In the year 1980, Prakash Padukone became the first Indian to win the renowned All England Badminton Championship and created history. Instantly, he became the icon for Indian Badminton and gained popularity for his unprecedented victory. Through his power of devotion in practicing the game he achieved the tagline best player of the world. His devotion towards his passion was such that, he did not attend even a single party in 17 years of his professional playing days. Astonishing as it is, how can such legends exist without being attracted to fame and popularity? Are they even human?
When you start enjoying something, love for it naturally grows. Spending time and energy towards it is never felt as a burden. When the thought of progression occurs, that is where devotion needs to take birth. Devotion is the highest form of commitment. When you are committed towards a goal other forces around you take less priority or will not distracts you. When Prakash Padukone dreamt of winning the most prestigious title of the world, the journey in himself begun. A course was set to reach the destination. Although the journey would be unknown, what could be the strength which lets you to hold on to this course? Yes, its Devotion.
“The job of your intellect is to see-understand-assess-dissect-solutionize-deliver”
When India won the Cricket world cup in 2011, MS Dhoni captaincy was greatly applauded. He was awarded the best captain India has ever seen in cricketing history. I was curious to explore the taglines which was labelled to him “The captain cool”. In an interview legendary cricketer Saurav Ganguly, mentioned that “he has hardly seen Dhoni practice wicket keeping” yet he is considered one of the best wicket keepers of the world. This kept flashing in my mind if he is not practicing then how could he be the best in the world. Upon analysing, I realized that in sports, beyond a point only practicing hard might not help you to do the right thing at the right time. Players need a sense which often comes from intellect. What is intellect for a sports player? Assessing opponents, along with realizing self-abilities and challenges of the environment, player must come up with a game plan along with his/ her coach. This kind of intellectual strategizing will help accentuate further possibilities of victory.
In case of MS Dhoni, he exactly knew his abilities and how much time to be invested in practice and rest was spent on strategizing a game plan along with his team.
Both devotion and intellect go hand in hand. If you can learn to master using these two tools at the right time. Your transformation to be the best of you is not far.