Same Life Lessons in Every Profession/Activity
Every profession or activity teaches people the same things. They are complete in themselves and have the same rules for success. For example, in any profession the basic objective is human welfare. If you are concentrated on the welfare of your customers while doing your business, you are a good business man and you will definitely earn good reputation, appreciation and money. Similarly, another rule of every activity or profession is that you should never be concerned about the result or goal. You should just concentrate on the process or the journey and if you conduct it well, you would do well in terms of results. Hence, results are a consequence of your dedication towards the activity and being obsessed with the result won’t bring you success. On the contrary, it will make you stressed and would cause you to perform below your potential. This is true for all professions and activities.
Cricket – A Great Teacher
In this blog, we will look at the lessons that Cricket teaches us. Sports is probably one of the few fields that reflects the true nature of any activity. This is because in all other activities you can entice your customers or the people with whom you deal with but in sports it is as real as it can get! For example, in business even if your product is not so good, you can always spend a little more on advertising and marketing and increase your sales by manipulating the consumers. But in Cricket, if you are not good enough to face the next ball as a batsman then you are just Out! So, cricket is a good area that can reflect the rules and realities of life.
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| What Batting teaches |
So, we start with what being a batsman means? A batsman in life means that you should be ready to face any type of delivery that life throws at you. You can play the deliveries/situations any way you want to but you should never be afraid of them else either you would be hurt by them or you will be back in the pavilion! I hope you know what pavilion means here!! So, you should practice well and should be prepared to face all kind of deliveries like fast, low, bouncer, yorker, wide, swinging etc. A fast delivery in life would mean a situation that doesn’t give you time to think. A low delivery would mean a situation that is difficult to spot but is important. A bouncer would mean a situation that you are unable to understand. A yorker means a situation that is extremely tricky to solve. A wide delivery means a situation that is out of your reach and a swinging delivery means a situation that is constantly changing and thus needs constant attention. You have to prepare for all these deliveries along with many others if you want to stay at the wicket otherwise the next batsman would be given the chance you are getting right now. Also, being a batsman is not only about learning to deal with problems but to perform your best in every condition. You have to keep finding the ‘gaps’ and should know how to make the ball reach the boundary. You should try to score centuries with precision & consistency. ‘Gaps’ here mean windows of opportunities and centuries mean achievement of goals. The most important thing that being a batsman teaches is that don’t worry even if you get clean bowled by ‘life’ because there is always another inning in which you can catch-up for your bad performances!
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| What Bowling Teaches |
Being a Bowler means that you should have full control over the situation (ball) at hand. You should know well how to swing it, how to disguise it from the batsmen, how to get the batsmen out, how to use it well to contain runs and how to beat the batsmen. The batsmen here would be your fellow peers and competitors in life. One important aspect that Cricket also teaches is that although every other player is your competitor and you should be looking to beat them and be better than them but you should not have animosity against them in your mind or in your action. You should learn to respect them and the game itself. Cricket teaches you to be a ‘gentleman’. So even though you might be aiming for the batsmen’s head in order to scare them out, you should be extremely concerned if they actually get hit with your deliveries. The most important thing that being a bowler teaches is to have patience even if you don’t get any wicket or go for too many runs. Your time will definitely come where you will be able to ace the situation at hand!
What Fielding Teaches
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| What Fielding Teaches |
Being a fielder means you should always be ready to grab every opportunity in life. You should be able to ‘Catch’ them whenever they come to you because they won’t come regularly and continuously. You have to limit the leakage of runs to the opponents by saving as many runs as possible and you should always support the bowler. Bowler here would mean people who you work for or your family & friends.
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| What To Learn As A Spectator |
Many a times in life you are just a spectator just like in cricket. It means you can’t do anything apart from seeing and accepting the results in your life. Being a spectator in cricket also teaches you a lot. It teaches you to respect people with differing views and goals in life. It teaches you to stay calm even when the chips are down for you and for the ones you support. It also teaches you to enjoy and appreciate the game/Life in general irrespective of what happens in it!
What Cricket Teaches In General
Another thing that Cricket teaches us whether you are a batsman, a bowler or a fielder is that you should play the ‘game’ well within its rules and in all sincerity. You should accept the decisions of the umpire and the results of the game with utmost respect and gracefulness. You should also not hate spectators if they are booing you and are supporting your opponents. And above all you always play to protect the ‘spirit of the game’.
Things that Cricket in general teaches us is that world is full of challenges and uncertainties. You should learn to adapt to every situation by preparing well for it. It tells you that you should play to win but also makes you learn to accept loss gracefully. You should be an asset to your team and an exemplary player from whom even your opponents would want to learn. You should be a really good ambassador of the game!