‘Needed to pick myself up’: Rahul Dravid on finding strength to ‘give that one last push’ to his cricketing career

Life is about numerous challenges that you may find difficult to navigate. They may cause you pain and suffering, and leave you unable to find the focus and motivation that you need to fully immerse yourself in work and relationships.
How do you pick yourself up when you’re feeling particularly blue?

Seek inspiration from Rahul Dravid, who is widely heralded as one of the greatest batsmen in the hory of cricket. A man of few words, Dravid is known for his short but impactful speeches that he has delivered over the course of his illustrious career.
In this speech, he shared how he derived inspiration from Olympic gold medal Abhinav Bindra when he clenched victory and how that ‘emboldened’ him to ‘give that one last push’ with his career.

The acclaimed cricketer began his speech addressing why needed to push himself. “Around 2008, I was in the middle of a lean patch. The runs had dried up and I was on the wrong side of 30. That isn’t a good territory in Indian cricket. I needed to pick myself up, I wanted to. I knew I had at least another couple of years of cricket left in me.”
He explained how Abhinav’s Beijing victory, thoroughly inspired him. “Around this time I watched with glee as Abhinav Bindra shot his way to an Olympic gold in Beijing. I still remember the adrenaline rush that I felt at that time and reading his autobiographywas fascinating for me.”
“I think his story must be read anyone on the quest for excellence, his obsession for perfection stood out. He did absolutely everything in his power to seek perfection, no compromises, no shortcuts,” he continued.
“He had a good team around him who could match his obsession. They made sure everything was perfect, even small things like shaving a millimetre of the sole of one of his shoes to achieve the right stance. It had to be perfect.”
Explaining how the Olympic winner could have been comfortable with his talent and success, and yet chose to push himself, Dravid said, “Abhinav could have easily sat back and enjoyed being good at his sport but he was able to push himself to be great. He found and took all the support he could get, to learn about his art and give it his best shot.”

He added: “Abhinav’s achievement emboldened me to give it that last push with my own career to dig deep again and to do whatever it took, as difficult as it might seem. His no-shortcuts, no-excuses approach is something we can all aspire for, in whatever tasks big or small that we undertake.”
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