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Overcoming intimidation and the power of learning

It was day 1 of Prof. Robert Verrecchia’s class at Wharton. As I gingerly entered and took a seat at the back, I saw the intimidating crowd of my ex-banker classmates around me -- this was an advanced accounting course and as an ex-cop, I could barely spell...

The benefits of a consistent morning routine

When I quit my job to become an entrepreneur, I was thrilled: No more office timings, no need to dread Monday mornings -- I would finally be ‘free.’ I could do whatever I wanted, whenever. Every day was Sunday -- if I chose to! Soon, I was working late nights and...

Umbrella for stress

Early morning today, when I woke up, my head was buzzing with anxiety. It happens often but I was not too worried -- I knew what to do next. Within 10 minutes of commencing my meditation, I could suddenly sense my mind calming down -- it felt like an engine switching...

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Rajan shares insights from his own life journey to help you build better habits in yours.

Beliefs, Habits, Routines

Years ago, one Saturday evening, I went to Rockefeller University in New York City to witness a piano competition. To my untrained ears, each of the half-a-dozen performances I listened to, were equally mesmerizing. And yet, from all these virtuosos, only a few would...

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Life is an adventure

When I and some of my friends got into the Civil Services, many of us said, "Now, our life is all set." But this was not the first time I was hearing this. Years earlier, when I got into IIT, my teachers also had said the same thing -- "Now your life is all set." Here...

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Overcoming Assumptions and Finding Our Limits

Right from 1st grade, I was the most non-athletic kid in my class. Thin and emaciated, I never participated in any athletic events or sports. In IIT, I flunked the first-year compulsory physical activity course because I hated the morning ‘walk and run’ and ended up...

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Being Comfortable in Misery

During my IPS training, one day, a fellow trainee who was also a college-mate, told me: “In my last job (before IPS), I once wrote a software simulator for Intel’s 386 processor. And now I am doing this stupidity.” He was a brilliant guy even by IIT standards, and...

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The Morning Routine Advantage

In 2017, my startup was burning cash and time was running out. Changing the direction of the company was like trying to move a gigantic ship -- it was hard and required immense grit and energy. And ironically, this was also the time when I felt my inner strength going...

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Finding Joy in the Journey

In my 2nd year at IIT, I started learning Taekwondo. I somehow took fancy to the idea of becoming a black-belt. Maybe, I saw too many martial arts movies. But when the training started, it was really intense. The warm-up itself used to practically kill us, even before...

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The Impact of a Strong Beginning

In my life, the only major career goal for which I had to truly struggle was getting into IIT. IIT made getting into Civil Services so much more doable -- most of my classmates who aimed for it also made it. Once in the IPS, the exposure and confidence made it...

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The Rewards of Sacrifice

In my last job as a private equity investor, I came across many Indian entrepreneurs whose parents set up the business from scratch. I remember one entrepreneur in the medical devices space, whose mother used to go wait outside doctors' offices for hours, with device...

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The value of being at the bottom

The most valuable lesson I learned at McKinsey was NOT making presentations or structured thinking, as valuable as they were. The best lesson was the experience of being at the bottom of an organization. Before my MBA, I was running a 3,500 strong police force,...

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What is meaningful writing?

I was once talking to a lawyer, who was a partner at a law firm in London. I asked him, 'How challenging is it to be a good lawyer?' He said, 'Anybody can write a contract or a legal document but writing a really good one is very hard. A good document is one where if...

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The power of communication beyond accents

During my MBA, McKinsey once visited our campus for a pre-placement talk. One of their consultants who addressed us was a South American with a very heavy Spanish accent. He joked saying, "Whenever people tell me that I don't have an American accent, I tell them that...

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Flow and happiness through work

3 years ago, I experienced one of the happiest days of my life. And in case you are wondering what life-changing thing happened that day, the answer is -- nothing. All I was doing was teaching finance to a new class of investment bankers at Avendus, all sharp and...

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Never underestimate any task

During my stint with the Indian Police Service, I handled a ton of riots, violent mobs, and civil disturbances. When you keep doing that day-in and day-out, naturally, the whole routine becomes quite familiar. Despite that, I would try to never take anything for...

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Random chance

Once, during my stint with McKinsey, an HR recruiter from the New York office once asked me if I could help shortlist a few resumes for interviews. The applicants were all from top B-Schools (Harvard, Columbia, MIT, Wharton, etc.) and every resume looked stellar. All...

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Rajan shares insights from his own life journey to help you build better habits in yours.

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