Train Hard, Fight Easy

As I was cruising along on my bike from Durbuk to Lukung for Pangong lake, right before the Tangtse bridge, I saw this sign right on a curve.?The sight of this sign with the background, compelled me to stop and soak it in.?It is an Indian Army installation.?It is a call for the soldier to train, train hard, harder, so hard that the drill becomes first nature. To a point where in the eventuality of a confrontation, although undesired, the fight is easy.

Sounds intuitive, doesn’t it? Isn’t this also true for all other walks of life?

Citing sports analogies, any great of any sport, became so by training hard, practicing their game day in and day out.?

• The great boxer Muhammad Ali said, “I hated every minute of training but I said, ‘Don’t quit, suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.
• Sachin Tendulkar’s practice regime and rigor were a legend.?
• Usain Bolt famously said, “I trained for 4 years to run 9 seconds and people give up when they don’t get results in 2 months.” ?
• LeBron James is one of the most dominant players in the NBA. His training schedule of getting more hours in the gym than any other player on the circuit, including the contemporaries who are a lot younger, has given him a distinct advantage.
• More recently, I have found Dinesh Karthik’s story very inspiring. From having almost retired from the game and taking up commentating, to finding his mojo again, training hard and relaunching himself as a specialist finisher. And boy, does he finish’em! This has helped him find his way back in the Indian national cricket team.

Training hard is a habit that sets one apart, in any arena one plies their trade in. ?Training hard for a moment of truth enables the execution in the moment of truth a lot easier.

With time, like with metal, oxidation occurs in our personal and professional life and rust gathers, unless we keep sharpening the proverbial saw. We all need to train hard in what we do, to get better at it incrementally, on a daily basis, till a point where it gets easy.

Train Hard, Fight Easy!