90% of the battle

I don’t need the motivation to run 10km — I need just enough to put on my running shoes. 90% of the battle is getting started. Yet, sometimes, even putting on the shoes feels hard. Here is my favorite hack, but before that, we need to know some neuroscience. Think of...

Mothers

Growing up, when I was facing my life’s first major exam (IITJEE), I was virtually biting my nails. I would often ponder, “What if I don’t make it? Would I have any future?” We were not an affluent family. Nobody in our family had been to college — my sister and...

Recognize excellence beyond academic

My de-facto co-founder at HabitStrong, Nisha Salim, is brilliant but often runs into a problem — she does not have a degree from any tier-1 college. She has been way better than any pedigreed folks we have hired from IIT/IIM etc., but investors have often been...

Small steps for lasting change

When starting my MBA at Wharton, I kept telling myself, “Don’t ruin it again. This is the last chance.” Earlier, I had ruined my 4 years at IIT — bunking classes, always falling behind, cramming before exams to barely get a passing grade. But this time, the...