The current pandemic has thrown up a new challenge to humanity – to think positive.
And I could relate it with the way we started our recruitment venture in the year 2013. We
were minnows, we still are – but in between, we made a massive outreach effort to do
business with industry leaders – and quite valiantly fought our ’David Vs Goliath’ battle.
Every time we made a sales pitch to a Fortune 500 company, we were told – “we already
have marquee agencies, we do it in-house” and yet we held our ground and requested them
to try our value proposition for finance hiring – they did and were pleasantly surprised
Every time we got a mandate, we risked that all CVs will be rejected/ duplicate/dumped as
position closed internally / through another consultant / put on hold. But still we sent CVs
and closed a Billable CTC of INR 35 cr+
Your thoughts are a catalyst for self-perpetuating cycles. What you think directly influences
how you feel and how you behave. So if you think you’re a failure, you’ll feel like a failure.
Then, you’ll act like a failure, which reinforces your belief that you must be a failure.
Navjot Singh Sidhu once shared an anecdote of a one day international against West Indies
in 1988. It was his third tournament and Sachin Tendulkar’s second. To give you a little
context, it was a wet pitch and as you may know, the West Indies players were HUGE!
Sidhu very desperately asked the then captain, Azharuddin to do him one favour and win
the toss because batting on the wet pitch was going to be a huge challenge!
As the coin was flipped for the toss, Azharuddin indicated to Sidhu to pad up because they
had lost the toss!
Frightened of the massive West Indies bowlers and concerned about how they would face
them, Sidhu and Tendulkar started their walk to the pitch.
Sidhu asked Tendulkar, “What are we going to do?” The 16 year old Tendulkar, in his
squeaky voice simply replies, “We’ll play.” Sidhu then asks who will face the first over.
Tendulkar very cheekily says you face and quickly walks over to the other side of the pitch.
Left with no choice, Sidhu gets ready to face Curtly Ambrose. He bowled 7 balls, of which 6
hit Sidhu on various parts of his body and none even touched the bat and one was a no ball.
Before the second over began, Sidhu and Tendulkar had a quick chat and Sidhu said, “this
guy is so huge that the balls seem to be dropping from the sky! As soon as it bounces, I’m
left confused about which way it will go! What are you going to do?” Once again, Tendulkar
in his squeaky voice says, “I’ll play.”
The second over was to be bowled by Ian Bishop, a massive, mountain of a man. When he
ran, the earth seemed to move. Ian Bishop starts his run up and delivers and to Sidhu’s
surprise, Tendulkar runs towards the ball and receives it as a full toss and whacks a sixer!
Stunned, Sidhu asks Sachin, “What did you do?” Tendulkar simply says, “You said it’s difficult
to judge the ball after it bounces so I didn’t let it bounce.”
What I’m trying to explain through this simple example is how a champion’s mind-set works.
Their thought process is not “it’s so difficult, how will I do it?”
Their thought process is “yes, it’s difficult, how can I accomplish it?”
It’s the mind-set that sets a champion apart from the crowd.
Always remember, your thoughts create your habits which create your character which
builds your destiny.
So then does it pay to stay negative?
Isn’t positive mind-set a strategic imperative?
What do you think?
Regards