I used to live and breathe cricket during my school days. When I look back in time, I feel that all those foundational years have helped me tremendously in business.
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Speaker 1: I played for more than six years in my school
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Speaker 1: cricket team nearly made it to the Katica State team.
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Speaker 1: And a lot of people don't know this about me
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Speaker 1: in this podcast. I want to share the seven magical
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Speaker 1: lessons that I learned as a cricketer that's impacting my business.
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Speaker 1: It was back in the nineties that I remember the
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Speaker 1: first time I got to go to my school cricket
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Speaker 1: selection for my school team. I was my fourth standard.
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Speaker 1: I remember the day I went and changed, the coach
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Speaker 1: asked me to pad up. I went and padded up
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Speaker 1: and played a few shots and I got selected, I
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Speaker 1: got selected to be a part of the under 13
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Speaker 1: school team.
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Speaker 1: And uh I learned some magical lessons I played all
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Speaker 1: the way until my 10th for Bishop Cotton Boys school
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Speaker 1: in Bangalore. And it was a very prestigious uh uh
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Speaker 1: feeling to be playing uh as a part of the
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Speaker 1: school team against many of the other I CS E
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Speaker 1: school teams. And I've got some of my best lessons
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Speaker 1: in life by playing cricket in school. And I thought
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Speaker 1: I'll decode those lessons in this particular podcast and share
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Speaker 1: the seven magical lessons that I learned as a cricketer.
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Speaker 1: The first lesson is the magic of having a coach.
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Speaker 1: I remember the first time I got spotted um this coach,
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Speaker 1: his name was Mr Ramdas.
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Speaker 1: He saw something in me that I never knew that
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Speaker 1: was there in me and he started to nurture and
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Speaker 1: um train me in the area of wicket keeping.
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Speaker 1: So I remember waking up at six AM in the
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Speaker 1: morning or 5 30 AM in the morning going to
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Speaker 1: Saint Jo's Hostel grounds on Langford Road. And this coach
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Speaker 1: would come exclusively for me and he would train me,
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Speaker 1: he would make me run around the ground, do the
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Speaker 1: warm up. And then he would specifically coach me in
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Speaker 1: wicket keeping
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Speaker 1: and I was wicketkeeping. I was wicket keeper opening batsman
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Speaker 1: during my uh you know, the school days and now
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Speaker 1: it was amazing. So the magic of a coach is
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Speaker 1: uh for me, this man was my, you know, like a,
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Speaker 1: he instilled the belief in me that I could do
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Speaker 1: something which I never knew I could
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Speaker 1: and also magic of having a coach who demonstrates tough love.
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Speaker 1: He was a very tough love coach. He would never
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Speaker 1: say that. Uh even if I had done well or
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Speaker 1: un I used to perform well, he would never comment
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Speaker 1: saying that you are awesome or anything like that. He
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Speaker 1: would always say, ok, you can do better next time.
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Speaker 1: So having a coach who can, who believes in you,
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Speaker 1: who trains you at a level and does not praise
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Speaker 1: you just like that. Uh was one big magical lesson
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Speaker 1: that I learned, which I'm able to incorporate back into
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Speaker 1: my business where uh I want to be that kind
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Speaker 1: of a coach to others. Ok. Not that I don't
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Speaker 1: praise others. I'd love to acknowledge, appreciate people, but I
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Speaker 1: like to push people outside their comfort zone
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Speaker 1: and also make people believe that they can do something
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Speaker 1: beyond what is already there inside them. So that's what
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Speaker 1: I learned from my coach. And that's the first magic.
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Speaker 1: The second magical lesson that I learned as a cricketer
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Speaker 1: is the magic of practice.
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Speaker 1: They say that practice makes a man perfect or makes
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Speaker 1: a woman perfect. So in my case, it's like waking
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Speaker 1: up at six AM and I should do this for
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Speaker 1: years together. And since I was studying in school, I
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Speaker 1: CS C school, 11 subjects to go through. So for me,
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Speaker 1: it would be like a five AM wake up uh
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Speaker 1: like hit the ground at around six AM. 6 to 8.
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Speaker 1: The entire cricket practice, of course the warming up and
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Speaker 1: everything else.
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Speaker 1: Uh 8 30 would be the school assembly. So eight o'clock,
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Speaker 1: I would go for my choir practice and I was
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Speaker 1: also in the singing group in my school. So finish that.
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Speaker 1: So once the assembly gets over, the classes would start
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Speaker 1: at around 8 58 55. And I had to be
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Speaker 1: in class by then. So for me, it was a
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Speaker 1: very early start of the day and then a whole
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Speaker 1: day of school until 3 20 then back to the
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Speaker 1: field and evening practice and cricket. So, you know, the
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Speaker 1: the whole aspect of practice uh
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Speaker 1: has been so impactful for me personally, I'm talking about
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Speaker 1: anywhere between like 3 to 4 hours a day of
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Speaker 1: practicing for at least 5 to 6 years. Uh Everything
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Speaker 1: right from the physical practice, mental practice. And when I
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Speaker 1: look at what I'm doing right now in my own business,
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Speaker 1: in one sense, every day, I'm practicing my craft, even
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Speaker 1: this podcast I'm recording just because I want to just
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Speaker 1: continue honing those skills of practicing and improving myself on
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Speaker 1: a day to day basis.
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Speaker 1: And I have to really thank my uh journey as
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Speaker 1: a cricketer where I started to fall in love with
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Speaker 1: the process of practice from a very, very young age.
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Speaker 1: And that discipline has really helped me a lot, which
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Speaker 1: leads me to the third magical lesson as a cricketer
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Speaker 1: is the magic of performance
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Speaker 1: performance. Ultimately, it boils down to that no matter how
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Speaker 1: much you practice. Ultimately, you need to perform while you're
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Speaker 1: in the game, right? So you may practice for hours together.
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Speaker 1: But if you are not able to consciously deliver results
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Speaker 1: uh for yourself and your team, then uh there's no
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Speaker 1: use of any of that practice. So the only true
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Speaker 1: value of practice is uh the result through performance.
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Speaker 1: And for me, when I look back at my business,
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Speaker 1: all those years of practice, even I'm doing these podcasts
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Speaker 1: and I'm doing videos and I'm doing webinars. I've done
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Speaker 1: more than 6 to 700 webinars. For me, every webinar
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Speaker 1: is like a practice and I'm improving my performance from
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Speaker 1: time to time to time to grow my business. So
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Speaker 1: I really have to thank the cricketing days that has
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Speaker 1: given me this perspective in uh
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Speaker 1: you know, in my own business. But I'm always looking at,
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Speaker 1: you know, improving my performance, there are days that are good,
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Speaker 1: there are days that are bad and of course, when
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Speaker 1: it comes to performance, you can't be always at peak
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Speaker 1: performance like every cricketer, even if you look at the
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Speaker 1: IP L or the Indian cricket team, every player does
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Speaker 1: not have uh like a, they don't have
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Speaker 1: a stint that is always good. They're gonna have a
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Speaker 1: face where, where they're performing well. And they're also gonna
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Speaker 1: have a phase where they're gonna go downwards. OK? And
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Speaker 1: in the downwards in the valleys is when you pick
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Speaker 1: yourself up to move to the next peak. So between
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Speaker 1: the two peaks,
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Speaker 1: there are always going to be valleys and the same
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Speaker 1: happens even in a sport like cricket. And that's what
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Speaker 1: I learned. And that also applies in my business
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Speaker 1: and the fourth magical lesson that I learned as a
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Speaker 1: cricketer is the magic of uh
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Speaker 1: performing with a team. The magic of a team.
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Speaker 1: I've had some of my closest friends and closest bonds
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Speaker 1: that I've had with the members of my own team.
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Speaker 1: And since I was a wicket keeper, I used to
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Speaker 1: uh really hold the entire team together. Uh Besides the
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Speaker 1: captain in a way by which I was analyzing how
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Speaker 1: the batsman would come in, I would play a few
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Speaker 1: mind games, you know, to psych the batsman up a
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Speaker 1: little bit. I would have some code words with bowlers.
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Speaker 1: I know like magic ball biscuit ball and then we
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Speaker 1: would psych the batsman up and we would get them out. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: Uh and we would have different kinds of strategies
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Speaker 1: as a team to really, you know, have that collective performance.
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Speaker 1: And today, when I look at my business, of course,
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Speaker 1: uh business is a slightly different thing for me to
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Speaker 1: activate people together to help people work together, to inspire
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Speaker 1: uh you know, my facilitators and my, you know, my
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Speaker 1: quantum members and my diamond members and all the hackathon
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Speaker 1: people to I put them into teams and make them
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Speaker 1: to compete with each other with a positive spirit. Now,
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Speaker 1: that thing
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Speaker 1: is what I got from my cricketing days and I'm
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Speaker 1: so glad that I got to understand the magic of
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Speaker 1: a team and see once you have formed a team
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Speaker 1: that uh
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Speaker 1: that trusts you
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Speaker 1: and you have trust in your team. There's nothing better
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Speaker 1: than that. Like I know when I used to go
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Speaker 1: as an opening batsman along, I was a right handed
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Speaker 1: batsman on the non strikers and there would be a
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Speaker 1: left handed batsman and we had such a synchronicity that
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Speaker 1: uh we would just know what's going on. We didn't
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Speaker 1: have to speak to,
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Speaker 1: to decide what the next thing would be. It was
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Speaker 1: a very subconscious and a very uh telepathic communication. You
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Speaker 1: would have to have that great start in the opening.
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Speaker 1: And uh we've had some good days. We've had many
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Speaker 1: bad days as well. But that's the magic of a team.
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Speaker 1: The fifth magic that I learned as a cricketer. The
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Speaker 1: lesson I learned was the magic of undergoing pressure.
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Speaker 1: They say that diamonds are created only under pressure. And
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Speaker 1: that's what I also experienced in my days. Imagine, uh
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Speaker 1: you know, being the opening batsman, there's a lot of
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Speaker 1: pleasure and there's been moments where my entire school was
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Speaker 1: there watching, uh you know, the semifinals, the finals of
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Speaker 1: the Kian Shield. And you know, I played many, many
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Speaker 1: tournaments like this and
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Speaker 1: that performance under pressure is something I cannot explain. In
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Speaker 1: words like you have to be there to or you
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Speaker 1: should have played that sport to actually feel that emotion.
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Speaker 1: You know, when you have hundreds of people depending on you,
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Speaker 1: uh your entire team, depending on you for, for, for
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Speaker 1: delivering a result and you pull through and you make
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Speaker 1: it happen. You know, there's, there's no sweeter uh
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Speaker 1: emotion or that feeling of accomplishment and achievement. Then that
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Speaker 1: feeling like I, I, I just put myself in the
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Speaker 1: shoes of MS D hitting that six to win that
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Speaker 1: World Cup. You know, that feeling is priceless and that's
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Speaker 1: what every sports person craves for. And the same applies
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Speaker 1: even in my business. You know, when I set this
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Speaker 1: big milestones, when I hit those big numbers in my business,
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Speaker 1: there have been some days that I've done some really
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Speaker 1: awesome sales
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Speaker 1: and like heading it out of the park. You know,
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Speaker 1: those are the days that I look forward to and
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Speaker 1: I take inspiration, of course, there are going to be
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Speaker 1: days where even in the pressure I break under pressure,
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Speaker 1: like during as an opening batsman, there's been a few
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Speaker 1: times that I've got out right in the first ball
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Speaker 1: or the second ball and uh because I was unable
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Speaker 1: to handle the situation at that point of time. And
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Speaker 1: of course, in those moments, uh I have to, I
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Speaker 1: used to reflect on what I can do better the
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Speaker 1: next time and to improve that.
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Speaker 1: And that's how the game is like even in business,
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Speaker 1: there's going to be moments where, you know, you may
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Speaker 1: get zero sales, you may get zero
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Speaker 1: results and you start to doubt yourself. And there were
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Speaker 1: moments where I used to doubt myself as a player. I,
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Speaker 1: I really worthy. I'm really good enough and I used
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Speaker 1: to set the bench also where consistent of, I mean,
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Speaker 1: there would be consistent rounds of not performing well. That
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Speaker 1: would make me sit on the bench. I would not
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Speaker 1: be able to play a few matches. Then I come
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Speaker 1: back and then I had to perform, you know, so
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Speaker 1: that bounce back and coming back. Uh and those pressures
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Speaker 1: are so important and the same applies. Even in life,
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Speaker 1: there are going to be times in life where everything
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Speaker 1: is going super fine and there are going to be
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Speaker 1: times where
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Speaker 1: you're going to be hitting those uh those low points.
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Speaker 1: And it's how do you deal with that pressure that
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Speaker 1: really matters. So that's another magical lesson that I learned
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Speaker 1: as a cricketer.
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Speaker 1: The other magical lesson I learned is the magic of winning,
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Speaker 1: you know, the magic of really taking the team and,
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Speaker 1: and uh that feeling of winning a match and winning
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Speaker 1: in a true spirit where uh even after you won,
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Speaker 1: you go, you acknowledge you appreciate the losing side. And
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Speaker 1: of course, that feeling of yes, we did it as
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Speaker 1: a team. There's been moments where
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Speaker 1: I have not performed individually, but as a team, we
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Speaker 1: have won.
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Speaker 1: And that feeling is also priceless. And there's been moments
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Speaker 1: where I I individual performance was really good, but the
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Speaker 1: team lost. So that really didn't matter. So even in
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Speaker 1: business right now. Uh I take that same spirit, meaning
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Speaker 1: if I'm making money or if I'm growing in my business,
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Speaker 1: that's ok. But what I want is my team to win.
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Speaker 1: I want my students to win. I want them to
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Speaker 1: get results. You know, that gives me a better kick than,
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Speaker 1: you know, me scoring those runs,
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Speaker 1: you know, and I have to attribute it back to
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Speaker 1: my journey as a cricketer that has inspired me with this.
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Speaker 1: And then the last point is the magic of losing.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, magic of winning is good. Everyone wants to win.
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Speaker 1: But there's some magic even in losing when you don't
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Speaker 1: uh hit your your milestone. As I mentioned, as I
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Speaker 1: mentioned before, you know, there have been moments that I've
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Speaker 1: broken down under pressure and we've lost. And in fact,
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Speaker 1: the last year when I was leaving school 10 standard
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Speaker 1: and moving into college, uh that was the last year
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Speaker 1: we were playing the carton shield, which is a very
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Speaker 1: prestigious tournament in the cricketing uh in, in the inter
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Speaker 1: school cricketing world in Bangalore.
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Speaker 1: So it was the best of three finals,
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Speaker 1: Cottons versus Joseph's Saint Joseph's European high school
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Speaker 1: arch rivals like India Pakistan,
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Speaker 1: best of three finals, the first finals. Uh we win
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Speaker 1: and uh I contributed to that towards the end, hit
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Speaker 1: like 23 runs and some 14, 15 balls and really
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Speaker 1: not those numbers up towards the end. And somehow we
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Speaker 1: made it
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Speaker 1: and um
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Speaker 1: the next final we lost
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Speaker 1: and then it was the last final and it was
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Speaker 1: my last year of school. And for me, I was thinking, yes,
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Speaker 1: we got to somehow win it. So when I leave
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Speaker 1: school and move into college, it's winning the Coton Shield.
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Speaker 1: It, it was something which was always an aspiration
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Speaker 1: and we lost badly in the third match.
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Speaker 1: And I remember that day, even till now, the entire
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Speaker 1: team was down because we were all just passing out.
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Speaker 1: A lot of us. We were passing out from school
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Speaker 1: and we were leaving school and moving into a different
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Speaker 1: college
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Speaker 1: and it was a year of our board exams and stuff.
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Speaker 1: And I remember the,
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Speaker 1: you know, the supervisor of uh
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Speaker 1: the senior school came in and spoke to us.
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Speaker 1: He said, uh between the cup and the lip,
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Speaker 1: there could be many slips
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Speaker 1: but no matter what you, you, no matter what slips
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Speaker 1: you had, uh you got to look forward and march
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Speaker 1: on straight on,
00:14:06
Speaker 1: you know, coming from, uh from Bishop Cartons. The motto
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Speaker 1: of the school is uh next Dextros Nesum,
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Speaker 1: which means on, straight on
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Speaker 1: on Ions on
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Speaker 1: that is the motto and even the school song has that.
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Speaker 1: So when I, when we lost that finals, it felt
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Speaker 1: that we've lost something big. But again, thanks to the
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Speaker 1: upbringing and the, and the guidance that we had from
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Speaker 1: our coaches,
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Speaker 1: we were able to come through it. But even today,
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Speaker 1: there are regrets. But again, that's the magic of losing
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Speaker 1: in life. There are going to be moments where everything
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Speaker 1: that you might have planned may not go the way
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Speaker 1: that it should be, it should go. And that only
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Speaker 1: means that there's something better, there's something better waiting for
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Speaker 1: you or maybe there's a lesson embedded in there for you.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, for me, the lesson was to move on and
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Speaker 1: probably that was one of those moments where I had
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Speaker 1: to integrate a lesson that I actually learned fully when
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Speaker 1: I flunked my 12th grade.
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Speaker 1: So in 10th, we lost the finals. Yeah, I moved
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Speaker 1: on to the 11th and 12th grade, 12th grade. I
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Speaker 1: flunk my board exams
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Speaker 1: and I think that was where I integrated this lesson
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Speaker 1: completely and I decided, OK, I need to move on
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Speaker 1: straight on and never give up. And I found a
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Speaker 1: space in a audience sharing institute. I ended up scoring
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Speaker 1: 92 person over there and long story short from the
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Speaker 1: media industry moved into the digital industry to what I'm
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Speaker 1: doing right now.
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Speaker 1: So that's the magic of losing. So let's recap. As
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Speaker 1: a cricketer. I've learned so much
00:15:51
Speaker 1: the magic of having a coach, the magic of practice,
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Speaker 1: the magic of performance, the magic of working with the team,
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Speaker 1: the magic of dealing with pleasure, the magic of winning
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Speaker 1: and the magic of losing.
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Speaker 1: I'm just here to tell you that uh
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Speaker 1: sport is such a powerful medium to learn.
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Speaker 1: And if you have, if you resonate with this, I
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Speaker 1: would love to hear your comments below on my blog
00:16:17
Speaker 1: post below. And uh if you've never played a sport,
00:16:21
Speaker 1: get into it, you know, play something which is a
00:16:23
Speaker 1: team game. There are many solo sports, but when you
00:16:26
Speaker 1: play a team sport, it's a totally different vibe and
00:16:28
Speaker 1: you can learn a lot of lessons from it. And
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Speaker 1: if you're a part of my community, uh I hope
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Speaker 1: you can integrate some of these lessons and look at
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Speaker 1: this as a game. Look at this as a sport
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Speaker 1: because ultimately, it is a game. Ok. Uh Don't take
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Speaker 1: it too seriously, you know, when we finish a game
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Speaker 1: and we finish the match. Ultimately, we go back home
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Speaker 1: and we eat our food, go to sleep and we,
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Speaker 1: we start a fresh day, a new day. Fine.
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Speaker 1: You win it, next day is a new day, you lose.
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Speaker 1: The next day is a new day. Does not really matter.
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Speaker 1: You just need to ensure that every day you are
00:17:00
Speaker 1: able to come back fresh and play the game,
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Speaker 1: not to win or not to lose,
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Speaker 1: but to be you to perform and
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Speaker 1: to love the process.
00:17:13
Speaker 1: That's what I'd like to leave you with. So if
00:17:16
Speaker 1: you love this, if you like this podcast, please subscribe
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00:17:21
Speaker 1: And uh if you're already a part of my community.
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Speaker 1: That's awesome if you're not attend my next webinar and
00:17:27
Speaker 1: uh if you're not my diamond member upgrade, because that's
00:17:31
Speaker 1: where I'll take your game to the next level, all
00:17:33
Speaker 1: the best.