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How to break the habit of stress eating
Here is how to break the habit of stress eating. Every time you unthinkingly shove some snack into your mouth, ask yourself: Am I hungry? Or just bored and anxious? Stress eating is a classic mindless action that we do on autopilot. Here is a...
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Punctuality is the key
During my early days in the Indian Police Service, I was once accompanying a senior officer to a police station for an inspection. While on the way,...
Real tragedies
In 2008, working in New York, every week I would hear about my friends losing their jobs. In the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression,...
Hardship as a Training Ground
During my training in the Indian Police Service, we had to do a long route march in scorching sun, with a rifle and backpack. What was the point of...
Unsung Heroes
When I joined the Indian Police Service, my seniors told me about a Rambo-like officer, who would be out patrolling at night, catching criminals....
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Zig-Zag to Success
Once, while heading to lunch with a Wharton classmate who was a sailing expert, I asked her, 'If a boat needs to sail DIRECTLY against the wind, how would it do that?' She explained the trick: You can't sail directly against the wind. But you can...
How to create real value
During my stint with the Indian Police Service, I once got an assignment with barely an hour of work daily. It was a welcome breather after a long back-breaking assignment. Naturally, I would leave the office at 6 pm. My boss, on the other hand,...
Excellence through hard work and intelligent practice
In IIT hostels, the worst insult was to call someone a ‘maggu’, i.e., a studious, hard-working plodder. But how was that an insult when we all studied like maniacs to clear the IITJEE exam? The subtext was that if you studied really hard, you...
The value of deep work and focused effort
A few years ago, a friend volunteered to help me for a few days with my startup. He showed up at my office and after a long discussion, offered to create a detailed execution plan for me. He then left, promising to reconnect in a bit. For the next...