Fall down seven times, stand up eight......

0 0 36 10 20 19 31 36………………………………………………………18,426

Puzzle for Mathematics geniuses:

“how many matches a batsman would take to score 18,426 runs if one starts his career with the above mentioned scores in first eight matches?”

A mathematician may answer ~970 matches.

A statistician would answer 463 matches with 49 hundreds, 96 fifties.

These are statistics for Sachin Tendulkar’s ODI career, which spanned more than 23 years with multiple injuries, setbacks, heartbreaks, and moments of self-doubt. What differentiated him was his ability to stand up every time he fell and continue with his efforts to make him one of the greatest cricketers in the history of the game.

Many would argue that he was given multiple chances to prove himself. Such luxury is not available to most people. What these many people forget is that the right to have these chances remain with an individual, who must remain perseverant with his / her efforts and have faith in power of universe, which would always answer back positively to one’s sincere efforts.

Fall down seven times, stand up Eight…..Japanese proverb

Sports, business, showbiz, politics, and all spheres of life would have countless such examples of perseverance finally resulting in success & glory.

I would like to recount two stories from sporting arena which always inspire me.

First story is of Károly Takács, Hungarian shooter, who was the first to win two Olympic Golds in the 25 meter rapid fire pistol event. But that’s not the reason for his glory. Károly was a world-class pistol shooter by 1936. He was denied a well-deserved place in Hungarian shooting team for 1936 summer Olympics on the grounds that he was a sergeant and only commissioned officers were allowed to compete. This rule was changed after Berlin Olympics. Life had other plans. While the rule was lifted, during army training in 1938, he badly injured his right hand, his shooting hand, when a faulty grenade exploded. Takács was determined to continue his shooting career and switched to shooting with his left hand. He became so good that he won the Hungarian national pistol shooting championship in the spring of 1939. He was all set to participate in Olympics. However, due to World War II, Olympics of 1940 and 1944 were cancelled. After waiting for 12 years since 1936, Károly finally participated in summer Olympics of 1948 at London with his left hand and went on to win the Gold Medal beating the best of the world at that time. He repeated the feat again in 1952 Olympics at Helsinki.

Even the strongest of souls would have given up when destiny was conspiring in above manner. However, he stood his ground and ensured that he achieved his dreams.

Second Story is about Marvan Atapattu, famous former Sri Lankan cricketer and team Captain. Marvan Atapattu scored twin ducks in his first test match he played for the Lanka team. He was dropped from the team and made a come back after 21 months of making runs in domestic cricket to again score a duck and 1 run in the match given to him. He was dropped again to be recalled again after 17 months to score twin ducks again. Everybody rejected him except for him, who continued to work on his game to be given one more recall to team after 3 years. This time he scored runs and went on to make 5500+ test runs in 90 test matches in a career that continued for another 11 years.

Whether sports or business or corporate career, ability to handle failure and rejection is the biggest strength an individual should have.

This is so well summed up by HG Wells, who wrote

“If you fell down yesterday, stand up today”.

I am proud to share that HLL (now HUL), rejected my candidature 3 times over 5 years. First rejection was when I had applied for summer internship, my CV was not even shortlisted. I was rejected again for the final placement when I didn't clear the group discussion stage. The next rejection was during the interviewing process for a lateral position 18 months later. In my fourth attempt, I got finally selected to serve my dream organization.

Failures and repeat failures would happen through the life. The winners would always be those who would stand up again, start walking, pick up speed and start running to meet the goals set by them.

I hope these stories from the lives of Sachin, Károly and Marvan would inspire the readers to never give up on their dreams and goals and continuing to work harder to finally emerge as winner.

Never Quit!