If you had all the resources available you needed to reach your goal - would you fulfil your dreams? Logic says yes. If my dream was to be a chess player - and I had grandmasters, coaches, facilities to support me from an early age then surely I would be able to achieve the dream. However, this isn’t always the case.
For example, take the case of Rohan Gavaskar - son of famous cricketer Sunil Gavaskar. Rohan pursued a career in cricket like his father. He was able to bolster impressive records in domestic cricket and eventually play 11 international games representing India. However, he didn’t make an impression and was subsequently dropped in 2004. He retired from all forms of cricket in 2012. There are a few potential reasons why I think he wasn’t able to succeed.
- Lack of talent? - Talent is hard to define it would be similar to genetics. Either you have it or you don’t and even if you work hard - you may not reach the result you wanted. People are born with innate strength and weaknesses, it’s difficult to determine what you have “talent” for until you try many things.
- Pressure? Some people can’t perform well under pressure - others seem to perform better with pressure. The pressure he put on himself, from the media and family could be a contributing factor.
- Lack of passion? Was he playing cricket, because he truly enjoyed it? Was he lacking the drive to succeed?
One thing is for certain - not everyone who gets all the resources will always be able to fulfil their dream and that’s okay.
However, there are people in this world who didn’t have any resources and support but despite this they created an opportunity for themselves. For them, it was a matter of life or death. Take Yashasvi Jaiswal for instance. Jaiswal was born into a poor family, with no space at home he moved out at 10 to pursue cricket by himself. Jaiswal had no place to stay when he moved to Mumbai, fortunately he soon got a chance to prove himself in a match and if he did well he would be allowed to stay in the tent at Azad Maidan ground in Mumbai. He was playing a match that would largely determine his fate at the age of 10.
From then on, he sold pani puri’s and made bets among the people at the training facility. For example, if he got them out, they’d have to give him 100 rupees and if they got him out - he’d give them 100 rupees. On the days, those bets worked out (which was more often then not) he was able to eat food. Eventually, his talent was spotted by Jwala Singh who ran a cricketing academy. Singh became his legal guardian and told him to only focus on cricket and he will take care of rest. Fast forward to 2020, and Jaiswal was brought by the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL for $340,000 USD at the age of 18. He was also the highest run scorer in the U19 world-cup, where he played a less risk style to ensure he was there for the end for his team.
A group of panthers running along side each other are fast. But the prey they are after has to be even faster as it is a matter of survival.
Ultimately, I think when you are driven into a corner - you are more likely to find a way out.
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