To get into and succeed in senior leadership roles, you can't just solve the problems in front of you -- you have to anticipate and solve problems even before they arise. But you can't do that if you are: 1. Perpetually busy replying to emails and messages 2. Spending...

A lot of people have gone to their graves with a ton of untapped potential. So what comes in the way of realizing that potential? It is the wisdom fountain called the 'Internet.' And our tendency to confuse consuming that wisdom with real action. We love debating,...

When I was last traveling, I downloaded the LinkedIn app since I did not want to open my laptop. And just with that one small action, my frequency of checking LinkedIn went up. On my laptop, I log out of LinkedIn when I don't want to use it but on the mobile app, I...

During one of my travels, sitting next to me was a college youngster who furiously swiped through hundreds of short format videos in a very short time -- I am surprised his thumb did not break! Of course, there is nothing wrong with some entertainment. But there is a...

During my consulting days, I once worked 16-18 hours for two weeks straight, estimating the losses that US banks would suffer in the 2008 financial crisis. This was a big project for the company since a lot of clients wanted to know this. Finally, the presentation was...

A few years ago, I was interviewing an expert physics teacher for my previous startup. And to any question I would ask, he would rattle off formulas like a machine gun. But I was not getting a sense that he really understood things. So I asked him, "Can you explain...

How do you achieve meditative focus? The answer lies with a neurotransmitter called norepinephrine, which controls the level of your brain arousal or alertness. At very low levels of norepinephrine, you feel drowsy or sleepy but at very high levels, you get agitated...

I have cracked the 'immortality serum' and you can take a sip. But there is a catch -- once you drink it, you HAVE to live forever. No matter how much you love or hate your life, you will have to continue living -- no escape. People around you will grow old, and one...

A few years ago, my Indian Police Service training boss, Shri Atul Karwal, told me the story of his commando training with India's elite National Security Guards (aka black cat commandos). When he, along with another batchmate of his, reported for the training, the...

Believe it or not, hard work can be counterproductive. And staying busy can be like morphine -- it numbs the pain of not knowing what to do in life or career. When we want to escape that pain of feeling lost, doing inconsequential things is very tempting. Alas, when...

Napoleon said, "Nothing is impossible." Well, he was wrong. Today, in the corporate world, many people are trying to solve the problem of overload by multitasking, because monotasking, apparently, isn't fast enough to get things done. Fair point. But if a plane won't...

A friend once asked an insurance sales guy, "Don't you feel disappointed by so many rejections, every single day?" The guy said, "I have a 10% hit rate. So every time I call someone and get rejected, I count it towards the 9 rejections I need to get to the 10th guy...

Two decades ago, when I first saw traffic policemen at work, I did not realize that one day, entrepreneurs and business leaders would be behaving exactly like them. Here is how. A traffic policeman’s job entails the following: 1. He has to be perpetually busy and if...

My favorite childhood author, Robert Louis Stevenson, reportedly burnt the first draft of his bestseller 'Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.' Here is why. When he showed the first draft to his wife, instead of showering praise, she was quite critical of it. It...

Whenever my planning has failed, it is because I did it in "Rambo mode." During my student days, I would sometimes set ridiculous goals, e.g., "study for 18 hours a day, for the next 6 months!" But when I would start the execution, reality would hit me and I would...