Rajan’s Linkedin posts

Simple Diet, Strong Health

A former McKinsey colleague of mine from Australia once said that his father would claim insulin from the Australian Health System and give it to their dog. But how did the dog become diabetic? Aren't animals supposed to be naturally healthy? Actually, we are all...

First, Let People Work

A corporate executive I was recently talking to, said that on many days, he has meetings from morning to evening -- sometimes without even a break for lunch. So I asked him, 'When do you get to do your work?' I thought he would say, "I stay up late and do it."...

The Courage to Admit Mistakes

I hate cowardice. Yet, on a few occasions, I was a coward. When I launched my first startup, I built a product that found zero customers -- zero revenue. Something was wrong. Maybe the product was wrong. Maybe, I had no idea how to market. (Now I know that it was the...

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Rajan shares insights from his own life journey to help you build better habits in yours.

The secret of insane productivity

If you call my colleague Nisha on her phone, you will hear a ticking sound in the background. That is the secret of her insane productivity – I have never seen a person get more work done. Here is what she does: 1. From morning till late afternoon, she only works in...

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The science of building a habit

Habit formation happens in 21 days? WRONG. If you understand the science behind it, you can build any habit. And here it is. For a drug like cocaine, some people can get hooked in just one dose – others may take longer but still, it can be less than 21 days. On the...

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Hardships: Not the End

In 2017, one day at around midnight, my colleague Nisha called me in panic. Virtually in tears, she said that our e-learning app had stopped working. At that time, I was running my previous startup, ConceptOwl. When I asked what happened, she said, “It is all gone....

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The pain of discipline

The problem with Netflix binge is not that it is ‘wrong’ – it is about how you feel AFTER the binge. If someone feels great even after a 6-hour binge, maybe, they should do more of it. I may not agree with their choice, but it is not for me to judge. However, very...

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Efficiency Triumphs

A few months after I was posted as Trivandrum Police Commissioner, one senior DIG (Deputy Inspector General of Police) pulled me aside and said, “You are too quiet. Not much is heard about you.” “Look at these other police chiefs who are always making news. You should...

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The Price of Dreams

During my BTech days, when my classmates aiming for a Master’s or PhD in the US were slogging hard, the aimless folks like me were taking it easy. I remember often pitying those people, and occasionally, even making fun of them. But very soon, the tables were turned....

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Articulation

At McKinsey, the skill I needed the most was not maths. In fact, the most advanced maths I ever used was multiple regression. Surprisingly, even more than ‘problem-solving’, the skill I used the most was 'articulation' - writing, explaining, and crafting persuasive...

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The time to live is now

When I was in school, I believed that the ‘real life’ would start in college – school was just a prep for it. But during college, I felt that real life will start once I begin working. When I took up my first job in the Indian Police Service (IPS), I got so busy that...

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Note-taking technique

I discovered the effectiveness of this note-taking technique during my Civil Services exam preparation. At that time, I barely had 1.5 months for the preliminary exam. So this is what I did – I would read the questions from the question bank one by one, evaluate the...

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Life changing habit

Here is a simple life-changing habit -- sleep an hour before you normally do, and then see what happens. Not convinced? For a few days, log what you do between 7 pm and the time you go to sleep. Chances are, a lot of that evening time just goes waste on doomscrolling,...

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Less is More

During my IPS training, we were attached to a CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) unit that was fighting militancy in Tripura. In this remote CRPF camp, we were staying in mud huts with thatched roofs. Inside the hut, there was a fan and a clean bed. Nothing else. And...

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Leadership

During a training program at McKinsey, we were split into groups of 4-5 people and given a task – we had to build paper planes using a kit given to us. To win, you had to build the most number of planes in the given time. Naturally, all the groups started in haste....

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Life is short

As a fresh consultant at McKinsey, for the first time in my life, I had to go around seeking time for meetings with clients or senior leaders at the Firm. Prior to that, while serving as the Police Commissioner, if I wanted to speak with someone, I had to just pick up...

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Prioritizing Thoughtful Work

When I was serving as the Trivandrum Police Commissioner, I once skipped a useless meeting called by a senior government official. The next week, when my assistant shared my weekly timesheet, she showed an internal meeting that I had never conducted. When I asked her...

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How to build a startup?

Conventional wisdom (some of which I also fell for): - Leave your job. - Chase VC funding. - Spend all the money on ads and a huge team. - Pray for the next round of funding. A better way: - Don’t leave your jobs until much later — start by working evenings and...

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Rajan shares insights from his own life journey to help you build better habits in yours.