Life and Career Lessons Learned in Padel
Or how I created an intersection of two things that take up my time
Invest in training.
When I first started in Padel, I came with just 2 semesters of Tennis PE and not much else. “How hard can it be?” asked one person from our club’s group chat. And to this, I say —- One can only subsist on stock knowledge of a sport for so long until every racket hit feels like it’s passing through air, and that’s what it feels like at work sometimes. Sometimes we don’t know what else to do because we weren’t trained for it. There is anyway a long list of skills needed to be honed and harnessed in the corporate world— possibly far more than Padel— and sometimes— we don’t know how to handle the situation until we train for it. Investing in training arms one with a suite of techniques to apply in a wide variety of situations.
Focus is the secret sauce of the best athletes. Playing Padel allowed me to meet a variety of people— different ages, backgrounds, races, and careers. But I also learned that those who excelled at Padel had a very distinct display of focus— in Padel and everything else they did outside of the court.
Padel is Choice of Shots and Technique — not all techniques are applicable to all moments. One needs to choose the best one in each moment. And you know what? Learning quick and fast decision making is a lifelong lesson. Padel and Corporate life are both powered by powerful, intelligent decision making. Even if you know all of the techniques but you don’t know when to use them - it makes all that difference. And just like any muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it becomes.
Mental toughness is a whole different beast. I totally choked in the quarter finals of my last tournament. I felt like I needed a whole two weeks off from Padel after that. And to top it off, my mental health wasn’t in the best shape during the games. I played way worse than usual, and my mistakes were all over the place! Everyone’s different when it comes to dealing with competitions mentally. Some people just focus on one point at a time, while others find other ways to cope, like talking things out (though I’m not sure if that’s allowed in most sports). And it’s the same in the corporate world. It takes a lot of mental and emotional maturity to handle different situations and not let them get to you.
If you’re like me who’s trying to excel in both - I wish you the best!