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Productivity is not a race
Productivity = Doing the maximum no. of to-dos in the shortest time. Wrong. This is a seductive but nonsensical idea. Every day, ideally, only one or two things should be your real priorities -- these have to be done at any cost. E.g., my priority...
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Fixing Exam Formats
When I first decided to write the Civil Services exam, I was horrified at: 1. How sub-par the syllabus was. 2. How random the marking was. 3. How...
Quitting is not an option
Whenever I struggle to persevere while doing something hard, here is what I tell myself: Slowing down is an option. Taking a break is an option....
Mind Over Matter
During my stint as a consultant with McKinsey, late nights were the norm. However, after a lot of generalist work, to pursue my passion for finance,...
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Before joining the Indian Police Service, the most physically intense thing I had done in a few years was climbing the stairs of PK Kelkar Library...
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Finding Satisfaction in Simple Things
The first time I did pistol shooting, in Mussoorie’s IAS training academy, our pistols all malfunctioned - or so it seemed. Five of us, barely 15 m from the targets, fired a volley of shots, and yet, the targets were practically untouched....
Saving Childhoods
At a typical IITJEE coaching center in Andhra, a student wakes up at 6 am and studies till 10 pm. For 16 hours, 6 days a week, they slog, with a few short breaks to freshen up, eat, etc. And they do this for years. Time for sports = 0 Time for...
Persistence Pays
Once I was talking to a friend whose extended family had built a pharma business from scratch to worth tens of thousands of crores. Now, here is the most interesting thing -- In 40 years, they become multi-billionaires. But in the first 30 years,...
Beyond the Startup Drama
The startup world has today become a circus. Once, ‘startup’ meant innovation. Today it has become this drama of VC funding, valuation, unicorn, week-over-week growth, blitzscaling, and pursuit of the next billion/trillion/quadrillion. Now, there...