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When You’re Lost, Being Busy Is the Worst Thing You Can Do
In my first startup, I outsourced my product development to a small IT services company. In the beginning, things seemed okay. But soon, I was struggling with product-market fit (aka, nobody wanted my product). Instead of staying laser-focused on...
Recent Posts
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...
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,...
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....
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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)...
Why Big Organizations Struggle While Startups Thrive
Big organizations can't compete with startups having 1% of their resources. Not because they have too few people (or resources), but because they have too many. When you have lots of people, first, you stack them up in a hierarchy. Now, each person...
Focus Sprints with Breaks: Secret to Productivity
When I do focus sprints, I have found that the key to productivity is taking frequent and generous breaks. Here is what works for me. 1. Since I typically do 25-minute focus sprints, I generally take 3 short breaks (5 minutes each) followed by one...