LinkedIn Posts

My co-founder at HabitStrong, has one Buddha-like quality I have never seen in anyone – she is absolutely not affected by envy, FOMO, or the disease of comparing ourselves with other people. She has never cared about how much money her classmates are making. Whenever...

I fear that lack of sleep is killing people. We lost a security guard at our apartment, who died of a heart attack. Barely 52, he was very gentle and friendly, and looked fairly healthy. While there could be many reasons for a heart attack, one thing I did notice is...

If I could go back and change one thing about my professional journey, it would be this – I would worry less and live more. For most of my life, I have been too caught up in the drama of success and failure. I have worried too much about the catastrophe that would...

When Sharon Salzberg, a renowned meditation teacher, came to India in 1970 looking for a solution to her life’s suffering, she was very disappointed. After weeks of grueling travel, she reached Bodh Gaya to attend a vipassana retreat run by Mr. SN Goenka. She was...

Here is the common advice I got from my seniors on joining the Indian Police Service – “You have to extract work from the sub-inspectors.” Like you would extract oil from coconut, squeezing out every drop. In fact, one otherwise well-meaning officer told me, “Don’t...

Whatever little goodness I have in my life, I owe it to simple, straightforward habits. All the fancy-sounding self-help formulas, often using terms like ‘energy’, ‘vibrations’, and ‘consciousness’, are mostly nonsense. As an example, when I woke up today I wasn’t...

Many years ago, a fund manager met me to discuss a company I happened to be familiar with. Before the meeting, he told me, “I am a little slow. Could you share a short note on the company that I can read at my own pace, so I come prepared for the meeting? I absorb...

During the offsite at the private equity firm I worked with, there was this German guy who was kicking the football like a rocket. Trying to catch up with him left us gasping for air – not one of us could outrun him. And while we were in our thirties, he was in his...

You don’t quit building good habits because you are inconsistent or weak-willed – more likely, you quit because of perfectionism. When you are building a habit streak, you want it to be perfect. But once in a while, life will get in the way – be it sickness, travel,...

I have made plenty of career transitions and here is my biggest learning – if you are fearless and keep learning, you can catch up with anyone, even in a new field. When I went from studying engineering to becoming a police officer it felt like a big leap. But then...

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...

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...