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Hack for alertness and clarity: good sleep
Many years ago, after late-night work and minimal sleep for a few days, I was struggling to stay alert. But there was a ton of work to be done. So a colleague suggested taking espresso shots. I don't normally consume coffee or tea. But on his...
Recent Posts
The Magic of the Present Moment
As a kid, every summer, we would visit my native village in UP. In the burning June month, without electricity or amenities, it was a veritable...
Excellence is not perfection
In 2009, when I moved back to India, the first thing I did was to buy a car. And in the very first week, in the parking area, a big coconut fell on...
The Lessons of Struggle
In 3rd grade, once our Social Studies teacher gave us a project to build a model of an object that helped humans survive. I built a really ugly...
Pushing Our Limits
About three times a week, I run 10 km in the morning. The distance feels just right to me -- long enough to give a huge endorphin rush, but not so...
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Passion comes from mastery
Before my MBA program started, Wharton sent us a self-assessment test on business and finance to see if we needed some extra classes to handle the course-load. While taking the test, I realized I didn't even know the difference between revenue and...
Beliefs, Habits, Routines
Years ago, one Saturday evening, I went to Rockefeller University in New York City to witness a piano competition. To my untrained ears, each of the half-a-dozen performances I listened to, were equally mesmerizing. And yet, from all these...
Life is an adventure
When I and some of my friends got into the Civil Services, many of us said, "Now, our life is all set." But this was not the first time I was hearing this. Years earlier, when I got into IIT, my teachers also had said the same thing -- "Now your...
Overcoming Assumptions and Finding Our Limits
Right from 1st grade, I was the most non-athletic kid in my class. Thin and emaciated, I never participated in any athletic events or sports. In IIT, I flunked the first-year compulsory physical activity course because I hated the morning ‘walk and...