Rajan’s Linkedin posts
Subscribe to the HabitStrong newsletter
Rajan shares insights from his own life journey to help you build better habits in yours.
Perspective is everything
Once I had to visit a cancer hospital in Trivandrum to seek a medical opinion for a friend's father. The hospital was packed with patients, many of whom were suffering immensely. When you see those gaunt faces and shaved heads, you realize what a 'life and death'...
The Truth About Influencers
Most influencers are lying. They tell you that you can make a 6 or 7-figure income working 2-4 hours a day while chilling on the beaches of Maldives. You have no bosses, no stress, full freedom, lots of money, creative work, and public adulation. You travel while you...
How to Find Your Inner Motivation
Today, during a Q&A session I was conducting at Nokia, someone asked -- "How do I find motivation for a task?" A part of the answer is hidden in plain sight -- in your own life. Take this example: Nobody likes filling out forms, waiting in queues, etc. But if a...
The Pain of Growth
Talking about growth mindset has become such a cliche that not a day goes without hearing it. Then why aren't we all adopting that mindset? Because growth does not come free. Take the example of muscle growth -- how does it happen? You go to the gym and lift weights,...
The Yerkes-Dodson Law
Why do deadlines improve performance? It makes no sense because deadlines create anxiety, which is the enemy of focus and productivity. For that, we need to understand Yerkes-Dodson law. When we have a deadline, our brain releases an alerting chemical called...
Pain is Private While Success is Public
What happens when you take a risk? If you succeed, people will sing folklore about you on LinkedIn. And if you get really lucky, Harvard will write a case study, which MBA students will interpret in all kinds of funny ways. But if you fail, you will bear the pain all...
Not Everything Can Be Intellectualized
Today, I saw an article in 'The Print' in which the author explained why he quit the 10-day Vipassana course run by Sri SN Goenka's organization. He criticized many aspects of the program such as the 'noble silence' and the lack of discussion and debate. The author...
AI Will Not Kill You — But Distraction Will
A year ago, virtually every second LinkedIn profile mentioned 'Web3' as a skill. Today, nobody is doing that. Similarly, I recently saw an ad proclaiming that 'Prompt engineering' is the new hot thing for which employers are paying Rs 4 crore salaries! Thankfully...
Focus on Your Own Journey
One funny thing I saw in B-School was how secretive some people were during their job search -- you would have thought they were recruiting with Mossad. I understand that people don't want competition. And it might be somewhat understandable when the jobs are very...
The Courage to Quit
LinkedIn is ablaze with posts that tell you, “Never quit.” But the biggest mistake I have made as an entrepreneur is not quitting when I should have. Let me share this story which started in 2012 when I quit my job and launched CourseBrew, my first startup. I built a...
Leadership Requires Discomfort
Every leadership training I have been through, be it for the Indian Police Service or at McKinsey, was missing a critical element -- training people how to dissent. Without the ability to dissent, you only have yes-men (or yes-women), not leaders. In the uniformed...
Your Story Need Not Go Viral to Be Real
We love rags-to-riches stories. That is why every social platform is full of them. And they make us wonder -- how come everybody gets lucky except me? The reason is that stories other than rags-to-riches are not considered stories! They don't motivate anyone -- so...
Escape The Trap of Plenty
About a year ago during lunch, my colleague Ayisha said, "Whenever I want to learn something, I search online and find so many books that I get overwhelmed and never start." To escape this trap of plenty, become aware of the following fallacies: Fallacy 1: We need to...
Get Control Over Your Digital Habits
Overcoming digital addictions is NOT about giving up your phone. If it were, the solution would be straightforward -- throw away your smartphone and buy a feature phone. But that totally misses the point. Our smartphone is an essential part of our life. However,...
Substance Over Optics
During my consulting days, while working for a healthcare client, we made a beautiful PowerPoint deck -- what else would a consultant do? 😊 But the client asked us to get the presentation jazzed up by their favorite visual graphics company. Naturally, we complied, and...
Subscribe to the HabitStrong newsletter
Rajan shares insights from his own life journey to help you build better habits in yours.