It’s about putting in some amount of effort or hard work into something and then doing something that negates all of your efforts.
There are certain moments in life when the move you make next can either amplify everything you have done before or bring everything down.
As I do ever so often, I take inspiration from a sporting moment, one that every Indian fan will recall until time immemorial.
It’s the finals of the first-ever T20 World Cup featuring arch-rivals India and Pakistan. 13 runs are required off the last over and the MS Dhoni hands the ball to an inexperienced Joginder Sharma. The stakes are nothing less than a T20 World Cup win. Misbah-ul-Haq is batting like his veins are made of ice. In the second ball of the over, he deposits the ball over the bowler’s head for a six. The equation is now 6 runs required off 4 deliveries. The only caveat is that it is the last-wicket stand and the person at the non-striker’s end is the now-disgraced Mohammad Asif who cannot be counted upon to strike the ball cleanly if he were to come on strike.
No need for rash shots.
No need for hasty running.
Then, Misbah-ul-Haq plays a shot that is being debated even until today. He plays a scoop shot over the keeper’s head and the now-disgraced Sreesanth runs in and takes the catch.
It was by no means a bad shot. Misbah didn’t swing the bat wildly and get bowled. He didn’t go for a risky single and get run-out. He simply misjudged where the fielder was standing. In a later interview, he said he wasn’t sure if Sreesanth would take the catch given the pressure of the situation. Had the ball gone even a few inches either way, it would have gone for a boundary or at least two runs, and the match could have gone Pakistan’s way.
But at that moment, it seemed as if Misbah ul Haq, who had rescued Pakistan from a hopeless situation and taken them to the doorstep of a historic win, had nullified his own efforts by playing a risky shot.
The other day, in our running group, one of the coaches was speaking about nutrition and how a fitness activity doesn’t nullify a bad diet. Finishing a workout and having a nice cheese pizza after that, thinking that your workout will nullify those effects is stupid. Of course, life is boring without indulging once in a while but this isn’t about that. It’s about putting in some amount of effort or hard work into something and then doing something that negates all of your efforts.
It’s one thing not to put any effort at all. That by itself is a nullifier.
It’s another thing to put in the effort and then do something that negates everything you have done to get up to that point.
You wake up after a good night’s sleep and the first thing you do is check your social media alerts and lose your sense of relaxation.
You reach work early and use the extra quiet time to do mindless surfing.
You unexpectedly get extra time for your presentation but don’t do anything of consequence with it.
You make the effort of taking a course that improves a skill but don’t put any of it into action when it counts.
You don’t cheek for typos.
This sometimes gets confused with self-sabotage, and some of it might as well be that.
We negate our own efforts for many reasons — we give up just before our efforts come to fruition, we are scared of success and responsibility, or we are just careless.
If you find yourself starting and not finishing, making grand resolutions but backing off when the time comes for the rubber to meet the road, it’s worth asking why.
