“Passion Is The Thing That Recharges You”

Mario Sequeira is an entrepreneur who operates at the nexus of commercial success and profound personal transformation. As managing partner and director of a nearly 50-year-old family conglomerate, he directs successful ventures in manufacturing premium alcoholic beverage and hospitality and real estate sectors, including the flagship Acacia Palms Resort. 

Mr Sequeira defines his greatest achievements not by balance sheets, but by the lives he empowers. Drawing from his own journey of a remarkable 27-kg weight loss and overcoming business adversity, he serves as a powerful prosperity coach and mentor. A trained NLP specialist, he guides entrepreneurs through challenges, launching them onto paths of renewed success and holistic well-being. 

In a freewheeling conversation with Sharmila Chand, Consulting Editor, India Business Journal. Mr Sequeira provides an insight into his philosophy of life and lessons learnt along the way.

“True success is not a frantic sprint but a well-paced marathon that you enjoy running...
When we think of a legacy in a demanding career, we often picture completed projects or policy documents. But for me, my legacy is not found in these or in great files left behind in a cabinet. These are the things I have done, and they may have brought me great wealth. But I hope to leave behind a legacy in the umpteen impressions I have left on the minds of the people I have worked with. 

My core value has always been sustainable high performance. It is imprinting on the minds of entrepreneurs and senior executives that I coach the idea – true success is not a frantic sprint that leads to burnout but a well-paced marathon that you enjoy running! In a run like this, there surely will not be any burnout, even if there are steep ups and dizzy downs!

“The biggest misconception about being calm is that it is the absence of stress...
Calm is the ability to function with stress. This is not to be misunderstood for stress avoidance, but it is truly stress management. My secret for success is not a secret at all, but practical, trainable techniques. One such easy to implement technique I call the Anchor and Switch (A&S) method. Stress triggers our primal fight-or-flight response, flooding us with adrenaline and cortisol. It blocks our mind from thinking clearly. In other words, our mind gets hijacked by the stress hormones! The trick is to interrupt this biological hijacking by using my A&S method.

The Anchor and Switch method in a nutshell…
Anchor: The moment you feel a wave of pressure, consciously anchor yourself in the present moment. My go-to technique is a Physiological Sigh. It is a double inhale through the nose, followed by a long, slow exhale through the mouth. It is the fastest way to signal to your nervous system that you are safe. It takes about 3 seconds to show results. You can do this in the middle of a high-stakes meeting without anyone noticing.

Switch: Once your mind is clear, switch onto something. Ask yourself one simple question: “What is the smallest possible action I can take right now to move forward?” Do not try to solve the entire crisis. Just focus on the very next step. Is it making a phone call? Sending an email? Or simply getting a glass of water for your client or boss?

“Positive thinking is not about ignoring reality… 
Think of your inner strength not as a fixed trait but as an Emotional Immune System. Just like your physical immune system, it needs to be trained and nourished to protect you from life’s viruses – be it failure, criticism or uncertainty.

Positive thinking is not about ignoring reality. It is about training your brain to scan for opportunities, solutions and lessons, even in difficult situations. It is the Vitamin C for your emotional immunity. A simple daily practice: Before you sleep, write down three things that went well that day, no matter how small. This rewires your brain to notice the good.

Inner strength is built in the gym of small challenges. Do not wait for a crisis to test your resilience. Voluntarily step out of your comfort zone regularly. Have a difficult conversation you have been avoiding. Learn a skill that you know you will be bad at initially. Each small discomfort you overcome is like a repetition that builds your resilience muscle.

“Calmness is your compass...
Life will be a storm at times. Calmness is not stopping the storm; it is the ability to find your bearings within it. Practice mindfulness not just when you are stressed, but when you are happy. The goal is to create a baseline of inner quiet that you can always return to.

Emotional intelligence (EI) is your superpower. EI is simply understanding your own emotional state and recognising the emotional state of others to guide your actions. The most impactful trick for emotional intelligence is the pause. Before you speak in anger, before you make a big decision, before you send that reactive text – just take a pause. Take one deep breath. That tiny gap between a trigger and your response is where wisdom, growth and good decisions are born.

“Passion is the essential fuel required during a demanding career...
We should not see passion as a reward we get after the hard work is done. That framework leads to a life of deferred joy. I believe that passion is the essential fuel required during the demanding career. It is the why that gets you through the how. A career without a parallel pursuit, no matter how small, is like a diet with no essential nutrients – you might function, but you will not thrive. That hobby, that passion, is not a distraction from your work. It is the very thing that recharges you and gives you the perspective and creativity to excel at your work.

“I have been following my passion for more than a decade now......
It was not something I discovered after my career ended because I am still a hyperactive entrepreneur. My passion for music, art and life was forged in the very fires of

entrepreneurship. My work as a longevity and entrepreneur stress management coach and writing A Roadmap to Longevity are the culmination of a lifelong fascination.

For years, I watched brilliant, dedicated colleagues burn out. They were achieving incredible heights professionally but at a tremendous personal cost to their health and happiness. My passion became an obsession: to decode why this happens and to find a better way. I started treating my own life and my team’s well-being as a project, applying principles of system design and efficiency to manage stress, energy and focus. I have in many joyous ways made myself a guinea pig in fine-tuning my own techniques. 

Now, I am taking the raw data from my 30-year career filled with pressure and challenges and turning it into practical roadmaps for others. It is immensely fulfilling because it gives purpose to every single challenge I ever faced.