Avoid Willpower Battles

Here is how I maximize my willpower – I use it sparingly. I don’t touch alcohol because if I start liking it, I will have to fight a battle within myself to moderate it. So I avoid the battle altogether. If I have ice cream in the fridge, chances are, I will end up...

Well-being and Happiness

During my student days, one morning, when clearing up my hostel almirah, I found a copy of Michael Crichton’s book ‘Congo.’ I casually opened the book to see what it was about and when I closed it, I had finished the book. About 8 hrs had gone by, I had missed my...

Learning Without Limits

During a video interview, the interviewer asked me this question: What would I do if I did not have any college degrees or any pedigree? Here is my answer: Even if I had nothing else, I would still have Coursera. There was a time when to get a good job, you had to...

Live Fully, Regret Less

The biggest mistake I made in my twenties wasn’t that I lacked focus, ambition, or hard work – none of that. My biggest mistake was that I took life too seriously. I worried about too many things, cared too much about what my bosses thought (including the ones I did...

Disagree Without Defensiveness

Here is a simple skill that can accelerate your career: Learning to disagree without being disagreeable or putting others on the defensive. When you tell someone, ‘I disagree with you,’ more often than not, it makes them defensive. If people take it as a personal...