CHENNAI: Success for many comes when they are obsessed with what they do. Be it in sports, academics, or in any walk of life. It was his obsession to improve that had driven hurdler Tejas Shirse to success. However, that same obsession had become some sort of a kryptonite for the national record holder in recent times. Tejas has been looking to gently let go some of that obsession and ensure a healthy flow in his life. And that is paying off. In the recently-concluded Taiwan Open Athletics Championships, Tejas was in his element as he clocked 13.52 seconds, which is not far away from the National record, also his personal best (13.41 seconds). That run also earned him a gold medal.
"I am trying to not be so attached to the sport. I am trying to distance myself from it, yet be in it. It is a paradox of sport and performance. Because if you care about it so much, you will not be so much in a flow or in a fluidity to perform well. You have to let go of that. And I am really working on that part of my mental aspect," he told the New Indian Express.
Was it easy for Tejas to detach?: "I was losing sleep on it," he revealed. "For the first 30 days, I was so obsessed with everything I was doing. With my precision, I was so precise with my time. I was not wasting a single minute here and there, which is okay. I think I don't have to have balance. But you have to know how to be in control of yourself. And that is how I find I have to detach myself from it for a while and still be in it. So that helps me perform better," he said, adding that he trusts his body more to bring himself in a state of flow.
The other things that he has done to improve himself is by maintaining a journal. "Journaling really has helped me. I like to write things down. When I go back to that I really get some good insights on how I have improved my timings, even if I miss out on medal positions" he said.
Hailing from a family of farmers in Sambhaji Nagar, Maharashtra, Tejas has had quite a journey so far. He has been rubbing shoulders with the likes of world youth champion and Diamond League finalist Sasha Zhoya and former French athlete Ladji Doucoure. He has learnt a vital lesson competing with quality athletes. "One key thing I learnt (from both) is the mindset of trying to be the best and not weighing yourself down based on other competitors," he said.
According to him, a lot of Indians are influenced by the challenge in front of them and consider defeat before the actual competition. "We think like, 'oh no, we don't have good genes. We don't have that much of infrastructure or support or whatever it is,' and I just felt like that was all a bias for us to hide our non-achievements, which most of the Indian fraternity has been giving for a long time," he noted. To change that, Tejas felt that athletes today should surround themselves with better athletes.
At present, Tejas is currently training under James Hillier of the Reliance Sports Foundation. He has set high ambitions for himself. He's looking to clock a sub 13.3 second-run this year. "I will pick up some competitions around Europe. Before that, there is a World University Games. Yes, I have done a national record. But I haven't even participated in any major international competitions. I want to change that through the World University Games," he signed off.