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| Mitchell Strac - The Hindu newspaper |
Recently a newspaper clipping of Mitchell Starc called my attention. For the not so cricket fans (if there is such a thing in India) Mitchell Strac is part of the Australian cricket team, which few days back won the WTC (World Test Championship 2023) defeating India by 209 runs. This Australian team became the 1st team to have won all major ICC tournaments.
His last appearance in IPL was way back in 2015. He played in IPL for only 2 seasons for RCB bagging 34 wickets and is one of the most successful overseas bowler. By estimate, between 2015 to now (2022) Strac's potential earning at IPL which he has let go, would be 10 million AUD.
Why this newspaper clipping struck me?
Well it made me think, What it takes to say NO to a Trend, to Popular Culture, to Big Quick Money and to Peer pressure when his fellow 47 Australian cricketers participated in the IPL auction the world's richest cricket tournament.
Well for sure, couple of things:
3. Knowing one's Priority - what's most important for him/her.
4. Conviction to carry on, on the roadless travelled without succumbing to the external pressures and internal self-doubts.
The key question to reflect upon from Mitchell Strac's story is Do We kNOw to say NO?
- May be Life is not meant to be so complicated and cluttered.
- May be Life can be Simpler and free-flowing.
- May be Life can be Designed by rules what matters to us most.
So maybe the answer is not to do more, rather to do what matters!
It's about kNOwing to say NO to things which do not align with one's Vision.
To say NO to things which are not one's needs.
To say NO to things which are not one's priority and to say NO to the feelings of self-doubts and external pressures when one set's foot on the roadless travelled.
Do we kNOw to say NO?
The possible answers are No, Yes, Maybe or shades of all of them.
Irrespective of where we lie on the spectrum of answers, the more important thing in Life is to Ask the Right Question.
With a Thanks Mate! gesture to Mitchell Strac's :) leaving you all (including myself) with this Big Question - Do we kNOw to say NO?
Surely we do NOt kNOw to say NO. We are YES people by our DNA, almost always to please different people at different stages of your life - your parents, your boss/client, your wife/kids, nowadays your instagram/FB followers. The 'left out of the rat race' fear overpowers everything else unfortunately..
ReplyDeleteSocietal acceptance and FOMO, interesting thoughts shared by you. Thanks Brijesh.
DeleteThanks for bringing this up. Very necessary in this time to implement this...
ReplyDeleteThank you Jasmin
DeleteInteresting outlook, Abhi. I would say most of us are a blend of both YES and NO. Sometimes we need to do things which we don't like; for the sake of our parents, siblings, partner, kids etc... Won't it be selfish to say yes only when we wish something, afterall we are social in nature.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sarda you are right we are blend of both. The point you bring up is Balance and to be Conscious of the choices we are making. To Know why we are saying Yes and to Know why we are saying No.
DeleteA simple, yet deep reminder for a Sunday morning read!! Thanks, Abhishek!!
ReplyDeleteThank you Resha
DeleteDepends... I guess the newer generation are more fierce and particular in their choices and they do know to say No. However while we can continue to banter about knowing to say 'No', we may rather opt to flip and be particular/ vocal of saying Yes. Sounds more positive yet still offers a choice.
ReplyDeleteThanks Paramita. The moot point of Mitchell Strac's story in my mind is Self-Awareness and Prioritization. The choice of Yes and No, is flowing out of these attributes.
ReplyDelete