WITH GOAL IN MIND

Gurpreet picks from his own sport

1. Real Madrid

“It’s the biggest club in the world and no one can say no to it. “

“THERE WAS A TIME WHEN I CHECKED MY SOCIAL MEDIA REGULARLY, BUT NOW I HAVE CONDITIONED MYSELF TO NOT BE AFFECTED BY WHAT PEOPLE WRITE ABOUT ME OR MY PERFORMANCE.”

2. Manchester United

“I follow them because of

Sir Alex, the best coach in the world ,and because of my hero Edwin van der Sar. “

3. Bengaluru FC

“They brought about a change in Indian Football with their professional approach and their fan base created the trend of organised support.”

4. East Bengal

“The club which gave me my career, I can never forget them.”

“Trolling is inevitable. As a sportsperson, you need to be mentally strong and not let failures or distasteful comments affect you. There was a time when I checked my social media much regularly, but now I have conditioned myself to not be affected by what people write about me or my performance,” says Gurpreet.

But, he is unafraid of constructive criticism. In fact, he feels, one of the best things about sports is the way it teaches you to be tough enough to handle failure in a positive way.

“Failure is the biggest lesson you can learn. It teaches you so many things,” says the footballer. “I have failed so many times and get through it by watching motivational videos by people like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Denzel Washington, who tell their own stories of failure and how despite that, they got to the top. This really motivates me.”

His approach to life is to do one thing at a time so that each thing is done well. “Don’t quit before finishing what you started,” says Gurpreet. “For example, if you have to make an Instagram video, then complete it and put it up before doing anything else. It will give you a sense of achievement. Always have an internal vision of what you want to do or become and work towards it.”