Whether it is working on my startup or preparing for the Civil Services exam, I have never needed motivational videos or a pep talk to get going. In fact, you ONLY need these three things to achieve any goal: 1. Take up a goal only if you are willing to happily accept...

When I was leaving my job at McKinsey after a relatively short stint of 18 months, a classmate remarked that I was being hasty – in the initial few years on any job, one has to pay the dues. I disagreed – and still do. There are no dues to be paid. We are born free...

During my stint in the police, I was once overseeing a jampacked swearing-in ceremony for some new ministers at the Kerala Raj Bhavan (Governor’s official residence). The crowd was in a celebratory mood and hard to control. So when the Chief Minister’s car arrived,...

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 there is some hack...

You can’t sustain a habit unless you learn how to NOT quit. We rarely quit because we decided to. Instead, this is what happens: 1. After sticking to a habit for a few days or weeks, for whatever reason, the streak breaks. For a few days or weeks, we don’t show up. 2....

In a project at McKinsey, I was loving it totally until I started hating it. At that time, I had joined the Firm just a few months ago. And when the project started, there was so much to do that my manager gave everybody full autonomy. I did my own research and expert...

After reading about some unicorn founders recently indulging in financial fraud, I was wondering, what prompts such highly accomplished people to do that? One reason is that we have glorified unlimited greed. Today, it is not enough to have 10 crores or 100 crores –...

In 2009, when I quit McKinsey, I was at my unhealthiest. For the previous 10 years, through various jobs and my MBA, I had worked long back-breaking hours and had stopped exercising. On top of that, I was chronically sleep-deprived. I was so unfit then that I couldn't...

One of my best friends had joined the 5-year MSc Physics program at IIT Kanpur. He loved physics but his parents were very unhappy with his decision. They considered a science degree sub-par even though the physics program at IITK was highly coveted. They wanted their...

I am not always excited about building my startup. But does that mean I am not motivated? Of course, I am. Motivation is not the same as excitement. Excitement is a temporary feeling that changes hour to hour. Motivation is the steady, underlying desire to achieve a...

How to overcome stress: 1. Whatever be the reason behind the stress, it manifests in your body by activating your Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS). 2. Once your SNS is activated, blood is diverted from the peripheral parts of the body to your big muscle groups (e.g.,...

During a taxi ride back from my office in New York City, the driver asked me, “So what do you do?” When I told him that I was a consultant, he asked, “IT consultant?” I hastily corrected him, “No, no… I am a strategy consultant.” In those days, IT or technology was...

In a marketing class, our business school professor once told us – "The world doesn’t owe you anything just because you went to Wharton." This is one lesson I have always cherished – we are not entitled to anything regardless of which college we went to or what job we...

A few years ago, in a South Bombay office complex, I saw a notice on a door – “Salesmen and interns not allowed.” It left me wondering, why are we so hostile to salesmen and interns? Why do we treat them as a nuisance? One thing to remember is that we all have been...

When I was in the police force, the best leaders I worked with had one common quality – they were not bossy at all. Usually, when we think of ‘good leaders’, we imagine charismatic people with magnetic personalities. But the leaders I cherish were the ones who were...