To be fit, you don’t need to be David Goggins or run 100-mile ultramarathons. To build a reading habit, you don't have to read one book per day. To start meditating, you don't need to be a Buddha-like perfect meditator. It is perfectly fine to be inspired by these...

Recently, Maharashtra politicians were calling each other names by saying things like, "XYZ might need to consult a psychiatrist." Another quipped, "You need to be treated in a mental hospital." Having to consult a psychiatrist has now become an insult. Any wonder...

In my previous EdTech startup, ConceptOwl, I found one day that new videos were not showing up on our app even though we were recording dozens of them every week. Why? Manpower problem. We had too many people! I found that there were too many steps in the video...

Your mind CANNOT focus on a task if it subliminally fears that you are missing out on something more pressing. When you have that fear or anxiety, it does the following: You multitask or leave a task incomplete (e.g., a half-written email) and jump to some other task....

In 2010, at an investor event at the Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai, I was dazzled by a company called Opto Circuits. Their polished presentation, storytelling, and impressive product display left no doubt that a medical device giant was emerging from India. The founder won...

"Everything I do has to be perfect -- I can't afford to make any mistakes." -- This belief creates probably half the anxiety in the world. This is why some of us check our email ten times or spend days on a task that should take just hours. We are driven not by...

Over the years, I have discovered this recipe for simplifying life and getting rid of melodrama. Allow me to share it: Don't chase anything at the cost of 'peace of mind.' Your health comes first – mental and physical. Everything else comes fifth (or lower). Live...

The cheerleaders are quiet. When Pharmeasy acquired Thyrocare, online influencers were cheering how Indian startups have 'matured' and how a nascent startup acquiring a mature company showed their 'coming of age', whatever that meant. Just a year or two ago, all you...

In a leadership course at Wharton, the professor would ask, "What qualities should a good leader have?" Some student would say, "Vision." The professor would then parrot back, "Yes, without vision, you can't have leadership." Then another student would say,...

The biggest killer of productivity is not laziness -- it is anxiety. You can have the greatest productivity software, but if you are anxious, you can't get anything done. Here is why. To do any thoughtful work, our brain's pre-frontal cortex (PFC) has to do the...

On the D-day of a consulting engagement at McKinsey, the team thrilled the client with a proposal to cut millions of dollars in cost. But the senior partner heading the engagement told the client, "What we are doing is polishing your furniture while your house is on...

We think we want money. But what we really want is for our days to be happy and joyful. We want to love the work we do. We want good relationships. We want the freedom to spend our time the way we like. We want good health and peace of mind. In short, we want a good...

Most professors teaching leadership in B-schools have never been in the hot seat or held leadership roles. Most consultants advising companies have never worked in business roles (I was one of them). Most people mentoring startups have never done startups. What does...

Years ago, I was involved in organizing the National Games in Trivandrum, where two people did a skydiving demo for the opening ceremony. In this insanely dangerous stunt, these parajumpers were to land in a stadium, inside a busy city. And once the parachutes opened,...

In 2008, I had a lunch-cum-job interview with a very successful New York-based fund manager, who had made hundreds of millions of dollars from investing. I asked him, "What has been the hardest part of your job?" He said, "There was a time when for two years, I had...