It is soon going to get very weird. And we are not realizing it. A small gang of people, probably based in Silicon Valley, will increasingly have so much concentrated wealth and influence that in comparison, today's world may look like a socialist utopia. To be clear,...

Over the last year, after my parents moved in with us, I have been hounding my mother to go for a daily walk. She has put on a fair bit of weight, possibly due to her slowing metabolism. But despite my pestering, my mother was very reluctant. Nevertheless, she started...

When I was a kid, we were living in a remote military station in Assam, surrounded by hills and jungle-like vegetation. In those days, power cuts there were a daily thing. But one day, the transmission system got knocked off so badly that for more than 3-4 days, we...

2,500 years ago, without fMRI machines, research labs, or any understanding of neuroscience, one man single-handedly figured out how to end all human suffering. The Buddha created the world's best mental health program. We now call it Vipaassana. And today, with all...

The value of your college degree is like radioactive material with a half-life of about 3-4 years. So we cannot sit on our laurels and degrees. In 10 years (3 half-lives later), your degree's value would be down to about 10%. Ultimately, which college you went to...

Long ago, I was attending a conference on drug addiction, where they honored an Australian guy who had dedicated his life to helping people caught up in drug addiction. When he was asked to address the audience, he started out by listing all the awards, honors, and...

Living in a country like the US, you come across people of every nationality. And one very interesting thing you find is that they all look different, and yet, they are all the same. Americans, Chinese, Indians, Vietnamese, Mexicans – they all talk differently, look...

A year ago, a startup announced a revenue of Rs 10 crore. And profit? Actually, it lost more than 150 crores! If you are wondering, “In which universe does this all make sense?”, welcome to the magical world of VC funding, my friend! Today, this funding game is...

All learning boils down primarily to one thing -- building mental models. During my electrical engineering undergraduate program, we were (involuntarily) subjected to a lot of dense math. At the beginning of the semester, had I seen all those complicated equations, I...

There are no books on Amazon with a perfect 5-star rating. There are no products that everyone likes. There is no piece of art or music that is universally loved -- in fact, Beethoven's symphonies were widely panned in the day. You can't please everyone -- no matter...

The biggest luxury is not Mercedes Maybach. Nor is it holidaying in the $30k-a-night suite in Burj Khalifa. These are just expensive toys and frills. Real luxury is being fit enough to run a few miles without breaking much of a sweat. It is being at peace with...

Often, I see people getting worked up about Shark Tank. Remember -- it is a reality show. And a reality show is primarily a show, not reality. What you see on Shark Tank is not the way investment deals are really done. In the world of investing, you spend hours...

If you have been looking for life's meaning, you probably haven’t found it. And it is not because you are not looking hard enough but because by itself, life has no meaning. If you take a purely materialistic/scientific view, life is just a series of biochemical...

You are already a brand. Your brand is the way you write and talk. It is how you tell your stories. It is your thought clarity and the values your words reflect. Your brand is the things that excite you and move you -- things you love or loathe. It is the things that...

If you practice anything for, say 10,000 hrs, you will become world-class. Right? Wrong. You probably already know people who have been playing badminton for years, maybe decades. And are they ready for the Olympics? Of course, not. In fact, you will see the same...