There was a time when I used to be a serious sportsman.
My childhood years between the age of 10 to 17 were spent
training and competing as an athlete in various school, district, state and
corp. tournaments. I ran my last competitive race in early 2002. I was a solid
short-distance athlete with reasonably fast 100m and 200m timings. I won more
often than I lost.
My college years were spent training for the college
basketball team. I was a mediocre player and did not make the starting line-up
of my college team. But I loved the sport enough to train hard.
Which means that I spent more than a decade training for
some form of competitive sport.
To boot, both my parents were prolific athletes, and
national award winners in short distance running.
Hence my unbringing was seeped in sport. It is what has had
the most profound influence on the way I am built as an individual.
Competitive sport is a great teacher. It allows you to hone
not just your specific physical expertise but your mind too, in training and in
real competition. Since these competitions happen frequently, these values get
honed faster and sharper than for people who don’t grow up playing competitive
sport
What I learnt in sport is what I have subconsciously and in
recent times, more consciously applied to my work ethic.
So starting today, for the next few days, I plan to write
about the things sport taught me that I apply in my approach to work.
Here goes: - “ONE
MORE ROUND”
During school, our training begun with 6 – 7 rounds of
jogging around the ground.
My dad and coach would invariably say “ONE MORE ROUND"
at the end of the stipulated no. of rounds.
The aim was to push stamina.
But it wasn’t just physical stamina, it was mental too.
It was about pushing the legs, the body and the mind for one
more round.
At work, it manifests in a “one last push” for improvement.
Before we sign off on a product concept, a pack design, the final cut of a film
or even the final product prototype, I tend to have the nasty habit of doing
that “one last run through”.
I think it is a habit that annoys people a lot. But I’ve
found that going “one more round” has invariably improved the quality of the
work or given me the satisfaction that it is indeed the best we can do.
Of course, it also does manifest in “one more round” of
drinks at a bar when the night is almost finished and we can blame that on
sport too.
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