BENGALURU: Rahul Dravid must have been told a million times, if not more, that his equanimity and his commitment to calm toughness and perseverance have left us cricket lovers awestruck. Still, I noticed the shy smile creeping up his face when I said it. In this interview, I asked this magician about his magic wand. He said, matter-of-factly, that there is no such wand: just a set of skills and passionate perseverance, and a relentless drive towards excellence.
Rahul is a family friend and my entire family adores him. Our discussions on excellence and life’s goals have always been extremely fulfilling and insightful. Even though I have met him countless times, every time I meet him, he elevates me with the sheer positivity of his energy.
VM: What does excellence mean to you?
RD: To me, excellence is the constant effort to get the best out of myself. To begin with, one has to recognize the skills one possesses for the chosen pursuit and then figure out if a huge reserve of passion accompanies it. For me, I was fortunate to have a skill set suited for the game of cricket. I had tremendous passion, even as a child, to pursue the game. Though it started out as a hobby, it became the largest part of my life pretty quickly. Excellence is a continuous journey. There are no rest stops. You have to keep evaluating your progress and improving. You need not compare yourself with others all the time, but review yourself against your chosen goals. Hence, set your goals in clear and unambiguous language. Excellence is also about being introspective. You need to look deep within – without wearing blinders or coloured glasses. You have to be brutal about where you are lacking and need to improve.
VM: What was the most important part of your journey towards excellence?
RD: There were many high and low points in the journey, but what mattered to me most was that, at the end of it, I could walk out of the stadium with my head held high and without any regrets. Everyone needs to create a process and plan that keeps him or her on the path to excellence.
VM: What’s the hardest part in the path to excellence?
RD: I’d say it’s the constant perseverance towards seeing challenges as opportunities and the passion to improve. Even when you are at the pinnacle and enjoying a fair amount of success, how you can still be focused on improving further is the key. The pursuit of excellence is not a part-time or some-time investment, it is an all-the-time thing. Commitment, discipline and drive are needed in good measure. And, of course, a deep love and passion for what you do.
VM: Was there a turning point in your journey towards excellence?
RD: Yes, getting dropped from the one-day team in 1998 forced me to introspect, recalibrate and relearn. I was out of the one-day team for a year, during which I spent a massive amount of time developing new skills and adapting my game for the one-day arena. It took a lot, beginning with a deeper awareness of the finer aspects of what I lacked and, subsequently, the hard work to improve. I was able to play ten years of one-day cricket after that and score over 10,000 runs in over 300 one-day matches. John Wright noted that: ‘He never made the same mistake twice. He learnt hugely in one-day cricket-which probably was an area he had to work at a little bit more than others. He had been dropped from the Indian one-day team and then went on to come back and have a very good World Cup [in 2003].’
VM: What is the recipe for excellence?
RD: Apart from what I described earlier, it’s also in the little things. All of those little things that come together to shape you. For a sportsperson, it could be the practice, the introspection, the attitude and the diet, to name some. And how one can be honest about these things even when no one is watching. It is in the sacrifices that you make during your pursuit, even in small things such as how much sleep you are getting. Those give you that extra 5 per cent edge over others. I have found that honesty is so important, that is, the kind of honesty one needs with oneself. So, be honest with your own self!
(Excerpted from Meaningful Success by Dr Vivek Mansingh, with permission from Penguin Random House)