In Search of Excellence

I saw Invictus recently. It is a great movie based on the the life of Nelson Mandela. It covers the tumulus time right after Mandela became the President of South Africa. He was trying to unite the country. The whites loves Rugby and Blacks loved soccer. South Africa was to host Rugby World Cup and South African team was an average team. Most commentators including many South African fans expected the team to reach Quarter Finals at best.

Mandela saw this as an opportunity to unite the country. He started learning the rugby rules, started following the South African team. He memorized the names of all the entire South African team. He also pushed the team to travel all over the country and spend time with kids and promote Rugby. This was against the wishes of his advisers.

He invited Francois, captain of the team for tea and told him, “We need inspiration Francois, because in order to build our nation, we must all exceed our own expectations.”

The South African team won the world cup beating many stronger competitors on the way. They truly did exceed their own expectations.

Mandela also talked about Invictus, a victorian poem that helped him through the trying circumstances when he spent a long tenure in jail.

Here is the Poem by William Ernest Henley:

Invictus

OUT of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

Tendulkar on sustained Excellence:

Tendulkar spoke of the preparation that goes behind doing well for such a long time. “The journey has gone by very quickly, quicker than I expected,” he says. “Time flies. You just need to enjoy it, it’s a circle. You are not always on the top, sometimes there are rough patches, but the simple formula that I have followed is, whenever I have gone through tough phases, I have found a reason to work harder. And try and spend all my energy at something I have been wanting to get better at and trying to keep things simple. If you keep things simple, they are simple to manage.

Full article at: http://www.cricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-india-2010/content/current/story/470658.html

In a recent interview to thewisdenCricketer, Sachin talks about his state of mind when he plays at his best.  He says that he bats at his best when he is still in mind and body, when he clears his mind and doesn’t think about past or future and lets his natural instincts take over. I believe these are powerful lessons from the little master to all of us, regardless of our profession.

Here is the part in the interview that caught my attention:

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After two decades playing international cricket, how has he so ruthlessly accumulated these runs? “The secret to batting is to stay still and just react to what the bowler has done,” he says, making it all sound simple. “You have to be still both in your mind and physically. It is so important that your mind is not full of a lot of thoughts because your reaction time is not going to be good. You have to keep your mind blank.

 ”The toughest thing is to clear your mind. The mind always wants to be in the past or the future; it rarely wants to be in the present. My best batting comes when my mind is in the present, but it doesn’t happen naturally. You have to take yourself there. I am not able to get in that zone as often as I would like, but when you are there you don’t see anything except the bowler and the ball. You have to allow your instincts to take over. Trust me, your instincts are 99% right, but you know, the older I get the more I realise how important your breathing is to good batting. By that I mean, if you focus on breathing and relaxing, you can force yourself into a comfortable place to bat.”

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We have to market ourselves so many times and at so many places, we run the risk of advertising to ourselves. There is a very fine line between being confident in our abilities and conning ourselves.

Success comes from dedicated, focused efforts and the dedication comes from not conning ourselves. Here is an interesting example:

One question from the interview of Nadal after he had won Australian open defeating Federer in the final:
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Q. You proved yourself as a true king.
RAFAEL NADAL: Oh, no, no. Well, the true, no. I don’t know. I just win for sure an important title for my careera. But I no better five hours before than now, no? That’s the true, no?
When you win an important match, but you have to know before the match who you are and after the match you have to know who you are, too. You are the same, no?
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You can read the entire interview at:
http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/news/interviews/2009-02-01/200902011233415660437.html

‘I want to give myself the best possible chance’ is a common theme I have observed in interviews of committed and outstanding performers. Those who perform at the highest possible level prepare to the best of their abilities.

We get to enjoy the performances but it is a pity that we don’t get to learn about the hard work and the dedication behind them. High performers do everything in their capacity to be at the best of their abilities when the show starts. That involves hard work and sacrifices.

I recently read Shane Watson’s interview on cricketnext.in.com. The full interview is at:

http://cricketnext.in.com/news/watson-credits-booze-ban-for-consistency/35056-13.html

He was one of the top performers in the recently concluded India-Australia cricket series. He was also a star performer in the IPL (Indian Professional League). The early part of his career was hampered by injuries and because of that he was not a permanent member of the Australian team despite being extremely talented. He is now relatively injury-free but his focus has improved as well. In the interview he attributed his performance to saying ‘no’ to alcohol, even during celebration parties.

Here are some quotes from his interview:

“I’m off drinking while playing and training so I’m giving myself every chance I possibly can to be right throughout this big workload especially,” Watson said.

“It’s been since I injured my hamstring in South Africa during the Tweny20 (last September). So the only time I had a drink was after the IPL to celebrate, just a couple of glasses of champagne. But, after that, once I get back into training and playing, I’ve got to give myself the best possible chance to get through games,”

“I definitely celebrate. I’ve made sure it doesn’t take away from celebrations. I’m not isolating myself from the group because I’ve not sat down and just said ‘I’m not going to drink’; I want to make sure I’m still involved and be celebrating and have fun which I always do,” he said.

The all-rounder added: “It just saves me. I know when I wake up in the morning, a few blokes are feeling a bit dusty and I’m fresh as a daisy, a bit tired but fresh.”

Here are some quotes from other famous stars on this subject:

Sachin Tendulkar

‘It doesn’t always happen according to the way you have planned things out but I feel if you have covered most of the aspects, it does help out there in the middle. ‘

‘At least with me, the match starts much, much earlier than the actual match. ‘

Tiger Woods

“People thought it was asinine for me to change my swing after I won the Masters by 12 shots. … Why would you want to change that? Well, I thought I could become better. If I play my best, I’m pretty tough to beat. I’d like to play my best more frequently, and that’s the whole idea. That’s why you make changes. I thought I could become more consistent.”

Excerpt from ’How I play Golf’ by Tiger Woods

Winning is about Preparation

Have you seen how Tiger Woods will back away after he putt the ball, and seemingly prepares himself for a victory pump even before the ball reach the hole. How did he know that a shot is going in before it goes in?

In the book, Tiger Woods talked about the importance of preparation.

Tiger learned from his dad the importance of preparation for the game. Before a tournament, he would spend hours analyzing the different holes, visualizing the different scenarios that could happen after each shot. His talent merely brings him in line with the top golfers in the world. Its his preparation that sets him apart from the rest of the field.

How Much Importance Do You Place On Preparation

Preparation is boring. You do not do any actual stuff. You merely spend hours analyzing videos, brainstorming on different possible scenarios that might occur, and visualizing them. Many of the scenarios will never occur, and you might find it a waste of time.

Indeed, many people prefer to jump straight into a game without preparing for it. Yet it has been proven time and again that the best athletes are the ones that spend an enormous amount of time on preparation.

Tiger Woods is one of them.

Michael Jordan

Phil Jackson once said this about his protégé, “You cannot find anyone that competes as hard in training as in competition”

 

Here is an excerpt from Harsha Bhogle’s talk at one of the IIM’s. IT gives an insight into Sachin’s mind and an insight into why he is one of the greats.