Past Newsletters

When you consume information, the information consumes your attention. And between information and attention, the scarcer resource, unquestionably, is your attention. So optimize how you allocate your attention. For better or worse, we have an endless supply of blogs,...

At age 10, my daughter started taking swimming lessons with a bunch of other kids. But along with those kids in the pool, there was also a grown-up man taking swimming lessons. When I saw him, I smirked and thought, “What is this guy doing here?” – as if he was...

Right now, there is simply too much going on at HabitStrong. It is overwhelming! Here are some of the things we have to do: - Launch two new programs – one on anxiety and another on productivity - Upgrade two of our existing programs - Create videos for YouTube -...

If you have ever meditated, you have seen the devil – none other than your mind. It just won’t sit still. You want to focus on your breath. Yet, it will do anything but that. The mind keeps getting distracted by thoughts and daydreams. You bring it back and in no...

During my days at McKinsey, I once asked a retired senior partner about life before PowerPoint. How did they make presentations to clients? He said that they used to create presentations on big chart papers using felt-tip pens. They would have to write in big font,...

Whether it is making a presentation, talking to our boss, or socializing after work, some of us experience a serious lack of confidence or anxiety. We anticipate that we will fumble, make a mistake or do a really bad job. And when we are afraid of making a fool of...

The harder you work, the more you get done, and the more value you create. Right? Wrong! It turns out that life is not that linear. Working long hours, non-stop, is not the recipe for value creation. Nor is working without a break for months and years. Every once in a...

This is going to be controversial. But read on… By now, you must have heard this a zillion times: To achieve even your biggest goals, be it building habits, becoming fit, or compounding your wealth – all you need is consistency. When you are consistent, small...

When we think of meditation, the mind often conjures up an image of monks sitting in a buddha-like pose, with serene calm, detached from the world, mind full of lofty thoughts. And that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Meditation is not a retreat from the world....

Except for my early childhood in Bangalore, I grew up in an environment where English wasn’t used for day-to-day conversations either at home or in school. So my English vocabulary was limited mostly to commonplace words. But unfortunately, all the newspapers and...

When writing this newsletter, the first thing I did was to switch off my phone. Once I let my team know that my phone was off, I now had only one thing to do – write with complete focus. But why am I doing this? Just for productivity? Not really. Productivity is a...

I am doing a 5-course specialization on Coursera and I finished almost 6 weeks' worth of material in 3-4 days. Impressive, no? Actually, not – in fact, I am regretting it. Initially, I was jotting down the key points and recapping as I learned. But I was in such a...

Neurosciences of addiction and why we get addicted. Are you addicted to something? Check out these techniques.

Learn how to overcome your fears. Are you afraid of public speaking or have a deep-rooted phobia? We have some tips that can help you.

Consistency comes not from some ‘iron-will’ personality trait, but from a system, which I am going to share with you today. Follow that system and you can stay consistent indefinitely.

Today let us demystify motivation. I am not talking about the transient spike of excitement but the obsessive commitment to a goal, day in, and day out, regardless of the ‘mood of the day.’

In my IIT days, I was a total slacker, perpetually lagging in assignments, quizzes, and projects. I would neither go to classes on time nor take notes.  The only time I would be focused was the night before the exams. That is when I would photocopy borrowed notes from...