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Most powerful motivation comes from within
When my dad was in his eighties and unfortunately, not in very good health. But on some days when he feels a bit better, he would go outside the house, sit on a chair, and learn Malayalam – a language totally alien to him. One day, my neighbor (a...
Recent Posts
Why We Seek Validation
Why do we do social comparison even though we know it is toxic? Why do we seek external validation knowing that it ruins our happiness? Turns out,...
The Three Career Curves: Choose Your Climb
There are three kinds of jobs: The 'flatline' jobs: Here you do the same thing for the same inflation-adjusted salary, all your life. E.g., a...
Work Behind the Glamour
At the beginning of the Ukraine war, Russians were abandoning their tanks at an alarming rate due to breakdowns and technical glitches. On CNN, one...
Leadership is Hard
Stress spreads like a contagion. Just one person needs to have it -- especially the boss -- and soon, everybody around will feel it. Once the boss...
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Focus Is Binary
Focus is binary. When a sharpshooter goes from 100% focus to 50% focus, his score does not decline by 50% but it goes to zero. He misses every target. 50% focus is as good as no focus. And yet, when it comes to our work, we believe that we can make...
The Beauty in the Ordinary
You feel you don't have a story to tell because your life is not exciting? Let me then tell you about Neman Ashraf, a police constable in Pakistan. A few years ago, I came across Neman's posts on Quora, where he used to write stories about his...
Don’t Quit While on the Uphill
For the last 15 odd years, every day I go to the gym, I see the exact same cast of people working out -- feels like seeing the same play in the same theater 🙂 Given their clockwork-like consistency, you would imagine that sticking to a workout...
Find a Singular Goal
The best periods of my life were the ones in which I had one overriding life goal -- be it cracking a big exam or building a new product for HabitStrong (my startup). A singular goal that you really, badly, desperately want to accomplish, gives you...