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Why Top Performers Don’t Work More Hours
When I landed as a 1st year student in IIT, I imagined that the all-India toppers would be obsessive bookworms. But not only did they study the same hours as everyone else, the were also involved in a lot of extra curricular activities. In that...
Recent Posts
The Most Overlooked Learning Tool: Note-Taking
The most effective tool for learning is also the most overlooked -- taking notes. We often assume that we should take notes so we can refer to them...
Why People Struggle Without Mentoring
During my MBA program, I became a student consultant for local businesses in Pennsylvania, as part of a University-run initiative. And like most of...
The Hidden Cost of Recurring Meetings
My last project at McKinsey was a very high-profile one -- the client was a vertical CXO at a large global bank. The goal was to flesh out their...
The Power of Focus and Prioritization
Every day, you have 8 to 10 hours to play with. If you spend all your time on emails, ad-hoc meetings, and distracted work, you create value X. If...
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How I Cut My Stress in Half
Five years ago, I cut down my stress by 50% in one move: I banned WhatsApp for official work. Before that, we were using WhatsApp at our startup, and over the years, I had created dozens of WhatsApp groups. Soon, I was mindlessly checking and...
Why Challenge Keeps Your Body and Mind Young
A few years ago, when I used to go running in the University Stadium in Trivandrum, I would often see a former Chief Minister doing his daily walk. And he was in his early nineties. I have seen many Kerala politicians extremely active in their 80s....
Work-Life Balance: Slacking Off or Sustainable Success?
For some people (especially entrepreneurs), work-life balance has become a toxic phrase -- symbolizing sloth, not taking responsibility, and doing the minimum necessary work. For others, it is a war cry against corporate slavery -- intolerable work...
The Power of Small Actions
Every time you innocuously glance at your WhatsApp or Instagram, you are building a habit. Every gratifying action builds a habit -- no exceptions. I had already known this from psychology. But the Buddhist meditation master (Nyanaponika Thera)...