a problem setting this goal, because then I have to, yeah, conquer my fear regarding it, and so I prefer not to set this goal. Yeah, and that has changed a lot. I just know, yeah, I understand myself much better, and I’m much more willing to just act without thinking too much about it.

12:48 Yeah, well, you got the point of it. I mean, a lot of people struggle with procrastination, and, you know, it’s one of the things we teach in this course, is that first of all, perfectionist paralysis, so let’s just move on. But most of the reason is usually fear. People are anxious about doing something because of what they think might happen, and that’s what it all comes down to. And so if you can get people to not be concerned with the future, pull the trigger, take some risk and move through it, you’ll find everything opens up in your life. So it sounds like you’re starting that journey, which is great to see.

13:21 What would you say to someone who’s on the edge, thinking about taking a Life Accelerator, but not sure if it’s gonna help their life? I would tell them what I liked about this course, that is that from the beginning I had the feeling that each step is connected to the next step, so there is really a good concept behind it. Yeah, and it’s based on experience. It’s just, it’s not something that it’s mainly based on some theory or so.

13:56 It’s just something, yeah, I don’t know, what you have learned from your guests, what you have implemented in your own life. And it’s also not like, this is the truth. It’s more like, try this process and you will see if you like it or not. Just do that for this six weeks. And that was, yeah, that worked for me. And for me it was also good to join the Tribe before, because I developed a feeling how the London Real community actually works.

14:30 If I would just have seen the course on the website, maybe I wouldn’t have done it, but it was really helpful to just get a feeling for the community in the first place. Yeah, Tribe is an amazing piece. It’s something people can sign up for just a month and they can get a feel for what it’s like. I mean, again, it’s really all the people. You know, the London Realers around the world are the most special people you’ve ever imagined. They’re not like your friends and family who are negative or tell you you can’t do these things. All these people not only want you to be the best you, they expect you to be the best you.

15:02 So yeah, it’s an incredible community to be a part of. So, well, welcome to the family. You know, you’ve got 12 month goals and I’m expecting some big things from you in the future. You’re still in Tribe, so again, give back to that community and help those people get to the next level. And I’m just excited for what you do next. And, you know, maybe if you go public about this stuff, you already have now, so that’s really empowering, and really proud about what you’ve done. Yeah, thank you very much. I hope I… Thanks so much. Bye. Thank you.