Category
2024, Newsletter, Uncategorized
A few weeks ago, I spoke to a retired CFO of a large Indian company who recently launched his consulting business. And he told me something that made me think. He said, “When I started my consulting business, I accepted any client – big or small. So our client base...
2024, Newsletter, Uncategorized
Around 2012, I was running a startup called CourseBrew. One late evening, sitting in a coffee shop with my friend Vivek, I explained to him all the different parts of the online learning platform I was building – it was a laundry list of 10-15 different things. He...
The Beginning of My Entrepreneurial Journey In 2012, when I quit my last job to become an entrepreneur, I didn’t know exactly what I would do except for a vague notion that it would be something in education. But as soon as I launched my startup, the clock started...
A. THE MYSTERY OF EFFORTLESS SUCCESS In my college days, the people that really annoyed me were the all-India top rankers. These guys beat us by a mile in the entrance exam, even though we tried so hard. But there was one consolation – they surely slogged 18 hours a...
In 1991, I entered the IIT Kanpur campus loaded with confidence and zest. And then, we had our first quiz in which I got a big zero. That too, in Physics – my favorite subject. Sadly, that zero also summarizes my four years at IIT. 😊 By the time I was in my final...
The Shockley Story: A Lesson in Focus William Shockley was on his way to winning the Nobel Prize. But he nearly lost it. And here is why you should care. Shockley, along with two fellow scientists, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain, were working on inventing the...
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: “Please describe the obstacles that come in the way of your productivity.” And do you...
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 – this time around, avoid the usual traps we keep falling into every year. Just do that, and you...
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 said, 'Shined shoes save lives.' Is it not weird? A guy whose job is to defeat Saddam...
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 a multi-year effort. So how does one maintain years of consistency? Let me...
Many years ago, I got intrigued by the US Navy SEALs, who go through arguably the world's most grueling military training. It includes, among other things, an infamous ‘hell week,’ where for five-and-a-half days, the trainees go through a non-stop physical grind with...
Conventional wisdom states that, as an entrepreneur, I should be slogging 12-16 hrs a day. Yet, on any given day, I never exceed 4-5 hrs of real work. Of course, I work beyond that as well – e.g., on administrative work, emails, etc. But I don’t do long hours or late...
Rajan shares insights from his own life journey to help you build better habits in yours.