Minor tasks vs deep work

When I walked into a shopping mall, they gave me 10 plastic tokens. And they said, “Each token buys one item — anything you want, whether a 10 rupee pen, a 1,000 rupee T-shirt, or a 1 lac rupee laptop. It is your choice.” What would you say if I bought 10 pens?...

We all get the jitters

A few months after I moved out of the US, just near my erstwhile apartment building, a plane landed in the Hudson River, near New York City. The US Airways flight had a complete engine failure due to a bird-hit and had no power left. Yet, Captain Sullenberger, a...

Where You Start Does Not Matter

In 1995, during my final year B.Tech placement season, everybody was obsessed with salaries — companies like Cadence, offering Rs 10,000 per month or a bit more, were rockstars, while anyone offering even Rs 1,000 less became an ‘undesirable.’ Yet, looking back,...

Learn Like an Intern

Quitting the Indian Police Service allowed me to restart my journey, like a fresh intern trying to make sense of the world. I totally loved the first 5-6 years in the Civil Services — every day was a new learning. But gradually, it became more of the same, again...

These are Your Key Assets

When I quit my job to become an entrepreneur, it felt a bit weird, but not for the first time. Years earlier, to do my GMAT and MBA prep, when I took a transfer from the post of Trivandrum Police Commissioner to a low-key role in Kerala police, I had the same feeling....