Believe it or not, hard work can be counterproductive. And staying busy can be like morphine -- it numbs the pain of not knowing what to do in life or career. When we want to escape that pain of feeling lost, doing inconsequential things is very tempting. Alas, when...

Napoleon said, "Nothing is impossible." Well, he was wrong. Today, in the corporate world, many people are trying to solve the problem of overload by multitasking, because monotasking, apparently, isn't fast enough to get things done. Fair point. But if a plane won't...

A friend once asked an insurance sales guy, "Don't you feel disappointed by so many rejections, every single day?" The guy said, "I have a 10% hit rate. So every time I call someone and get rejected, I count it towards the 9 rejections I need to get to the 10th guy...

Two decades ago, when I first saw traffic policemen at work, I did not realize that one day, entrepreneurs and business leaders would be behaving exactly like them. Here is how. A traffic policeman’s job entails the following: 1. He has to be perpetually busy and if...

My favorite childhood author, Robert Louis Stevenson, reportedly burnt the first draft of his bestseller 'Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.' Here is why. When he showed the first draft to his wife, instead of showering praise, she was quite critical of it. It...

Whenever my planning has failed, it is because I did it in "Rambo mode." During my student days, I would sometimes set ridiculous goals, e.g., "study for 18 hours a day, for the next 6 months!" But when I would start the execution, reality would hit me and I would...

I received this email from a young lady suffering from depression and severe weight gain, which is preventing her from socializing and living a normal life. She stays awake at night, sleeps during the day, and is addicted to junk food. She wants to get out of this rut...

Long ago, during an evening stroll with a retired VC in New York (from Bessemer), I asked him, "What differentiated your best investments from the others? Could you have seen them coming?" He said, "My best investments were the ones where some team members disagreed,...

How does discipline break down? Answer: One exception at a time. But then, how can we be 100% consistent or never make exceptions? That it true -- we can't. However, the real problem is not the imperfection itself, but when we tell ourselves, 'This time, it is ok' --...

Last year, I lost three friends who passed away unexpectedly, including an ex-boss I was close to, whose passing made national news. When you lose friends, it is hard to accept that it is all over. With one of them (Amarnath Raja), I am still unable to accept that he...

As a consultant, I have helped companies cut costs. But 3-5 years later, many of these costs come right back up. In fact, most company initiatives work well for a while, and then, regress. The same thing happens to us individually -- we build new habits (e.g., start...

One of the consultants at McKinsey I worked with, is today leading McKinsey's digital initiatives. You might say -- naturally, an engineer can't help being an engineer! But this person was NOT an engineer. He was a hardcore Pharma and Lifesciences specialist. When I...

When you wake up, unthinkingly, you grab your phone and check messages or some social apps. You are doing it for just one reason -- it is your default behavior. Next, whether you work out, grab a coffee or just snooze, it is again driven by your defaults. When you...

When I was a kid, finishing books was so effortless! But today, it feels much harder even though I spend a lot more time reading. The problem is this: When you read a book today, there are countless other books, newsletters, podcasts, and audiobooks beckoning you....

The secret to making money is out in the open. On websites like Trendlyne, you can find the stock portfolios of India's best public market investors, starting from that of the late Rakesh Jhunjhunwala. And since these guys are super successful, making money should be...