Of Mental Toughness

One of the things I have realized (not understood, realized) is that there is nothing that I cannot do. There is nothing that you cannot do either. All that stops us is simply HOW badly we want it.

One of my all-time favourite movies is The Thomas Crowne Affair (the one made in the 90s with Pierce Brosnan, not the original one with the Rat Pack). There is a great line from it: "Anything's obtainable". I thought it was cool how Pierce Brosnan was saying it at that time. Now it's simply a fact of life.

This realization isn't quite as liberating as it might seem to be. For someone who's not a natural optimist, it's hard - it now means that everything I do in life, is a choice. It means the words I say, the people I associate with, the jokes I crack, the doodles I doodle, the noodles I eat, when I wake up, when I sleep, what I choose to do, which MBA college I go to, which MBA college I get rejected from - EVERYTHING is by my choice. Because everything, suddenly, is under my control.

You know what the irony behind this is? I found that anybody is capable of doing anything because of my life and work in India. It's funny because India is BY FAR the country which believes (relies?) most on destiny. I totally agree with Arun Sarin, ex-CEO of Vodafone, on his comment that one of the Indian values is a "heavy dose of fatalism".

Here's the thing about knowing that everything in life is a choice. It means that 1) You need to be VERY VERY clear on what you want out of life and 2) You gots to be strong. Not physically tough. But mentally very strong. And there is probably nobody more inspiring in that regards than Tiger Woods. I think about this article about him almost every day. Here's an excerpt:

During the broadcast of Monday's playoff round, Nike ran an ad that had Earl Woods's voice running over images of his son: "I'd say, 'Tiger, I promise you that you'll never meet another person as mentally tough as you in your entire life.' And he hasn't. And he never will."

You can like this model or not. Either way, the legend grows.

The Frozen Gaze by David Brooks, NY Times, June 17, 2008

Does this mean that only the mentally strong i.e. those who are willing to give what it takes to achieve what they want are the only ones destined to be happy in this world? Or, in the words of Sheryl Crow (I know), is happiness "wanting what you got"? Do you have to have and KNOW your ultimate goal in life? Or will destiny take you where you are supposed to go?

I don't know. Which means I'm rooting for destiny.