Discipline, Distance, and Determination | Biddappa K P | TEDxCMRNPU Youth
Biddappa K P shares his journey from following conventional career paths (engineering and IT) to finding his true passion in long-distance running. He emphasizes how pursuing what makes you happy, not just successful, led him to become one of India's fastest marathoners and a Boston Marathon qualifier.
Summary
Biddappa K P, a senior manager at British Telecom and accomplished marathoner, begins by introducing long-distance running as a misunderstood sport in India that offers significant health and mental benefits. He explains that running is accessible to everyone with minimal equipment and can be done anywhere, while also providing mental clarity and stress relief. Despite low female participation in India (less than 5% compared to equal participation abroad), he encourages broader adoption of the sport.
Sharing his personal journey, Biddappa describes following the typical path expected of his generation - becoming an engineer and working in IT companies like Wipro or Infosys. While professionally successful as a manager, he felt unfulfilled and lacked happiness in his career. This changed when a neighbor introduced him to running, which he embraced alongside his wife. The sport provided the happiness and fulfillment he had been seeking, eventually leading him to become one of India's fastest marathoners.
Drawing on wisdom from runner Eliud Kipchoge and referencing Jay Shetty's advice, he emphasizes the importance of finding your own passion rather than following others' expectations. He stresses that true fulfillment comes from pursuing what makes you both successful and happy. His key principles include discipline (citing Kipchoge's quote that 'disciplined ones are free'), hard work and dedication (training 50-70km per week while working full-time), resilience through failures and rejections, celebrating small successes, and continually setting new goals. Now he's transitioning into coaching others, having obtained US certifications in marathon running as he develops this as a potential second career.
Key Insights
- Biddappa argues that in India, female participation in running races is extremely low at less than 5%, while abroad he observes equal participation between men and women
- He claims that following conventional career paths (engineering and IT) brought him professional success as a manager but never provided the happiness he was seeking
- Biddappa states that when choosing a passion, you should select something that gives you not only success but also happiness, otherwise you will not feel good about it after some time
- He references Eliud Kipchoge's philosophy that 'disciplined ones are free' while those who are not disciplined become slaves to their moods and emotions
- Biddappa reveals his intense training regimen, getting up at 4:30 AM daily to run 50-70 kilometers per week plus strength sessions while maintaining his full-time job and family responsibilities
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] Morning everyone. Morning. I think some of you are uh still sleeping. I think right we we called you on a Saturday uh which is not a u in a school day or a college day I think it's is it a college day on Saturday? Okay. In fact my daughter is also studying in first PO. I don't look like uh I have a PE daughter. [0:32] Okay. So um I think uh Timotei sir I think he has spoken um a lot of things uh which which I think you guys can take back uh a lot of things which I also wanted to talk about um I will still but u I think uh he's given…
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