Basketball Experience with Ankush Chander
This article summarises the Episode 3: Basketball Experience with Ankush Chander of The Student Athlete Podcast.
I. ON ANKUSH’S DRIVING FORCE IN LIFE 🏃♂️ (06:01)
My driving force in life is contribution. I think all human endeavor is directed towards feeling of belongingness. And key to that feeling is feeling of contribution to others. All activities on and off the court are driven by that. So I continued regular practices in college after graduating from college since I saw a huge scope of contribution in players that came after me.
II. ON STAYING CALM AS A LEADER 😇 (08:20)
“…when you are leading the team then, whatever emotion, whatever feeling you bear, you inflict others with the same kind of feeling…”
“…when you are leading, you’re always on the watch and people subconsciously mimic you, whatever feelings you exhibit…”
“So it’s important to maintain a calm demeanour on and off the court…”
III. BOOKS THAT HAVE INSPIRED HIM 📚 (11:07)
On Basketball:
1) Stuff Good Players Should Know by Dick Devenzio
2) Runnin’ the Show: Basketball Leadership for Coaches and Players by Dick Devenzio
On Life:
1) Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
IV. ANKUSH’S APPROACH WHEN LIFE GETS CHAOTIC 🌪 (13:17)
A piece of stoic philosophy from the book Meditations by Marcus Aurelius — Your life is short, you will be forgotten and the people who know you will also be forgotten. You’re just a tiny speck of dust.
It helps to detach yourself from the situation and look at it from a bird’s eye view. I also believe there is always something to be grateful about even in times of distress.
V. THE WAY HE LED THE TEAM — WAS HE UPFRONT OR TOOK A BACKSEAT? 🤷♂️ (15:24)
Santosh mentions about what Phil Knight, the co-founder of Nike wrote in his memoir, The Shoe Dog, that
“Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.”
I have tried both the approaches. With experience I have realized that it’s better to educate people about what needs to be done and how important it is and leave it on teammates to figure out the “how” part. I have come to believe sports(and life in general) should be played with instincts. Instincts outweigh what our intellect can do. Our bodies have ancient wisdom acquired through millions of years of evolution and some times we tend to dumb it down via intervention of our mind. These thoughts are reinforced by books like The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance by Timothy Gallwey and Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable by Tim Grover.
VI. ON HIS HEROS 🦸♀️ (20:33)
I don’t have heroes in particular but I take inspiration from others. Micheal Jordan inspired me on how honest MJ was towards honing his craft. This not only affected his personal career but also changed the face of basketball in global arena. Kobe Bryant inspired us in a similar way. He was not only obsessive about basketball but also about life. The killer mentality Kobe carried 24/7 on and off court is here to stay even though he is not anymore.
VII. ON KILLER INSTINCTS OF THE GREATS 🔪(23:35)
To learn more about the mentality of these greats I recommend the book Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable by Tim Grover. Tim Grover introduces a concept of three types of people — Coolers, Closers and Cleaners.
VIII. BEING AN ASSHOLE 😤 (26:16)
If you want to be great, it’s inevitable you’ll end up offending people. If people are okay with you as a leader then perhaps they don’t need you. If you be an asshole for short term, people will respect you in long term. If you be a people’s pleaser in short term, then you might end up as a laughing stock in long term.
IX. TRUTH ABOUT BIG COOPERATES AND ON HIS STARTUP — RAx LABS Inc. 🏢 (27:05)
I think in big organisations, you have less control over your learning. A man is a product of his atmosphere. No matter with what intent and ambition he starts, atmosphere will overcome his ambition. This prompted me to work in a fast paced startup environment.
RAx Labs Inc. is a Gandhinagar based start up. It’s currently building Raxter, which is a research productivity platform for helping academic researchers. I think one of the most challenging parts an early stage startup faces is rallying people behind your idea. Selling your mission to the people. Inspiring people is like a sales job. It quite resembles with a process of forming and sustaining a college team.
X. ON TIME MANAGEMENT 🕘 (33:02)
Time management is all about ruthlessness. They are lot of good things trying to compete for your time. What is the enemy of great? Good is the enemy of great. So if you keep doing good things, you never get to do great things.
Warren buffet once asked a man to list down ten things and pronounce the first three things. When later asked about the rest seven, the man answered that he did them in spare time. Warren suggested to cancel out those seven things because they are distracting him from the initial three.
We later correlated this to the 80/20 rule.
XI. ON PROGRAMMING 💻 (35:58)
I think programming is a great tool of automation, it teaches how to delegate things. I first started off with shell scripting on a linux machine and took and instant linking to it. I used to automate all the boring job. Programming gives you power, makes you feel like you’re in control. I recommend Python to newbies as it’s beginner friendly.
XII. HOW TO BALANCE BETWEEN AMBITION AND FAMILY RESPONSIBILITIES 🙆♂️ (37:58)
I believe both are intertwined. If you have a bad time at home it reflects in your sports and vice versa. My advice is to see these both as one. Seek principles which apply both in your personal and sports/professional life.
I explain through my own principle — contribution. When you start from contribution you incorporate both, competition and cooperation. Contribution works both in family and sports life.
XII. HOSTEL LIFE 🏘 (42:25)
Hostel helped me turn into a better person. In bachelors, I was a very shy person and was an alien to socialization. It’s character shaping experience as officially you’re no more the centre of the universe like you were in your home. Masters was all about hanging out to together with friends of diverse cultures and hobbies. I believe everyone should go through hostel life.
XIV. ON MARRIAGE 👩❤️👨 (44:27)
I like how Alfred Adler puts trust and confidence into perspective. Trust is conditional, meaning given a set of conditions a person will act in this way. Confidence is unconditional. When you have confidence on a person, you’re not placing your belief in the conditions but on that person. Love is confidence in a person. To have unconditional confidence in someone else is a very courageous action. Love is an act of courage. I think people who trick themselves in believing destiny would come and do miracles are the ones who lack courage and initiative to actually start a relationship. Love is not a noun, it’s a verb. One puts effort into it on day to day basis and it develops into something beautiful.
XV. ON HIS JOURNEY SO FAR AND VISION AHEAD 🤔 (49:04)
It was fulfilling and grateful, as in India sports is a privileged and also I met some great people along this journey.
I see sports as a transforming medium. Entertainment is how sports generate revenue but it can serve even bigger purpose. It can be used to inject mature leaders into the society. My retirement goal would be to establish a sports academy where kids learn real life values through sports.
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