Since March 2011 Sachin Tendulkar has been stuck on ninety-nine test hundreds. Every time he walks to the wicket, the eyes of the cricketing world are on him.
He’s probably being adviced to bat normally. Which is what he has done to secure ninety-nine centuries. But it’s very hard to bat normally when cricketing history awaits you.
Tendulkar could easily become trapped in his own psychology. ‘I dont want to let people down’. ‘What if I dont get the next hundred?’. ‘Why is it proving so elusive?’.
All these psychologies can attract doubts. But why start doubting yourself now? Sachin has to find a potent reason that makes the hundreth hundreth meaningful. And that is not about him.
For example, one hundred hundreds as a gift to the people of India. Thus to have an external focus for the milestone, that takes it away from his own sense of achievement.
Making the gift to the people of India the focus, should potentially free Sachin up emotionally. The hundreth hundred awaits him. It’s simply a matter of freeing both his mind and emotions, so that he can bat fluently under the watching eyes of the cricketing world.
Remember it’s not what you do – it’s the reason why you do it.