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When a Blunder Turns Out to Be a Blessing
When writing my Wharton MBA application, I was working right until the 2:30 am deadline. I was frantically working on my application essays in a Word document, saving the edits every few minutes. But in a last-minute panic, I mistakenly overwrote a...
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Time is limited
If you write 10 emails a day, every week, you send out 50 emails. In 2 years, you would have written 5000 emails. In the amount of time it takes to...
The life starts again
If you flip a regular coin 10 times, on average, you expect 5 heads and 5 tails. But what if the first 9 coin throws all show up 'heads'? Now you...
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...
Action beats rumination
I have often seen people say, "I have no regrets." Sadly, I am not like them. I have a lot of regrets, big and small. In fact, I find regrets...
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Love for hard things is the secret
Most of your life will be spent doing three kinds of things: Category 1: Things you do because they are easy and fun. Category 2: Things you do even though they are hard. Category 3: Things you do BECAUSE they are hard. And here is my prediction:...
How to succeed in the workplace?
To succeed in the workplace (and even in your personal life), here are some things you should never say: 1. No offence. Why is this a bad idea: Saying ‘no offence’ after saying something offending is like slapping a person and saying, ‘No slap.’ It...
Substance over style
One lesson I learned at McKinsey -- "Never go to a meeting without a polished presentation." Before the meeting, everybody might say, "It is just a brainstorming session -- the slides don't have to look good. Just bring whatever you have." But...
Prioritization
The day I get a LOT done is also a day when most routine things remain pending. And those are the days I cherish. Just striking off the maximum number of items from a to-do list is another rat race. What's the point? One day, try this: 1. Pick one...