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The Myth of Perfection
In my last startup, ConceptOwl, a friend once told me about another learning startup that was growing like crazy by selling through schools. He asked, "Why don't you also do that?" When I heard that, my heart sank. We had tried the same approach...
Recent Posts
Life is not a race against time
When I left my last job to do a startup, I was in a hurry -- as if it was a race against time. Foolishly assuming that VC funding was the only way,...
Prioritizing meaning over pleasure
When I decided to write the Civil Services, I uncomplainingly slogged for 7 months. It was certainly not pleasurable in the normal sense and yet I...
Experience is just an opportunity to learn
A few years ago, in my startup, we were building a tech platform that was performing horribly. The screens would take forever to load -- clearly,...
Pleasure of life
During the time we spent in terrorism-affected North-East (as part of the IPS training), you couldn’t step out without at least three machine-gun...
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Truth is an assumption
I have lost track of the late nights I have done in my past life but here is the funny thing -- whenever I had a constraint, e.g., I had to go out for a dinner, say at 8 pm, I would somehow find that laser-focus in the afternoon and wrap up...
Peace of mind
During my stint with McKinsey, I was going through a period of intense stress -- my family moved back to India and I was all alone in the US. I could have kept pushing myself to the breaking point. Or I could take a break. So I took a break -- for...
Why are we so busy
Why the hell are we so busy all the time? This disease called “back-to-back meetings” is spreading faster than Covid’s Delta variant. In today’s hyper-connected, competitive world, some busyness is understandable, but a lot of it is artificially...
Focus bubble
A few years ago, a friend inadvertently showed me the secret of extreme productivity. Here is the story. This friend was on a short sabbatical and popped into my office, asking if he could help me with anything. Knowing how bright he was, I asked...