Shape Your Environment to Shape Your Life

When I was last traveling, I downloaded the LinkedIn app since I did not want to open my laptop. And just with that one small action, my frequency of checking LinkedIn went up. On my laptop, I log out of LinkedIn when I don’t want to use it but on the mobile...

Why Short-Format Videos Hijack Your Brain

During one of my travels, sitting next to me was a college youngster who furiously swiped through hundreds of short format videos in a very short time — I am surprised his thumb did not break! Of course, there is nothing wrong with some entertainment. But there...

Why Zombie Work Destroys Productivity

During my consulting days, I once worked 16-18 hours for two weeks straight, estimating the losses that US banks would suffer in the 2008 financial crisis. This was a big project for the company since a lot of clients wanted to know this. Finally, the presentation was...

Unconscious Competence

A few years ago, I was interviewing an expert physics teacher for my previous startup. And to any question I would ask, he would rattle off formulas like a machine gun. But I was not getting a sense that he really understood things. So I asked him, “Can you...