Newsletter

In the past six months, I've lost three friends who passed away unexpectedly, including an ex-boss I was close to (his passing made national news). When you lose friends, it is very hard to accept that it is all over. With one of them (Amarnath Raja), I have still not...

On Feb 22, 2021, I got an email from Apoorba, a participant from our digital detox program Undistractable (it was then called ‘Reboot’). Apoorba was in the middle of a career crisis. His sales team was shrinking and the sales numbers were crashing. Covid had made it...

LinkedIn is ablaze with posts that tell you, “Never quit.” But probably the biggest mistake I have made as an entrepreneur is not quitting when I should have. Let me share this story which started in 2012 when I quit my job and launched CourseBrew, my first startup. I...

A 101-year-old changed my plan for today’s newsletter. I was planning to write about something else until a week ago when I came upon the curious case of retired Navy commander V. Sriramulu. At 101, Commander Sriramulu walks and runs 18 kilometers. He has won many...

The internet is splattered with two life philosophies. Philosophy 1 This philosophy says ‘Discipline equals freedom.’ So toughen up your mind, show up every day, and be relentless. Don’t allow your feelings to mess with your actions. You don’t need motivation, you...

When you consume information, the information consumes your attention. And between information and attention, the scarcer resource, unquestionably, is your attention. So optimize how you allocate your attention. For better or worse, we have an endless supply of blogs,...

At age 10, my daughter started taking swimming lessons with a bunch of other kids. But along with those kids in the pool, there was also a grown-up man taking swimming lessons. When I saw him, I smirked and thought, “What is this guy doing here?” – as if he was...

Right now, there is simply too much going on at HabitStrong. It is overwhelming! Here are some of the things we have to do: - Launch two new programs – one on anxiety and another on productivity - Upgrade two of our existing programs - Create videos for YouTube -...

If you have ever meditated, you have seen the devil – none other than your mind. It just won’t sit still. You want to focus on your breath. Yet, it will do anything but that. The mind keeps getting distracted by thoughts and daydreams. You bring it back and in no...

During my days at McKinsey, I once asked a retired senior partner about life before PowerPoint. How did they make presentations to clients? He said that they used to create presentations on big chart papers using felt-tip pens. They would have to write in big font,...

Whether it is making a presentation, talking to our boss, or socializing after work, some of us experience a serious lack of confidence or anxiety. We anticipate that we will fumble, make a mistake or do a really bad job. And when we are afraid of making a fool of...

The harder you work, the more you get done, and the more value you create. Right? Wrong! It turns out that life is not that linear. Working long hours, non-stop, is not the recipe for value creation. Nor is working without a break for months and years. Every once in a...