At McKinsey, the skill I needed the most was not maths. In fact, the most advanced maths I ever used was multiple regression. Surprisingly, even more than ‘problem-solving’, the skill I used the most was 'articulation' - writing, explaining, and crafting persuasive...

When I was in school, I believed that the ‘real life’ would start in college – school was just a prep for it. But during college, I felt that real life will start once I begin working. When I took up my first job in the Indian Police Service (IPS), I got so busy that...

I discovered the effectiveness of this note-taking technique during my Civil Services exam preparation. At that time, I barely had 1.5 months for the preliminary exam. So this is what I did – I would read the questions from the question bank one by one, evaluate the...

Here is a simple life-changing habit -- sleep an hour before you normally do, and then see what happens. Not convinced? For a few days, log what you do between 7 pm and the time you go to sleep. Chances are, a lot of that evening time just goes waste on doomscrolling,...

During my IPS training, we were attached to a CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) unit that was fighting militancy in Tripura. In this remote CRPF camp, we were staying in mud huts with thatched roofs. Inside the hut, there was a fan and a clean bed. Nothing else. And...

During a training program at McKinsey, we were split into groups of 4-5 people and given a task – we had to build paper planes using a kit given to us. To win, you had to build the most number of planes in the given time. Naturally, all the groups started in haste....

As a fresh consultant at McKinsey, for the first time in my life, I had to go around seeking time for meetings with clients or senior leaders at the Firm. Prior to that, while serving as the Police Commissioner, if I wanted to speak with someone, I had to just pick up...

When I was serving as the Trivandrum Police Commissioner, I once skipped a useless meeting called by a senior government official. The next week, when my assistant shared my weekly timesheet, she showed an internal meeting that I had never conducted. When I asked her...

Conventional wisdom (some of which I also fell for): - Leave your job. - Chase VC funding. - Spend all the money on ads and a huge team. - Pray for the next round of funding. A better way: - Don’t leave your jobs until much later — start by working evenings and...

An email you almost never get: I need your money. An email you often get: I need your time -- can we jump on to a call? Is your time less valuable than your money? Of course, not. If you clutter your calendar with calls and meetings, you can say goodbye to focus. And...

In my previous startup, we once reached a point where only had cash left to survive three months. Even worse, we had huge expenses coming up over the next 8 months – the office rental itself would kill us. I personally did not have the money to invest and save the...

Job loss is not a blot on your career. It is an unfortunate feature of the free market economy. Gaps in your resume are also not a blot on your career. They reflect the realities of human life. One of my best hires at HabitStrong was freelancing for many years instead...

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,...