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A video game maker would love it if you spend 12 hrs a day playing their game. A social media company would love it if you check their app every five minutes. They don't care if you are miserable. They don't care if your mental health is failing. They are not on your...
During our college placement season, many of us were fixated on the salaries. If a company offered even Rs 2,000 more, it felt infinitely more attractive. But looking back, the initial salary had practically zero correlation with how well people did in life. Some who...
When I was working with a private equity firm, in the middle of our office was a gigantic TV screen that could raise your anxiety within a minute. This TV was always tuned to CNBC, which would constantly stream the latest market news and the Sensex level, by the...
The past is a prison, but its door is unlocked. Then why don't we just walk out? Because our mind wants to renegotiate the past and make it better. We know it is pointless but our mind still can't resist it. So is there an escape from this prison? Is there any...
In late 2020, when I launched HabitStrong, we had little money, no tech team, and zero marketing people. There were just four of us. Since we could not afford a tech team, for the first few months we did not even have a website. Heck, we did not even have the...
During my training with the Indian Police Service, we were attached to an elite army unit in Nagaland for exposure. So a few days after we landed, we went for a patrol in full combat gear – we had to wear a metallic flak jacket and a bulletproof headgear that was so...
A friend of mine doing investment banking with a Wall Street bank once told me about his managing director, who would frantically reply to every email within 2-3 minutes, no matter what time of the day or night you emailed her. Clearly, she was very prompt. But why?...
During my stint in the Civil Services, the most powerful person I ever worked with was the Kerala Chief Minister, which at that time was Mr. AK Antony. And when we think of powerful people, what is the imagery that comes to one’s mind? Maybe someone who shouts down...
When I started my Civil Services or IITJEE preparation, I had no idea how I would get to the finish line – so I just bought a few books and started learning. When I quit my job to do a startup, I did not know how I would build a company. But I got started, made...
When I was in the 9th grade, I built a habit that inadvertently helped me crack the Civil Services interview almost a decade later. In those days, I started reading newspapers religiously because I loved following the international stories (e.g., the Tamil conflict in...
When I finished my BTech, instead of feeling on top of the world, I felt dejected and defeated. Till I went to IIT, like any teenager, I felt that I could accomplish anything – I felt bullet-proof. But during college, for the first time in my life, I felt that I was...
Soon after I landed in Kerala on joining the Indian Police Service (IPS), my batchmates and I did a courtesy call on an officer of the rank Additional Director General of Police – the second-highest rank in the IPS. Naturally, as rookies, our rank of Assistant...
Rajan shares insights from his own life journey to help you build better habits in yours.