Saturday, March 14, 2009

On Performance: (I)

Never in my life have I taken my running this seriously & my work either. I am pushing my limits as much as I can in both the arenas. There is kindda similarity in Work and Workouts.

Once upon a time, as per the doctors, a mile in a four minute can be deadly, until Bannister broke that in 3 min 59.4 sec; though later, he said, “I figured I was dead, when I got up from collapsing at the finish line.” J In the work, too ‘the impossible’ is a self-limiting mindset. Ace performers are not born but made. The actual key is not the ability to swim faster or to execute the algorithm quickly in your head; instead, it is the mental toughness. My trainer stands so very next to me, and I feel pressured, its called thriving in pressure. We severalize when the heat is on.

Enjoy the pressure:

One has to be cool in the stressful situation. It’s an ability of the elite performers and said to be inborn, as most of the time, I disagree. In my opinion, we think, what we want to think, we understand, what we what want to understand. So make a choice, decide to enjoy the pressure, the best will come out of you. Dealing with the pressure is much easier when you focus on your on excel lance. On the verge of breaking down during my runs, I keep on uttering in my mind ‘Relax-Power-Glide’ continuously. This helps to control the go and forget everything.

Likewise, the high flyers in the offices are also inner focused. There was an executive, he was passionate about wrestling. An offer from Harvard, to attend less prominent under graduate school that had a better-ranked wrestling team, was declined by him. After he earned his MBA, he was recruited by investment-Banking firm, he rose to the level of CEO, Even then he was not driven by any of the need to impress others, As he said “Don’t think for a minute I am doing this for the status. I am doing for myself; this is the stuff I think about in the shower, I would do it even if I didn’t earn a penny. ” When the motivation is of this depth, we don’t need self- flagellation. Top players and executives are indeed hard on them selves, else they wouldn’t have achieved all that, but when things go awry, they dust off and move on.

These guys never let anything sidetrack them, its called command over compartmentalization. They have the ability to switch their endeavors on and off. Having a secondary passion helps in doing this. Dr. Homi Bhabha had a deep love for classical music, dance and sculpture. This keen interest made him worship art throughout his life. It also influenced the pattern of his life. There was a one lady Rower, who always set time aside to practice the piano, despite her arduous athlete-training schedule. She was a 2004 Olympic medal winner and fine pianist by time being.

People laugh at me, 'Why do you need work outs?' & I can't tell that I need a adrenalin rush. I can’t sleep in the night If I have missed my exertion, I think people who earned big titles in office also be feeling the same adictive adrenalin rush. They all unavoidably run the risk of burning out. Passion enables us enjoy this pressure.

Looking back, I acknowledge that of my choices were of passion, governed neither by logic nor by common sense. Many of these were good choices, though not all of them, but taking stock of my life I wish I had been more passionate…I would have gone much far then.

(SO much to write yet – released in portion) J Have Fun !!!

Close up:
‘The heart has its reason that reason cannot know’.
~Blaise Pascal.

1 comment:

  1. I am eager to learn of your thoughts/experience on horse-riding.

    ReplyDelete