2024-04-24 04:25
During my IPS training, we were excitedly waiting for the weapons training, imagining how we would be gloriously firing and hitting targets in the firing range. However, here is how the real… Read More
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2024-04-23 04:29
In my life, I have never craved anything as desperately as I craved admission into IIT. Yet, once I heard my IITJEE rank, I felt absolutely nothing.
No euphoria, no joy, no sadness – I… Read More
2024-04-22 04:53
When I quit my last job to become an entrepreneur, I could no longer afford my house rent. So I moved into a place with half the rent. Later I moved from Mumbai to Trivandrum, and my rent fu… Read More
2024-03-26 04:30
Here is an easy way to destroy your life.
Start the day by checking WhatsApp, and then get sucked into a vortex of endlessly checking Facebook, Instagram, online news, Twitter, whatever&hell&hell…Read More
2024-03-25 04:24
Very few professions that look glamorous or exciting, are actually that.
During my MBA, I thought McKinsey would be very glamorous. Big clients, global travel and fancy hotels, advising CEOs… Read More
2024-03-22 04:30
Going to the gym is painful. Preparing for an exam is painful. Doing the hard thing is painful.
But here is the problem – the choice is not between pain and joy, but between ‘pai… Read More
2024-03-21 04:16
If you ever find yourself stuck in a rut of laziness, low energy, and lack of direction, these five keystone habits will help you smash through it:
1) Regular workout: More than for physical… Read More
2024-03-20 04:30
In 3 months, you can get ahead of almost everyone. Here is how:
1. Every day, for an hour, disconnect your phone from the internet.
2. Pick a learning goal or a task that requires focus.
3… Read More
2024-03-19 04:30
When I quit my job with McKinsey in New York, I moved back to India. And there were many reasons for the move – personal and family.
But there was one more reason: Though I loved it in… Read More
2024-03-18 04:54
Here is a learning hack I have successfully tried, especially during my MBA exams. I would often wake up very early (e.g., 3 am), study for two hours or so, and then again sleep for an hour… Read More
2024-03-15 04:51
At my last job with a PE fund, one of my bosses (Victor Menezes) joined Citibank as a fresher, later became its global CEO, and retired as the Senior Vice Chairman of Citigroup – a fin… Read More
2024-03-14 04:47
In 2009, when I had just joined a private equity fund, we were invited to the Oberoi hotel in Mumbai for a fancy presentation by a healthcare technology company (I am deliberately not naming… Read More
2024-03-13 04:30
Today, I lead a 10-member team at HabitStrong. Many years ago, I headed a team of 3,500 people when I was the Trivandrum City Police commissioner.
So which responsibility was harder? Natural… Read More
2024-03-12 04:30
In the US, when I had to hire people to help with moving my house, I paid them $25 per hr for the manual work – the money value of time there was quite high.
In contrast, physical good… Read More
2024-03-11 04:28
Many people find it quite jarring that I run HabitStrong out of Trivandrum. More than once, I have been advised to move my startup to Bangalore.
Why?
Because Bangalore just sounds a lot cool… Read More
2024-03-08 04:30
A colleague of mine has been working out for an hour a day on her gym’s elliptical machine – and yet, she hates it. How does she do it then?
While working out, she watches episod… Read More
2024-03-07 04:30
A big chunk of India’s youth is addicted to government jobs – and that has become our curse. It needs to stop.
If you go to Patna, you will reportedly find tens of thousands of y… Read More
2024-03-06 04:30
One of the small regrets I have in life is that I never did a commando training course.
When I finished my IPS training I was very fit and I thought about doing a commando course. And it was… Read More
2024-03-05 04:30
Two of my friends were doing a startup together – both exceptionally smart and good human beings. But unfortunately, their startup did not do well.
One of them continued toiling, while… Read More
2024-03-04 04:30
During my MBA at Wharton, people told me that consulting is really exciting – you get to solve the hardest business problems!
So I joined McKinsey for my summer internship. And I was l… Read More
2024-03-01 04:30
When I was working as a consultant with McKinsey, one day, the client walked into our room and said, “Guys, I know you are doing cost-cutting and all. But I want to tell you a story.&r&hell…Read More
2024-02-29 04:30
Every time we switch between tasks, it takes an average of 25 minutes to return to the original task. On top of that, every time you switch tasks, the previous task leaves an attention resid… Read More
2024-02-28 04:30
For long, I used to have so many windows open on my Chrome browser that I was unable to shut down my laptop at night, sometimes, for months on end.
But why should that matter?
It matters bec… Read More
2024-02-27 04:39
In my last project at McKinsey, I was so exhausted with the late nights that I felt like I was dying.
One weekend, over dinner, I met this brilliant entrepreneur introduced to me by a Wharto… Read More
2024-02-27 04:32
During my stint with McKinsey, whenever we did late nights (more like early mornings), it was rarely because the work per se was that heavy.
It was almost always because we did not create cl… Read More
2024-02-22 04:30
Burnout rarely happens because of sheer hard work. Almost always, it happens due to exhaustion – emotional, mental, and physical.
Almost all of us are capable of working hard. In fact… Read More
2024-02-21 04:30
Here is a guaranteed way to overwhelm your brain and stress yourself out – keep switching rapidly between tasks without completing any of them.
Every time we switch from task A to B, w… Read More
2024-02-20 04:30
The first time I did a course on valuation at Wharton, I did not learn much – it was way too technical and conveyed little intuition.
So I ‘illegally’ gatecrashed an underg… Read More
2024-02-19 04:29
In Dec 2014, I got an award that I didn’t quite deserve.
That year, the TiE Kerala chapter gave me their annual ‘Startup Entrepreneur of the Year Award’ for outstanding con… Read More
2024-02-16 04:30
When I was running my previous startup, ConceptOwl, I heard of another EdTech startup that was growing rapidly using strategies that were not working for us. People would ask us — &lsq&hell…Read More
2024-02-15 13:24
A. WHAT HAPPENED
More than 500 people applied for a pilot we recently launched for our upcoming program called “Zen Productivity.” And in the application, we asked this question:… Read More
2024-02-15 04:35
I once thought that the biggest harm from digital distraction (e.g., WhatsApp, Instagram, etc.) was the wastage of time. It is like saying that drugs are harmful because they cost money. But… Read More
2024-02-14 04:30
An investment banker friend of mine working with Goldman Sachs in New York once told me that in their office gym, you would find people running on the treadmill even past midnight.
Being an… Read More
2024-02-13 04:30
One way to run 20 km is to just run the first 1 km without worrying about the remaining 19. And then repeat that 19 times.
That is how I often run long distances, and I believe, so do a lot… Read More
2024-02-12 05:07
One of my past bosses had a very clear metric to evaluate your commitment – how long you sat in the office at night. In fact, he himself used to sit till 9 pm every day.
A very hard-wo… Read More
2024-02-09 04:30
When I graduated from IIT in 1995, I was expecting to soon figure out my life and my career, and quickly ‘settle down’.
I then joined the Indian Police Service, the ultimate plat… Read More
2024-02-08 04:38
I often feel that I wasted my four years at IIT. But I sometimes wonder if it was not a total waste.
In many of the courses I did, the math was so dense that you had no idea what was going o… Read More
2024-02-07 04:30
Recently, I was talking to a friend in the gym, who looks fabulously fit, having shed 12 kgs of flab.
And here is what he said: ‘Earlier, I really struggled to eat healthy. But now tha… Read More
2024-02-06 04:52
I had a boss in the Indian Police Service, who played safe all his life – he never took a bold stand, nor did he ever uphold any principles. His only goal was to please his bosses and… Read More
2024-02-05 04:35
Everywhere in life, you will come across these negative people – the excuse-makers, the fault finders, the folks who see something bad in everyone/everything and pick up fights.
They b… Read More
2024-02-02 04:32
There is a lot of nonsense out there about self-improvement. You will hear pseudo-scientific things like ‘manifestation’, ‘law of attraction’, and stuff like that.
Ju… Read More
2024-02-01 04:52
A few years ago, in my previous startup (ConceptOwl), at one point, our app was practically unusable – it was that slow!
We did not have a proper CTO and no matter how hard the tech te… Read More
2024-01-31 04:40
On day 1 of a project at McKinsey, during the kick-off team meeting, one guy said, “I will not touch my laptop on weekends.”
He explained that he was divorced and got custody of… Read More
2024-01-30 04:30
Here is an easy tip for building focus and reclaiming your time.
Whenever you are working, keep your phone outside your arm’s reach. To grab your phone, you should have to get up.
Here… Read More
2024-01-29 04:30
During my MBA, I saw some people who would go to any length to hide which companies they were interviewing with for a job. Their fear was that others would also apply for the same job and wr… Read More
2024-01-26 04:37
Last year, during one of our bootcamps, a participant shared that her company had installed a software on the company laptop to track whether they were actively working or not.
Apparently, i… Read More
2024-01-25 04:46
During my training at the National Police Academy, I noticed these photos of National Security Guard commandos (‘black cat ’ commandos) shooting at small circular cardboard targe… Read More
2024-01-24 04:43
I joined my first job (Indian Police Service) in my early twenties and was among the younger officers. I joined my second job (McKinsey) in my mid-thirties and was among the older lot in my… Read More
2024-01-23 04:38
A guest speaker at Wharton told us – ‘Every time you open your mouth, your earn or burn market share.’
In today’s world, articulation is like oxygen – you need… Read More
2024-01-22 04:37
When preparing for my Civil Services interview, I did so many mock interviews that when I went for the real one, it was a cakewalk – there was no curveball the interviewers could throw… Read More
2024-01-19 04:38
If you call my colleague Nisha on her phone, you will hear a ticking sound in the background. That is the secret of her insane productivity – I have never seen a person get more work d… Read More
2024-01-18 04:33
Habit formation happens in 21 days? WRONG.
If you understand the science behind it, you can build any habit. And here it is.
For a drug like cocaine, some people can get hooked in just one d… Read More
2024-01-17 04:26
In 2017, one day at around midnight, my colleague Nisha called me in panic. Virtually in tears, she said that our e-learning app had stopped working. At that time, I was running my previous… Read More
2024-01-16 04:30
The problem with Netflix binge is not that it is ‘wrong’ – it is about how you feel AFTER the binge.
If someone feels great even after a 6-hour binge, maybe, they should do… Read More
2024-01-15 04:30
A few months after I was posted as Trivandrum Police Commissioner, one senior DIG (Deputy Inspector General of Police) pulled me aside and said, “You are too quiet. Not much is heard a… Read More
2024-01-12 04:32
During my BTech days, when my classmates aiming for a Master’s or PhD in the US were slogging hard, the aimless folks like me were taking it easy.
I remember often pitying those people… Read More
2024-01-11 04:55
At McKinsey, the skill I needed the most was not maths. In fact, the most advanced maths I ever used was multiple regression.
Surprisingly, even more than ‘problem-solving’, the… Read More
2024-01-10 04:50
When I was in school, I believed that the ‘real life’ would start in college – school was just a prep for it.
But during college, I felt that real life will start once I be… Read More
2024-01-09 04:40
I discovered the effectiveness of this note-taking technique during my Civil Services exam preparation.
At that time, I barely had 1.5 months for the preliminary exam. So this is what I did… Read More
2024-01-08 10:10
Wish you a very happy new year. 🙂
You probably want to make 2024 different. But haven’t we tried that in the past? How can this year be different?
Here is my simple answer &nda&hell…Read More
2024-01-08 05:05
Here is a simple life-changing habit — sleep an hour before you normally do, and then see what happens.
Not convinced? For a few days, log what you do between 7 pm and the time you go… Read More
2024-01-05 04:23
During my IPS training, we were attached to a CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) unit that was fighting militancy in Tripura.
In this remote CRPF camp, we were staying in mud huts with that… Read More
2024-01-02 06:21
When I was serving as the Trivandrum Police Commissioner, I once skipped a useless meeting called by a senior government official.
The next week, when my assistant shared my weekly timesheet… Read More
2024-01-01 06:00
Conventional wisdom (some of which I also fell for):
– Leave your job.
– Chase VC funding.
– Spend all the money on ads and a huge team.
– Pray for the next round of… Read More
2023-12-29 05:53
An email you almost never get: I need your money.
An email you often get: I need your time — can we jump on to a call?
Is your time less valuable than your money?
Of course, not.
If yo… Read More
2023-12-28 05:52
In my previous startup, we once reached a point where only had cash left to survive three months.
Even worse, we had huge expenses coming up over the next 8 months – the office rental… Read More
2023-12-27 06:01
Job loss is not a blot on your career. It is an unfortunate feature of the free market economy.
Gaps in your resume are also not a blot on your career. They reflect the realities of human li… Read More
2023-12-27 06:01
Rarely has anything good has come out of my life without an intense, 6-12 month slog. So it may seem like I lived a miserable life, gritting my teeth to push through the slog.
Yet, the reali… Read More
2023-12-26 15:50
Whether it is working on my startup or preparing for the Civil Services exam, I have never needed motivational videos or a pep talk to get going.
In fact, you ONLY need these three things to… Read More
2023-12-26 10:42
When I was leaving my job at McKinsey after a relatively short stint of 18 months, a classmate remarked that I was being hasty – in the initial few years on any job, one has to pay the… Read More
2023-12-26 05:38
During my stint in the police, I was once overseeing a jampacked swearing-in ceremony for some new ministers at the Kerala Raj Bhavan (Governor’s official residence).
The crowd was in… Read More
2023-12-21 05:27
Most of us suck at managing our time.
And here is the biggest mistake we make — we try really hard to finish our to-do list. When that does not happen, we get frustrated and blame ours… Read More
2023-12-20 04:32
You can’t sustain a habit unless you learn how to NOT quit.
We rarely quit because we decided to. Instead, this is what happens:
1. After sticking to a habit for a few days or weeks, f… Read More
2023-12-19 02:18
After reading about some unicorn founders recently indulging in financial fraud, I was wondering, what prompts such highly accomplished people to do that?
One reason is that we have glorifie… Read More
2023-12-15 16:20
In 2009, when I quit McKinsey, I was at my unhealthiest.
For the previous 10 years, through various jobs and my MBA, I had worked long back-breaking hours and had stopped exercising. On top… Read More
2023-12-13 07:07
I am not always excited about building my startup. But does that mean I am not motivated? Of course, I am.
Motivation is not the same as excitement. Excitement is a temporary feeling that ch… Read More
2023-12-12 04:30
When I first thought of quitting my job, what troubled me the most was not the loss of salary but the loss of ‘business card.’
Till then, had someone asked me what I did for a li… Read More
2023-12-11 04:30
During our induction training at McKinsey, a senior director once walked into our training room.
To emphasize the importance of brevity in writing, he said, “When God gave his commandm… Read More
2023-12-09 07:21
When General Norman Schwarzkopf led the US Army’s invasion of Iraq in 2003, you would imagine that he would be talking about tanks, planes, tactics, and battle plans.
Instead, he… Read More
2023-12-08 04:30
How to overcome stress:
1. Whatever be the reason behind the stress, it manifests in your body by activating your Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS).
2. Once your SNS is activated, blood is di… Read More
2023-12-07 06:46
During a taxi ride back from my office in New York City, the driver asked me, “So what do you do?”
When I told him that I was a consultant, he asked, “IT consultant?”… Read More
2023-12-06 04:30
In a marketing class, our business school professor once told us – “The world doesn’t owe you anything just because you went to Wharton.”
This is one lesson I have al… Read More
2023-12-05 04:30
A few years ago, in a South Bombay office complex, I saw a notice on a door – “Salesmen and interns not allowed.”
It left me wondering, why are we so hostile to salesmen an… Read More
2023-12-04 05:33
When I was in the police force, the best leaders I worked with had one common quality – they were not bossy at all.
Usually, when we think of ‘good leaders’, we imagine cha… Read More
2023-12-04 05:30
During my days as a consultant, I often found the first few days of a client engagement mortifying. In the initial meetings, the clients would bombard us with jargon and technical details th… Read More
2023-11-30 05:04
A video game maker would love it if you spend 12 hrs a day playing their game.
A social media company would love it if you check their app every five minutes.
They don’t care if you ar… Read More
2023-11-29 05:23
During our college placement season, many of us were fixated on the salaries. If a company offered even Rs 2,000 more, it felt infinitely more attractive.
But looking back, the initial salar… Read More
2023-11-29 05:20
When I was working with a private equity firm, in the middle of our office was a gigantic TV screen that could raise your anxiety within a minute.
This TV was always tuned to CNBC, which wou… Read More
2023-11-27 05:01
The past is a prison, but its door is unlocked. Then why don’t we just walk out?
Because our mind wants to renegotiate the past and make it better. We know it is pointless but our mind… Read More
2023-11-25 04:59
Over the last 4 years, I have written about 2,000 pieces on LinkedIn and Quora. And while writing may not be your thing, over your lifetime, you will surely have big goals that will require… Read More
2023-11-24 04:30
In late 2020, when I launched HabitStrong, we had little money, no tech team, and zero marketing people. There were just four of us.
Since we could not afford a tech team, for the first few… Read More
2023-11-23 04:52
During my training with the Indian Police Service, we were attached to an elite army unit in Nagaland for exposure.
So a few days after we landed, we went for a patrol in full combat gear &n&hell…Read More
2023-11-22 05:05
A friend of mine doing investment banking with a Wall Street bank once told me about his managing director, who would frantically reply to every email within 2-3 minutes, no matter what time… Read More
2023-11-21 04:30
During my stint in the Civil Services, the most powerful person I ever worked with was the Kerala Chief Minister, which at that time was Mr. AK Antony.
And when we think of powerful people… Read More
2023-11-20 05:03
When I started my Civil Services or IITJEE preparation, I had no idea how I would get to the finish line – so I just bought a few books and started learning.
When I quit my job to do a… Read More
2023-11-16 04:30
When I finished my BTech, instead of feeling on top of the world, I felt dejected and defeated.
Till I went to IIT, like any teenager, I felt that I could accomplish anything – I felt… Read More
2023-11-15 05:25
Soon after I landed in Kerala on joining the Indian Police Service (IPS), my batchmates and I did a courtesy call on an officer of the rank Additional Director General of Police – the… Read More
2023-11-14 04:30
When I was in the 5th grade, I learnt the basics of monetary theory from a local shopkeeper in Assam. Here is what happened.
At that time, my father got posted to a remote place in Assam&rsq&hell…Read More
2023-11-13 04:42
The skill that has changed my life the most is ‘writing.’ And if I could give you some unsolicited advice, here it is: Learn the craft of writing and it will pay you a hundred ti… Read More
2023-11-10 04:30
Last few days, I was a bit angry and unhappy with someone. Not so angry as to want to smack his head but angry enough, nevertheless 🙂
So when I woke up today morning, I could feel th… Read More
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