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Why Working Less Can Make You More Productive
In my past life, when I routinely worked 12-16 hour days, I had to occasionally stop work at 7 pm because of some contingency (e.g., doctor's appointment). But surprisingly, even when I worked 25% fewer hours, my work wasn't really affected -- I...
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Why Everything Seems Easy Until You Actually Do It
When I was a cop, everybody else told us how to manage the city traffic better. Now that I am an entrepreneur, VCs seem to know exactly how...
The One Leadership Trait That Can Skyrocket Your Career
If you assign a task to my colleague Saranya, there is one thing you will never hear from her: "It was not my fault." She takes such complete...
How to Handle Multiple Urgent Tasks Effectively
In my first job (in the Civil Services), virtually every task marked for my personal attention was 'urgent.' And then, the next task would also be,...
Why We Remember Challenges More Than Comfort in Life
Whenever I ask people about the best time in their lives, they rarely reminisce about fun stuff (e.g., exotic vacations). More often, I find people...
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The Truth About Focus and Productivity
How many people ACTUALLY work 9 to 5? And when I say work, I mean: 1. Working on something you deliberately prioritised (not playing email ping-pong). 2. While working, staying reasonably focused -- not stealing a glance at email, Slack, or...
The Price of Dreams: Fear, Risk, and the Life We Don’t Live
Earlier this week, a retired civil servant (IAS officer) dropped in at our house. And during our conversation, she said that on many, many occasions, she had the urge to quit the Civil Services and explore the world outside. But she could never...
The Real Cost of Hostile Business Environments
Sensing an opportunity created by Karnataka's self-goal (the proposed reservation for locals), Kerala's Industries minister lost no time in inviting businesses to move to Kerala. And it was a truly heartening to hear that but here is a backstory....
Why Great Leaders Know When to Stay Out of the Way
A friend, who used to be a partner at McKinsey, occasionally conducts a training exercise for team effectiveness in which one person has to perform a complicated physical task blindfolded. Everybody else on the team is given some role (e.g.,...