Had it been left to me, I suspect I would probably still be sitting on my 1st-year electrical engineering courses without completing them. Ok, I am exaggerating a bit. But without the external pressure of exams and getting a degree, few of us would voluntarily go...

I went to IIT for the brand and the academics, but what I loved the most about the place was its simplicity. On campus, there was no show-off, no flashiness. Students attached zero (in fact, negative) value to how you dressed or how you looked. Whether your dad was an...

No matter how intelligent you are, one thing can screw up your rationality -- ideology. Because ideology presupposes the right answers. And these right answers will pervade every aspect of your life, be it your political, economic, or social beliefs. Ideology is a...

When the UPSC Civil Services results came out last year, somebody apparently commented that if Sundar Pichai had cleared the exam, he would today be the collector of Greater Noida. So is Civil Services the right choice? Or is it Google, Microsoft, et al.? To think...

"I have too little time" -- almost always, this is a lie. I have found that when I work for 5-6 hrs with intense focus, I have no more cognitive capacity left. And this is not an isolated fact. A study of elite musicians (e.g., violinists) revealed that after 4-5 hrs...

During my MBA, like in many other B-schools, you couldn't just register for any course you wanted at Wharton -- you had to win them in an auction. And naturally, everybody wanted the most sought-after courses from star professors, which cost nearly 10,000 points. By...

In my consulting days, one of my managers had built a unique personal brand -- he loved all-nighters and had an aversion to sleep. He was known as an 'intense' person but I soon found that his intensity boiled down to only one thing -- staying late at night. And he...

Unpopular opinion: Knowing how to use AI, by itself, will NOT build you a great career. Here is why. Technology makes you more efficient -- no question about it. But when EVERYONE is using the same technology, everybody's efficiency goes up equally. Result: The...

When I was in 6th grade, I read an abridged version of Mahatma Gandhi's "My Experiments with Truth" for a competition organized by our school. And despite my severely limited vocabulary back then, the book's simple language totally absorbed me. There were no big...

A Trivandrum-based cardiologist once shared this story I am unable to forget. Two of his patients would often crib about life when they met him. Later, at different points, both got cancer. And when he met them in the hospital, both were nostalgic about their past...

About three years ago, Dr. Aniruddha Malpani’s account was permanently blocked by LinkedIn. I am not questioning LinkedIn’s judgment or decision – I respect their right to enforce their rules. But in the last two years, on other social platforms (Facebook, Twitter),...

Which is the best running shoe in the world? Who cares? You just need a good enough pair. Because the shoes won't run, you will. And I am not being snarky here. When we have to do something hard, we start looking for the 'best' tools -- the best shoes, the best bike,...

Today, I had dozens of pending tasks. So here is what I did. I just picked one task that really mattered. I dropped everything else, started my timer, and did 10 focus sprints of 25 minutes. By around 5:30 pm, the task was done. No sweat, no struggle. But had I picked...

A year ago, we lost Deepak Ratan, my friend, IPS batchmate, and an illustrious officer, to a heart attack. We are all in shock. Deepak was still in his 40s and looked fit and strong. Who could have seen this coming? Deepak and I were in the same squad at the National...

You are distracted. But not for the reason you think. MORE than 50% of the work interruptions destroying your productivity aren’t triggered by your phone or email notifications but come from inside your own mind. App blockers can’t defeat digital distraction because...