Yes, have a go and fail at it.

#45 - travel, travel and more travel

Hi there,

You’re getting your weekly dose of tales, tips and treasure mid-week because of travel back home from India ✈️. After a 5-week trip meeting a whole bunch of relatives, seeing a range of attractions, embracing nature and savouring food, I’m back in glum England, tapping away as grey clouds envelop the sky.

The week itself featured a haircut ✂️, lots of packing 🧳 and photos 📷.

Highlight of the week: 2 unbearable things. 1) a laughing fit and hurty belly, ensued by my Mum who found me confusing an aunt called Puyal (Tamil for storm) for Puli (tiger) and 2) the adventure comedy ‘The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent’ on Emirates, incredible acting and a perfect balance between cinematic splendour and bare reality.

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As we waited in the inevitably long queue for Check In at Chennai airport, my sister remarked that one of the people around had a hairstyle of a cricketer she couldn’t seem to recall the name of. Turning to her nearby cricketing buff, after a slightly intense glare, I worked out who it was.

Dinesh Karthik, a senior Indian international cricketer (a wicketkeeper batsman) who’s played his funky unique shots all around the globe and is one of the finest Chennai has produced. Wife, mother and 2 babies in tow, they were (of course) in the Business/First class lane.

I wanted a photo with him (no time for autographs these days) with a brief ‘Hey, how was your last game? Good luck in the Asia Cup (starting Sat)’. A couple who recognised him snapped photos, I bided my time.

But, he seemed to be constantly fidgeting with strapping his babies or wrapping bags. There just didn’t seem to be a perfect moment to catch him. When I got a semblance of a foot in the door, I chose to be polite and let him get on with his business, trying to organise 2 baby girls, hoping to meet him at the gate.

Delays with baggage and at security meant that chance never conspired. On the plane, the air hostess wouldn’t let me past Economy. And as the front got off first, I had no opportunity to meet him.

My golden chance to meet a world-famous cricket evaporated. Vanished, melted, gone forever.

This has happened to me before, when I just missed the chance to get a picture with England all-rounder Chris Woakes. Turns out 13yo Adi wasn’t going to push and shove. ¹

Here are 2 things we can learn from this (I can hear you sigh, in astonishment and befuddlement at me trying to take away lessons from a seemingly innocuous simple moment - welcome to my life)

1. You will never feel 100% ready - sometimes in life, you’ve just got to jump in, although it may seem like you aren’t prepared to do so. Links with an idea I discovered recently called ‘analysis paralysis’ e.g. shortlisting 20 bikes before starting to pick through them (I’m guilty of said crime, your highness)

2. The pain of regret is harsher than the pain of failure - one of my closest friends, Viraj, has had the WhatsApp bio “Live life with no regrets” for a long time. It’s always better to have a go, risk it and fail than to be left wishing for what could have been. The friends you could have met. The things you could have bought. The life you could have had.

   Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom

   One of my favorite pieces of advice I’ve ever received: Regret is much more painful than failure.

This reminds me of a quote I’ve found myself coming back to a lot lately.

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take - Wayne Gretzky

At the same time, whilst I feel a sense of heavy ‘shoulda woulda coulda', in reality, I don’t really need to feel that bad, according to another one of my principles. More on that next time. For now…

You can’t win (in life) if you don’t take part (in life). Take your aim, grab your chances, and chase your goals. Be bold and brave, taking uncomfortable routes. After all, if it were easy, everyone would do it. And remember, it’s harder knowing that you had the opportunity of a lifetime but missed it than flopping miserably.

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Book of the week 📖

Finished my skim over How To Be A Brit, then started The Price of Everything: The True Cost of Living by Eduardo Porter. Text-dense so far, hope to make some progress through the week.

Podcast of the week 🎙️

The Diary of A CEO: The Marketing Secrets Apple & Tesla Always Use: Rory Sutherland

Steven is an authentic interviewer who extracts all the essence he can get out of Rory, who shares revelatory examples of simple psychology in products we see and buy every day. Definitely not a conversation to miss out on, not so much for the learnings but for the marketing genius Rory proves to be.

Article of the week 📰

Lifestyles

A recent blog post from one of my favourite authors, Morgan Housel, uncovers 2 wildly contrasting lives bound by one certain aim. Fascinating tales, fascinating takeaways

Quote of the week💬

“I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” Jimmy Dean

Note to self: quit the niceties and get what you want: a picture with a famous person. Note to you: whatever you want to get in life, let’s go for it.

Adi

1. Got one with even more famous cricketer Ian Bell. Karma, luck and all that.