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All our good habits are subject to entropy
As a consultant, I have helped companies cut costs. But 3-5 years later, many of these costs come right back up. In fact, most company initiatives work well for a while, and then, regress. The same thing happens to us individually -- we build new...
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Completion Discipline
I am struggling. In fact, in my startup life, I have always struggled -- there is just too much to do and too little time. And to make things worse,...
25-Minute Focus: Feasible or Myth?
My friend Vinod Thomas recently told me that while I keep talking about doing 25-minute focus sprints (pomodoros), even focusing intensely for 5...
Quit the Noise, Embrace Zen
Your sanity is under threat from the zillion WhatsApp groups that everyone seems to be a part of. These WhatsApp groups are for all and sundry --...
Rethinking the Billionaire Race
A while ago, I was talking to a friend who once led a top-tier Indian university. One day, a psychologically distressed student came to him and...
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Here’s how you break bad habits
Yesterday, I asked my colleagues -- "Which app do you find most distracting or addicted to?" And I heard a surprising answer: Swiggy. One team member candidly admitted that around 12:30 pm, when the Swiggy offers start pouring in, she can't help...
Goal-Driven Focus
If you want to have unwavering focus but have struggled to achieve it, this Buddhist story has an answer. Once a king gave one of his subjects a challenge. He said, "You have to walk around the palace carrying a bucket full of hot oil on your head,...
Bird by Bird
When you are overwhelmed, what do you do? Read this quote from Anne Lamott's book 'Bird by Bird.' "Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to...
Pick one habit and start
Sometimes, life feels like an out-of-control mess. We want to fix it, but we don't know where to start. If it feels like all bad habits have descended on us at once -- procrastination, smartphone addiction, lethargy, low energy, lack of confidence...