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Prioritization
Most of us suck at managing our time. And here is the biggest mistake we make — we try really hard to finish our to-do list. When that does not happen, we get frustrated and blame ourselves for being lazy. In fact, we feel absolutely certain that...
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You Fail Only When You Quit
Every once in a while, an old back injury of mine flares up with excruciating pain, wrecking my workout routine for a week or two. And once the...
Fixing Exam Formats
When I first decided to write the Civil Services exam, I was horrified at: 1. How sub-par the syllabus was. 2. How random the marking was. 3. How...
Quitting is not an option
Whenever I struggle to persevere while doing something hard, here is what I tell myself: Slowing down is an option. Taking a break is an option....
Mind Over Matter
During my stint as a consultant with McKinsey, late nights were the norm. However, after a lot of generalist work, to pursue my passion for finance,...
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Before joining the Indian Police Service, the most physically intense thing I had done in a few years was climbing the stairs of PK Kelkar Library at IIT Kanpur. Naturally, the upcoming 10-month training at the National Police Academy was making me...
Finding Satisfaction in Simple Things
The first time I did pistol shooting, in Mussoorie’s IAS training academy, our pistols all malfunctioned - or so it seemed. Five of us, barely 15 m from the targets, fired a volley of shots, and yet, the targets were practically untouched....
Saving Childhoods
At a typical IITJEE coaching center in Andhra, a student wakes up at 6 am and studies till 10 pm. For 16 hours, 6 days a week, they slog, with a few short breaks to freshen up, eat, etc. And they do this for years. Time for sports = 0 Time for...
Persistence Pays
Once I was talking to a friend whose extended family had built a pharma business from scratch to worth tens of thousands of crores. Now, here is the most interesting thing -- In 40 years, they become multi-billionaires. But in the first 30 years,...