Best speaker Magazine Issue 2 - December 2017 | Seite 69

have a place”. And I always followed
that.
Q
Striking the ball at the correct
time with the correct force in
the correct direction is vital for a
batsman. How would you interpret
this for life?
To be able to do that you need to work at
it for a long time; it’s a skill you develop
through your childhood and you master
it. The more you master it the better you
become and talking about life in general,
timing is essential. In my opinion, one
thing I see today is people are thinking
way ahead of time. But I always say to
be in the moment and do what you are
doing now, well. Plant the right seeds
so that the future will unfold, based on
what you plant today. Plant the right
seeds and the right fruits will come, but
you need patience. And don’t rush, don’t
think ahead because we are either living
in the past or the future all the time. A
lot of people live too much in the past
or anticipate too much in the future,
causing anxiety and stress. Life doesn’t
work like that. Better thing is living
in the moment and doing what you
are doing now well and let the future
unfold. Try and live in the moment.
Cultivate sharper mindfulness, sharper
awareness, which will help you to focus
on the moment.
Being in the present is the best way for a
man to live. All my life I have meditated.
I always tell people to try meditation
as it does not belong to any religion.
That to me is the best thing any human
being can do. They say the body needs
movement to become healthy. But the
mind is the opposite, mind needs to be
still in order to be healthy. It applies to
speakers as well. If you are collected and
calm, it will help you to get across what
you want. I don’t claim to be an expert in
public speaking mostly because I have to
speak spontaneously as a commentator,
and I dislike speaking without thinking.
Mindfulness is the key to be successful
in anything.
Q
You were named as the Wisden
Cricketer of the Year in 1985
and the first Sri Lankan to gain
that title. You also became the
first Sri Lankan cricketer to score
a century at the Lord’s Cricket
ground in England. Do you have
something to share regarding those
achievements?
In life you work hard for years and shed
a lot of sweat, blood, and tears just for a
few moments of glory or happiness and
it applies to everything. But they are just
moments, they come and go. Yes, you feel
good about it for a moment. But I always
say I was lucky and there is no need to
think too much about these things. I
think I was around 8 or 9 years old when
started and I played cricket during the
morning, noon and night till I was 30
years old. When you look back you can
just remember a few moments of glory.
That is what you will experience in your
life too. Whatever careers you’ll do you
will find its hard work and there will be
only a few highlights which we can look
back on.
Q
As a legend of Sri Lankan
cricket, what was your most
memorable occasion in your career
as a whole?
One thing we were very keen of was our
first test win. I played in the pre-test era
and the post-test era. I played from 1977-
1982 when there was no test cricket, and
we were aspiring to be test cricketers.
We won our first test match in 1985 and
it was a huge breakthrough because it
was the first. While most people will say
Sri Lanka is still new at cricket, we won
the match and that was one of the key
barriers that we broke. I think this is a
significant highlight in my cricketing
life.
Q
What was your parents’
contribution to your career?
Sadly, my father passed away when I
was 17, but everything he taught us
is what carried us through. He was
passionate about cricket and he built
the first indoor net in Sri Lanka to teach
us cricket. My elder brother and my
second brother also played cricket for Sri
Lanka. My elder brother played as long
as I played from 1968 to 1979. I started
playing from 1977. My mother was also
a huge support because she instilled all
the disciplines in our lives, because at
the age of 17 I had no father but only
what I learned from him remained. My
father was of course a huge influenc e
because he felt cricket was a way of life.
He always said cricket teaches you the
way of life. How to get knocked around
beaten all the time, how there will be
only a few moments of glory and few
successes, and how to bear it. I think
that is what cricket teaches you, to take
the ups and downs with your head held
high and not to fall too much. It teaches
you the sense of balance and it teaches
you to accept defeat. In life we have so
many little defeats, every day you are
losing something. The important thing
in a contest is to enjoy the journey, not
the result. If you think too much of the
result you will not enjoy the journey. At
the end of the day the contest is what is
exciting, not whether you lost or won. If
you win it is a bonus. But people must
learn to enjoy the journey.
I see that as a problem nowadays that the
social background is built for the results.
Parents push their children so much to
win. It is not winning that is important
it is the participation. I’m lucky in a way
because I was born in a time when life was
so much easier and less stressful. That is
why I think the practice of mindfulness
is even more important today. Today
you are bombarded with social media
and everything is happening so much
faster. I actually used to meditate before
a match, because I found it calmed me,
quieted me, gave me focus, and gave the
willingness to concentrate on what I
wanted to concentrate on.
Q
How
crucial
is
playing
tournaments or competing
in a contest for personal growth?
Do you think that the experience
gained from participation is useful?
Being mindful of each moment is the key
to whatever you do. Whether its playing
at a tournament or even competing at a
contest you have to be mindful of what
you’re doing rather than just blab for the
sake of speaking. All experience gained
from a competition can help you in life,
but it depends on you to how to use it in
a correct way. Public speaking of course
brings a lot of pressure. To be calm,
collected, and to be focused is something
that you need to have. To be able to
structure what you want to say and to be
“Speak about
something that
makes your
audience think,
and leave them
with a message.”
BEST SPEAKER MAGAZINE 2017
69