Abhinav Bindra, Sourav Ganguly and Neeraj Chopra.
These are three people who have all faced extreme pressure. You don’t shoot an Olympic gold medal without feeling the pressure. You don’t captain India in cricket for 200 games without handling pressure. And you don’t win an Olympic gold and follow it with golds at the Asian Games, World Championships and Diamond League competitions if you wilt under pressure.
There is pressure. And it’s intense. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will feel it today at the All England. And in Paris. Everyone else will as well.
We have seen many an athlete tell us that they don’t feel the pressure. Is that the truth? Is it the right way to deal with pressure? Will they not feel it at the Olympics – on the biggest stage of all? Are they trying to deflect pressure and just be brave in front of the media?
My key takeaway from the session with these legends and my friend, Adille Sumariwalla, President of AFI, was the perspective on pressure.
“Unless you accept there is pressure you will want to run away from it,” said Bindra. “Acceptance is the first step to dealing with it.”
Each of the others agreed and it was evident that all of the speakers were telling us something very similar. For, each of us feels the pressure. When we give a major exam, we feel it. If we go for job interviews, there is serious pressure. At every step, there is pressure. We can’t just run away from it and tell ourselves that it’s not there. Rather, we must accept it. And then deal with it. Once we accept it, as Ganguly added, you tend to embrace it. You start practicing every day until it becomes second habit. And once you do it every day, excellence is just a natural end point of the process.
RevSportz #TrailBlazers2Conclave
Dealing with pressure at the highest level. How difficult is it to be at the top of your domain and maintain it throughout?
Learn from the best as our legends speak! 👇@TataSteelLtd @BoriaMajumdar @Abhinav_Bindra @Neeraj_chopra1 @SGanguly99… pic.twitter.com/g9TMaBu9Zq
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Chopra, arguably India’s greatest ever, said he would be the best prepared for Paris. That’s his way of dealing with pressure. Acceptance and then making sure he is best prepared. Once that happens, he can soak in the atmosphere. Use pressure as an opportunity. Not get overawed by it. Feel the pleasure of being on the biggest stage of all and doing something special for the country.
For me personally, it was a session of immense learning. And we will be putting the session recording out today on all our RevSportz platforms for everyone to see. Whether you like or enjoy sport, you should watch it. Apply it in your respective domains and make use of the learnings.
Sport is just a prism these athletes use. The lessons are relevant to us all in our respective domains. It offers valuable life lessons that enrich us and teaches us things we don’t normally see. Things that are there in front of us, and yet we miss them.
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