Rajan Singh

During my stint with McKinsey, whenever we did late nights (more like early mornings), it was rarely because the work per se was that heavy.

It was almost always because we did not create clarity sufficiently early in the day about what was to be accomplished. In a few cases, the team would get together at 9 pm to discuss 'what we need to get done today.' I sometimes used to wonder why we could not have had the same discussion at 9 am.

When it comes to late nights and creating artificial crises, investment banking is the king of all professions. It is more like the seniors rag the juniors, and when the latter get older, they repeat the hazing.

I believe in pushing hard. I believe in getting things done. But if you can't get things done in 10-12 hrs of focused work, you won't get it done in 16 hrs of zombie work.

To the youngsters joining the workforce: Anytime you are doing a 2 am or 4 am, I would urge you to question what necessitated it. 9 out of 10 times, it would be because of the implicit expectations in the workplace, someone's vanity, or because everyone was clueless.

The reason nobody speaks up is that everybody is waiting for someone else to speak up first.

********
My blog: nosilverbullet.in

At a typical IITJEE coaching center in Andhra, a student wakes up at 6 am and studies till 10 pm.

For 16 hours, 6 days a week, they slog, with a few short breaks to freshen up, eat, etc. And they do this for years.

Time for sports = 0
Time for extracurriculars and hobbies = 0

These are teenagers, not Indian Military Academy cadets. They are just living their parents' dreams.

I must confess: I loved IITJEE right from the days I wrote the exam. Even we had to slog, but not to this inhuman level. For long, I believed it to be the best exam in the world.

I am not so sure anymore.

As coaching became better, the competition went up, and so did the difficulty level of questions. And it then became a nightmare.

Part of me still loves some aspects of IITJEE. I love physics and its analytical rigor. But very reluctantly, I have concluded that IITJEE is no longer serving us that well. It needs to change.

I don’t have all the answers but we have to stop making exams harder and harder.

A child should be able to find time for sports, extracurriculars, and hobbies. And pursue studies in a balanced, healthy manner.

Let us allow kids to breathe. Let us spare their childhood.

***
www.habitstrong.com

In 2002, the recently elected President Mr. Abdul Kalam was to visit Trivandrum. As the City Police Chief, I had never made a VVIP security arrangement earlier.

Due to my lack of confidence, I was personally reviewing every single detail. But I also had to keep running the city police administration in parallel.

One day, at a VVIP visit venue, while reviewing the arrangements, I was also dictating to my steno an urgent letter about some unrelated matter.

One of my ACPs told me, “Sir, how do you handle multiple things in parallel? It is just amazing!”

But the truth is, I wasn’t REALLY multitasking but switching between tasks -- when I was dictating the letter, I had stopped paying attention to the security arrangement.

In fact, when I had to finally approve the VVIP security plan, I closed the door, prohibited visitors, and reviewed it for a few hours. Most tasks that truly matter require deep focus.

We glorify the guy who effortlessly multitasks five different things, doing each of them amazingly well. It is just a myth.

When each task is cognitively demanding, multitasking is like shooting at two targets with one bullet -- you will miss both.

Here is the algorithm for getting things done efficiently:

1. If you are a ‘normal busy’ guy with just a few to-dos: Do one thing at a time.

2. If you are a ‘crazy busy’ guy, with a million to-dos: Do one thing at a time.

3. Everybody else: Do one thing at a time.

***
www.habitstrong.com

After my MBA, when I joined consulting, I imagined that we would solve complex business problems, and finally, when we presented our solutions to the clients, their jaws would hit the floor.

As it turned out, that jaw drop never happened. In fact, in the world of consulting, if your solution causes a jaw-drop, you are in for trouble. Here is why.

We assume that people are persuaded by logic. But we are a bundle of emotions, insecurities, and ego.

If you are an experienced business executive and one day, some Ivy League MBAs walk in to tell you how to fix your problem, what would be your reaction? 

Here are some thoughts any of us might have:

1. What can these guys tell me after four weeks which I haven’t figured out in 20 years?

2. Do they think I am not smart enough to solve my own problems?

3. What do they know about my business? Just looking at some data in a spreadsheet doesn’t make you an expert.

4. How will this affect my job? Are they out to get me?

And so on.

People are almost never persuaded by logic alone (unless you are a mathematician).

So what do consulting firms do? They present their findings to key team members separately (typically one-on-one) and get their feedback and buy-in.

And when the final presentation is made, nobody is surprised – it is the exact opposite of a jaw drop.

If you are looking to persuade people don’t just bank on facts and logic. Talk to them one-on-one. Hear their concerns, feel their emotions, and acknowledge their fears.

Then, and only then, do you have a shot at persuading them.

***
In my fortnightly newsletter, I share ideas and action steps for building a good life. Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/gVfBTQsH

For building focus, mental discipline, and a morning routine, check out: www.habitstrong.com

It was an unequal race -- not fair.

During my 6th grade, our sports teacher announced an impromptu bike race to celebrate the end of the annual sports day.

The near-certain winner was the son of the Commanding Officer of the local air force station, who had an imported 5-gear bike. In those ancient days, geared bikes were virtually unheard of in India.

The race started with 7 to 8 participants but one by one, they started falling behind and dropping off. Finally, two kids were left -- one with the 5-gear bike and another with a normal red-colored Indian bike. 
 
The school was loudly cheering them -- both the kids were very well-liked. And soon, they were neck to neck, pedaling furiously, neither giving a quarter. But within a few rounds, the kid with the normal bike took over and won the race, amidst deafening cheers. 

We were stunned. How could an imported high-performance bike lose? 

Over the years, I have realized that what matters more is not whose bike has more gears but who has more spirit. Sure, you might have to paddle a bit harder, but that is life.

Life will always be unfair. There will always be someone whose bike has more gears than yours.

But no machinery in the world is more powerful than the human spirit. And you have that.

***
www.habitstrong.com

During my MBA, companies coming to Wharton for recruiting would hold networking sessions in the evening.

Students were expected to attend, show interest, and ask 'insightful' questions, such as, 'What is special about your firm's culture?' And to ask such gems, you would have to wait for your turn as a horde of us would be swarming around the recruiters. Ugh...

It was an orchestrated song and dance sequence - we had to pretend to be enthusiastic, and the recruiters had to pretend that they could not see through it. The only real thing, typically, would be the wine and cheese.

And if you did not network, you would not get shortlisted for the interviews, especially in financial services (e.g., investment banking).

Being an introvert, my plight should not be hard to imagine.

I sometimes felt like a serious misfit. And this was before the word misfit was glamorized and became aspirational.

Looking back, I feel relieved that it is over. But I also feel that it is ok if you don't fit in perfectly. The world is big, and there are opportunities for all kinds of people. I believe that if you keep your head down and work hard, you will find your place in the sun.

Maybe it is just rationalization. But, for now, it will do.

Two decades ago, when I was serving as in the police, I saw the current Kerala Chief Minister, Mr. Pinarayi Vijayan, personally lead a protest ‘dharna’ before the Trivandrum Collectorate. At that time, his party was in the opposition.
 
He was sitting on the road, raising slogans. As the day went on, it got excruciatingly hot -- the sun was beating down mercilessly. Yet, he did not budge an inch till 6 pm.
 
And this is not just him -- every grassroots political leader goes through an unbelievable struggle. And even then, fewer than 0.01% probably get to the top.
 
In fact, not just in politics -- this is true for any field. Some of my friends who run massively successful startups (including a mega-unicorn) look very lucky. Yet, I have known them struggling for years, doing things that never took off. 
 
When I was at the University of Pennsylvania, a few of my college contemporaries were assistant professors there -- and despite a top-notch Ph.D., post-doc, and lots of papers, they were on tenterhooks about landing a tenure. 
 
Some people might win a lottery. But those are rare exceptions. 
 
If you see someone who became successful easily, you probably don’t know them well enough. 
 
There is no shortcut.
 
Grind is the way. There is no other.

***
www.habitstrong.com

During my BTech days, when my classmates aiming for a Master’s or PhD in the US were slogging hard, the aimless folks like me were taking it easy.

I remember often pitying those people, and occasionally, even making fun of them.

But very soon, the tables were turned. In the final year, when these folks got their admission letters from US universities, they were all celebrating and chilling out. People like me had nothing to celebrate. At that moment, all their slog appeared totally worthwhile.

Even though I never aimed for higher studies, that was one moment when I did feel a tinge of regret.

Anyway, time flew and soon, it was my turn to slog for my Civil Services exam. At that time, all these guys with admission offers from the US were just hanging out, having fun.

The one lesson I learned is that if you have a dream, you have to pay a price.

You can pay the price now or you can do it later – but you can’t not pay the price. Then why not pay it now?

***
www.habitstrong.com

Yesterday, Nafisa Turabi messaged me, asking me to write about the Kolkata rape case. \n\nI honestly don't know where to start. But let me talk about one evening in 1991, when our hostel in IIT Kanpur was celebrating Hall Day.\n\nA bunch of us were walking towards Hall 3 with a few girls in our group. And some 2nd-year students started making aggressive lewd remarks (I even remember the name of the gang leader). \n\nAshamed and shocked, I did not know what to do -- we all pretended like nothing happened. Our silence enabled this behavior, while those guys tried to look macho. \n\nThat is how we build impunity. That is how it becomes okay to misbehave with women. That is how we embolden molestation and rape.\n\nIn any society there will be criminals and perverts. But that is NOT the point. The real point is -- what about the rest of us? Are we enabling that depravity, even if unintentionally, by tolerating and even justifying bad behavior (e.g., “boys will be boys“)?\n\nAnd many people will hate me for saying this -- are we not enabling it when our outrage is affected by the politics/religion of the victim or the perpetrator? When rape/molestation happens or is alleged, do we condemn it universally, or do 'terms and conditions' apply? \n\nWe can do all the whatabouttery we like, but when we kept quiet or chose sides, we enabled these crimes. \n\nWe can't have selective justice. Justice flows from the laws and the Constitution. But it also flows from you and me -- the way we behave day-to-day. \n\nNext, talking about the government and the police: I have only one thing to say -- your job is to do justice, not to manage the 'image' or do politics. Act swiftly, boldly, and ruthlessly (as per law) -- no matter who is involved. \n\nIf you want to really fix this problem, the Police, like the judiciary, has to be independent (at least for crime investigation). But who wants that?\n\nAs regards our criminal justice system, and how broken it is, I will have to probably talk for hours -- this post won't be enough. Maybe, I will share some thoughts on YouTube. \n\nWe are all outraged but if it does not deliver an impetus to real change, we will keep crying hoarse periodically. And nothing will change. \n\nAsk for justice, ask for change -- not just in this one case, but for all women.

Whenever I go running in the morning, I face two choices - run on the road OR in a stadium.

With Trivandrum’s undulating terrain, road running can be hard - the uphill stretches make you feel like your lungs are being torn apart. On the other hand, in the stadium, not only is the terrain flat, it is nicely rubberized.

Naturally, I always go for the easier option - I run on the road.

But why would road-running be easier? In the stadium, I need to do 25 laps to finish my 10 km. Every lap is a decision, and decision means agony. Your mind, replaying the agony of previous laps like a horror movie in a loop, keeps asking, 'How many laps left? When will this get done?'

On the other hand, on the road, you are running just one big lap, with the scenery constantly changing. There is no horror movie replaying in your head. You take just one decision to start running.

That is why road running is so easy, despite being objectively harder.

This is also a metaphor for life. When facing hardships in life, the physical pain of doing difficult things rarely defeats us. Almost always, what defeats us is our mind.

That is why changing our life has to always start with hardening our mind. Sometimes, the hard way is the only way.

***
www.habitstrong.com/reboot

Very early in my career, I developed severe back pain due to long hours of sitting. I knew that I should have gone for evening runs or sports, but I stayed late in the office to show that I was a sincere worker.

But one of my bosses would regularly go for his tennis games, at least a few days a week. And even today, after his retirement, he is very fit and lean.

In the end, it made no difference that I stayed late in office -- nobody cared, and even if anyone did, their opinion did not matter.

But the health issues I suffered have stayed on. For a decade, I struggled with severe back pain and injury. And even though I later rebuilt my fitness, some of the damage was irreversible.

Even today, I have to be careful with my back and sometimes, the pain recurs.

My biggest life mistake was ignoring my fitness for a decade. And my smartest move was rebuilding it when I was in the dumps.

I don't know what your job is like and what your lifestyle is. But I hope you will choose wisely and not repeat my mistake.

A decade later, nobody will remember how late you sat in office. But I promise you -- your body will not forget. Ever.

***
At HabitStrong, I run programs to break digital addictions, inculcate focus, overcome anxiety, and more: www.habitstrong.com

Today was a lucky day.

While walking my dog (Simba) in Trivandrum's Cantonment area, I heard a loud crash behind me. Not thinking much of it, I kept going.

But when I got into the car and started driving back, I noticed that a tree had fallen over the sidewalk, due to the overnight rains. I missed the tree probably by a minute.

Some days, you get lucky.

We keep planning our lives decades ahead. But we don't know where the next tree will fall.

Life is fragile. Cherish it.

During a leadership training at McKinsey in Chicago, we were split into teams and given a task: From cardboard kits for building toy planes, we had to build the most number of planes in a given time.

We thought it was a fun team-building exercise.

The plane assembly had multiple steps, e.g., folding, cutting, and gluing the pieces. But we weren't sure if each person should do one task (assembly-line style) or assemble a full plane.

To avoid wasting time, we just started building the planes haphazardly without any process or planning, and it became a mess.

We lost.

It turned out that the assembly-line technique, as well as each person doing a full plane, were equally efficient. The key thing was to have a process -- any process.

But instead of taking a few minutes to decide the process, to save time, we jumped right in.

And that hurry killed our chances.

Unfortunately, I had forgotten a lesson I had learned in the police: Always take the time to aim before you shoot.

In life, whenever you feel the panic, don't jump in. There is ALWAYS time to think and plan, remove any bottlenecks, and sharpen your knife.

Nothing wastes more time than random activity.

I have had three pretty different careers, but every single time I realised one thing -- there is no free lunch.

In my first job with the civil services, everything was secure and predictable.

The government gave me all the resources, legal authority, firepower, and manpower I needed. Never did I have to worry about where the next month's salaries would come from -- it was the headache of the government treasury.

But it all came at a cost -- on my own, shorn of my position, I was practically a zero. I was merely reflecting the authority vested in the government.

In my second career (as a consultant and later as an investor), that total security and predictability was gone. But still, my brand was my employer's brand. And I survived on their financial resources.

The upside went up, but so did the downside.

Now, in my third career as an entrepreneur, I can do anything I want, but nothing is given on a platter.

If I need to pay salaries, I need to go find the money. If I need a brand, I need to go build it. The freedom is unlimited, but so is the burden.

You can seek whatever you want. But you have to pay the price.

In the end, it is all fair. No?

***
At HabitStrong, I run programs to break digital addictions, inculcate focus, overcome anxiety, and more: www.habitstrong.com

The employee who responds to every Slack message in 200 milliseconds is not your most productive one.

Instead, your star employee is the one who often goes off the grid for a few hours to focus on a high priority task. But this employee will not come to exist until we create the safe space for focus, eliminate the face-time culture, and measure outcomes (not time spent at the desk).

Staying active, and more importantly, appearing active, is very comforting. Alas, it is just a placebo.

Enough of placebos -- how long will we keep doing this nonsense?

Let us stop pretending, and start working.

***
I run HabitStrong (www.habitstrong.com), which offers programs for inculcating focus, productivity, and well-being.

If you want to rapidly rise up the leadership ladder, these are the things to do:

1. Don’t wait for people to tell you what to do. Identify problems or areas where can you contribute and then offer specific help. Take responsibility, even if small ones – and deliver.

2. When you flag a problem, if possible, also suggest alternative solutions. This is an extremely underrated trait.

3. If you or your team makes a mistake, take responsibility even for the team (if it makes sense).

Once a senior guy in my previous company told me, “It was not my fault, I did my part.” That was the moment I lost all respect for him -- because he was responsible for everything.

Oh, and by the way, if you are the CEO, it is all your fault -- no exceptions.

4. Don’t badmouth people behind their backs. And if others do that, step out of that conversation – signal that you are above pettiness.

5. Even if someone from another team is facing a problem, see if you can help. Don't say, 'That is not my problem.'

6. Finally, whenever possible, make sure that the buck stops with you.

Caveat: Do all of the above only within the limits of reason. I am not suggesting that you take up the world’s responsibility and drown in it.

When we join as a fresher, we are told what to do. But sometimes, that becomes our permanent mindset -- don't let it happen.

The day you start taking responsibility is the day you start growing.

***
In my fortnightly newsletter, I share ideas and action steps for building a good life. Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/gVfBTQsH

www.habitstrong.com

Procrastination is NOT laziness. And unless we understand this, we can't fix our procrastination problem.

We procrastinate when we don't know how to handle the negative emotions generated by a task (e.g., anxiety). We then avoid working on a task even when we know that doing so is harmful.

And do you know one of the top three reasons for anxiety?

Perfectionism. It is the belief that one can't afford to make any mistake.

Perfectionists are so scared of failure that they altogether avoid the task. What better way to make sure that you don't make any mistakes? One very common behavior is to distract yourself (e.g., check your phone). Unfortunately, after the momentary relief, you are back to square one.

Now, the pending task creates even more anxiety and soon, it feels like a trap.

Perfectionists also overthink and take excessive precautions. You may have seen people who keep tweaking emails or documents again and again, before sending them out. This is the perfect recipe for anxiety. And when anxious, you procrastinate even more.

So how can we solve this problem?

I don't want to give you generic solutions you will find on the internet. Instead, let me give you one specific action plan based on cognitive behavior therapy.

1. Identify how exactly you procrastinate. E.g., do you check your phone? Do you keep tweaking your work? Do you find other tasks to work on which feel lower risk?

2. The behavior you identified above are anxious behaviors. For each of them, identify a non-anxious alternative.

E.g., if your anxious behavior is to edit your documents or email again and again, the non-anxious alternative behavior would be to edit it once, and then do a final proofread.

3. Try the non-anxious alternative behavior identified above as an experiment. If this itself makes you anxious, think about the worst-case scenario and how you would cope with it. E.g., if the document you send out has a mistake, how will you handle it? Would a simple apology suffice?

Once you do this a few times, your anxiety and the resulting procrastination will decline.

Perfectionism is like carrying a heavy bag because we are afraid of putting it down. Please put it down -- nothing will happen.

***
I am soon launching a program on anxiety -- announcement coming soon.

In my fortnightly newsletter, I share ideas and action steps for building a good life. Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/gVfBTQsH

www.habitstrong.com

During my middle school in a small town in Assam, we had a very strict English teacher (Goswami Sir). Kids who couldn't answer his grammar questions got caned -- never a word of encouragement.

I am pretty sure that in their mind, our teachers rank-ordered us as -- ‘intelligent’, ‘moderately ok’, or ‘dumb’. And then, the kids rated ‘dumb’ rarely got encouragement -- only the stick. Fortunately, since I was good with my studies, I didn’t really mind it that much.

But looking back, I can see the damage we caused. By labeling people as ‘dumb’, we make kids believe that their ability and talent were determined at birth and they couldn’t do much about it.

This mindset fuels the belief that we don’t have much control over what happens in our life, which psychologist Martin Seligman calls ‘learned helplessness.’ You learn that you can’t change your situation in life.

‘Learned helplessness’ promotes pessimism and even increases the odds of the person suffering from depression in the future.

Be it in school or in the corporate world, by denying help and encouragement to people we label as ‘dumb’, we make them fail, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. This confirms our bias and we repeat this mistake with even more confidence.

Time to stop this. No?

***
www.habitstrong.com

During the first year of my MBA, as I sat down for the end-semester exam of the Operations Management course, a classmate next to me noisily opened a packet of potato chips.

As he started munching, its crackling and rustling sound irritated the hell out of me. How would I focus on the exam paper with this racket going on?

Soon, we got the exam paper. The first question was not easy but doable. So I dove in and managed to nail it. Then I attacked the next question, and so on.

Finally, when the paper got over, I took a deep breath and it almost felt like I was coming out of a bubble. I could now sense my breathing and realized that 2 hrs were nearly over. I had totally forgotten about my classmate, now sitting with an empty packet of potato chips.

It was an oddly satisfying experience to be so absorbed in an activity as to lose all sense of distractions and even the passage of time -- this is what psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi called ‘Flow.’

To be happy, we don’t need absurd amounts of money -- just create these flow experiences every day by working with intense focus, on activities you find meaningful.

***
On Sat, Apr 17, we are conducting a free ‘Flow and Deep Work’ session. To sign up, visit HabitStrong’s website, click ‘Free Programs’.

www.habitstrong.com

When we are swamped by the daily hype of startups, valuations, Series A/B/C/D... funding rounds, and exits, it is quite easy to fall prey to the idea that '9-5 jobs' suck.

Sometimes, I read things like 'Build your own dreams, or someone will hire you to build theirs', or some deep wisdom like that.

This is complete nonsense.

Most jobs suck not because they are 'jobs'; they suck because you are working with people you hate. Of course, some jobs are plain bad - because it takes all kinds of jobs to keep the world moving.

Secondly, there is this other nutty idea that by working for a company owned by someone else, you demean yourself. How so?

By that logic, working for Google is terrible because you build a great product (e.g., Gmail) and someone else gets rich. True. But what if the product bombs? You don't lose millions - you can just say 'sorry, bad luck', and move on.

Life is a risk-reward mixture.

If you are in a job, you are doing just great - please don't believe that you are a victim. Else you will spend all your life believing in unicorns and fairies, and nobody has seen them except in the world of make-believe and storybooks.

***
habitstrong.com

Two weeks ago, our dog (Simba) was very unwell and we took him to a government veterinary hospital in Trivandrum.

The senior-most veterinary surgeon promptly came but instead of starting treatment, he was hovering around like a manager.

So to give an IV drip, the junior vet tried injecting a needle multiple times but botched it up. Yet, the senior vet just watched mutely.

Finally, after many attempts, the junior vet somehow started the IV drip but soon, the needle came out of the vein. At this point at least, the senior vet should have picked up the needle and shown why he was the boss.

Instead, he just told us that Simba had gotten enough fluid and no more IV drip was necessary. He was heading a multi-specialty veterinary hospital and did not know how to give an IV! Talk about irony.

How do people remain so incompetent despite reaching the top?

It is the curse of seniority. Once you become senior, you sometimes lose touch with basics. But you hide your incompetence and avoid learning. And the more you avoid learning, the more incompetent you become. It becomes a vicious loop.

Here is a simpler approach -- as we grow senior, let us be shameless, ask questions, and relearn the basics again and again.

There is no shame in ignorance. The shame is only in perpetuating it.

***
At HabitStrong, I run programs to break digital addictions, inculcate focus, overcome anxiety, and more: www.habitstrong.com

Recently, 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 unwittingly destroying promising startups – here is how.

Take the case of an entrepreneur who has a promising product but hasn’t figured out a way to generate profits. Being ambitious and impatient, he wants to grow quickly, for which, he needs a lot of money.

So he approaches VCs and lures them, promising the moon. The VCs smell a 10x (or 100x) return on investment and jump in.

And this is when disaster strikes.

What should the entrepreneur be ideally doing if his business model is not profitable? He should put the VC money in a bank fixed deposit, and first fine-tune the product to fix its profitability.

Then, and only then, should he start spending on growth. But that’s not how it works.

Once the VC investment comes in, the clock is ticking – the entrepreneur has to deliver massive growth to get to the next round of funding at a 3 to 5 times higher valuation.

So he hires recklessly, does random acquisitions, and blows up money on advertising, celebrities, IPL, and so on -- anything to show 'growth' and get more investment.

And this circus continues until one day, he runs out of investors. Then, everyone starts talking about profitability. Sounds familiar?

Think about it: If your family business had a revenue of Rs 1 crore and a loss of Rs 5 crore, what would you do?

Shut it down or fix it. But the VC-funded entrepreneur does the exact opposite – he grows the losses from Rs 5 crore to Rs 20 or 30 crores to impress investors.

This perversion of incentives is what is driving this craziness in our startup world. And I am not sure how to fix it.

***
PS: I am not attacking VCs or entrepreneurs but the current system is broken. We can't unsee what is before our eyes.

www.habitstrong.com

In 2002, six lakh Kerala government employees went on a strike for 32 days. I was then heading Trivandrum City Police and saw first-hand how the government came to a screeching halt. \n\nYet, if some file had to be moved, it happened lightning fast because it would go straight to the decision-maker. Else, it would go through 4 layers of gatekeepers (clerks, senior clerks, very senior clerks etc.) and take forever.\n\nOur government is full of people who are paid to create friction - no exaggeration. \n\nBut why is it relevant today? \n\nDue to the lockdown, almost all state governments are on the verge of economic collapse - some states have lost 50-75% of their revenue. Kerala government did not have money to pay salaries last month.\n\nBut where does the government money go? A big chunk goes as salaries.\n\nIf you cut down 50% staff in most departments, the efficiency will go up by 100% (or more). Most of us have no idea what a money-sucking black hole our governments are. \n\nWe don't have money for migrant laborers and their children. But we have money for all these white elephants, wasteful schemes, and self-glorification in the name of nationalism.\n\nElections alone don't make a democracy, accountability does. Our road to real democracy, like the road of migrant laborers, is very long.

I was once talking to a UX designer in Bangalore, who was supposed to be quite good at her craft. And she explained to me some nuances of UX design quite well.

But when our discussion shifted to other social issues, she seemed quite lost. At one point, she decried why government ministers can’t fix all our social problems.

When I explained that these problems are complicated, and many require changes in legal frameworks, she said, “Why can’t the ministers issue the new laws?”

When I explained that it is the legislature that makes laws, and not ministers, she did not see much of a difference. At that point, our discussion was sort of over.

And it was not really her fault. The world is complicated and our understanding is often like that of the parable of 'the blind men and the elephant.' We understand some slices of the world really well but are quite oblivious to others.

This shows two different approaches to building a successful career.

The first one is going really deep in a narrow technical area – e.g., UX design, derivatives trading, etc.

But there is another approach – understanding the world widely, cutting across its disparate slices.

A good CEO of a large corporation can’t just make do by understanding the technical aspects of their business – they need to understand business strategy, people, finance, legal frameworks, organizational design patterns, and many other unrelated things.

As you look to build your career, there is no one right answer – choose what suits your personality and preferences.

But be aware that the ability to cut across knowledge domains and connect the dots will remain incredibly valuable, even for specialists.

And in the age of AI, that will be ONE skill almost impossible to automate.

***
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Influencers sharing photos of their dream life on beautiful beaches, sipping cocktails, and working 3-4 hours a day -- is a scam.

They have only one goal: to make you feel unhappy and inadequate about your 'boring day job,' so they can sell you a pipe dream, and possibly some online product.

Instead of working 3-4 hours, the influencers are actually tearing their hair out 16 hours a day, trying to figure out how to maintain the facade of a dream life on Instagram or LinkedIn. This game gets harder and harder, and sometimes, these influencers do dangerous stunts and even get killed.

In their heart of hearts, most influencers probably envy the doctors and consultants they deride for their stability and predictability.

But even if you want to trade your day job for that life on the edge, remember that an influencer grabbing hundreds of thousands of followers is like winning a lottery.

The reason one lottery winner earns a million dollars is that a million lottery ticket buyers lose one dollar each. There can be only so many lottery winners and influencers.

99.999% of people who take online courses to become influencers can't become one -- it is simple math.

Some of us may not like our jobs or the lack of freedom. But the answer lies not in buying lottery tickets, but in building skills that can we can trade for better flexibility and salary.

As entrepreneurs, our obligation is to make people better, happier, and more fulfilled.

Let us not be Pied Pipers of Hamelin, leading unsuspecting people to their ruin. Unfortunately, that is what much of influencer culture has become.

***
I run HabitStrong, which offers programs for calm productivity, digital de-addiction, and building focus: www.habitstrong.com

One of the consultants at McKinsey I worked with, is today leading McKinsey's digital initiatives. You might say -- naturally, an engineer can't help being an engineer!

But this person was NOT an engineer. He was a hardcore Pharma and Lifesciences specialist. When I worked with him (15 years ago), he had nothing to do with technology - except that, like us, he would use a laptop and email :)

Yet, over the years, he would have mastered the subject enough to guide the world's biggest corporations in adopting digital technology. And all these corporations would have large tech teams of their own!

Even if you are skeptical about the role of consulting firms in technology, it is incredible that one can make such a 180-degree switch so late in their career.

This guy was a wonderful human being and a very successful consultant. He could have kept doing what he was doing. But he must have seen an opportunity to do something more remarkable.

Life is changing faster than ever and it will keep throwing never-ending opportunities at us. But we have to get up and grab.

You can't just learn one thing and milk it all your life -- if you want to thrive, you will have to keep reinventing yourself.

Reinvent or stagnate -- that might be the only real choice before us.

***
I run HabitStrong, a startup that helps you break digital addictions, build focus, overcome anxiety, and more: www.habitstrong.com

When I was working as a consultant with McKinsey, I wanted to become an investor. And I was convinced that investing would be a cakewalk. After all, we were trained in problem-solving and logical thinking. 
 
What else would you need?
 
I then joined a private equity investment firm, where we had all the resources one could imagine. The PE/VC funds got the pick of top-quality talent. We had top financial services and law firms assisting us with due diligence. We had access to top sector experts for advice. 
 
Despite that, it was very hard to make good returns. What earlier seemed a cakewalk now appeared to be really hard. 
 
Why did I then feel so confident earlier? Because I knew very little about investing. 
 
In fact, there is a name for this phenomenon. It is called Dunning-Kruger Effect: “The less you know, the more confident you are. The more you know, the less confident you are.” 
 
But there is a serious upside to this ignorance. In fact, almost every entrepreneur I know has struggled way more than they expected. And had they known how painful it would be, many would have probably not even started. 
 
So is ignorance bliss? 
 
Not really, but often, it is unavoidable to start with. As we learn more, we realize how little we know and our confidence dips. But at some point, we learn enough to become confident again. 
 
This confidence, on the other side of ignorance, is what we are all seeking.

***
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Which is the best running shoe in the world?

Who cares? You just need a good enough pair. Because the shoes won't run, you will.

And I am not being snarky here.

When we have to do something hard, we start looking for the 'best' tools -- the best shoes, the best bike, the best swimming gear, the best online course, whatever...

And we feel good about researching -- we think we are making progress even though we haven't moved an inch.

Buying stuff is not progress. Researching online is not progress. Discussing with friends is not progress.

Only one thing is progress -- doing.

Everything else, that merely comforts you, is a distraction. Kill it.

***
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During my stint as an investor, once the CFO of an Indian conglomerate came to our office with his team. They were looking for funding since their businesses were not doing very well.
 
During the discussion, just to see how clear their thinking was, I asked the CFO, “What is your cost of equity?”
 
He said, “25%.” 
 
When I asked him to explain, he said, “We pay 25% dividend.” 
 
While it was shocking to see a CFO being so uninformed, I could empathize that the terms like ‘cost of equity’ or ‘cost of capital’ are not very intuitive.  
 
In fact, when I first heard these terms during my MBA, it all sounded very technical – I knew how to derive them using CAPM but did not really understand what they meant. 
 
Those days, if you had asked me whether the cost of capital was the same for an American vs. a North Korean investor, I would have run away.
 
But much later, it struck me that when we say ‘cost’, we mean ‘opportunity cost.’ As simple as it was, that aha moment clarified everything. 
 
‘Cost of equity’ of a company ‘A’ is what the investor would have earned by investing in another similar company. But by investing in ‘A’, he is giving up that alternative return – hence, that is the opportunity cost. 
 
So a North Korean who can’t put his money to good use, has a very lost cost of capital – whatever he can earn locally. But if he can smuggle his money out and invest on the Shanghai stock exchange, his opportunity cost goes up! His cost of capital has now changed.
 
True understanding = Intuition.

Jargon is best used to confuse others (and oneself).

***
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One of the most terrifying things for a human is to stand alone in a crowd. And one person who displayed this unusual courage was my first boss in the Indian Police Service – Vinod Thomas.

Among the thousands of police officers in Kerala, he was probably the only one to say:
1. You can’t beat up an accused to solve a crime case.
2. You can’t detain people illegally.
3. You can’t refuse to register an FIR when merited.

And even for doing something so simple, there wasn’t one person to support him – he stood all alone.

In fact, after he was transferred out, during a crime review, I heard a very senior officer grumble, “Why are so many FIRs unnecessarily registered for these minor offences?”

The majority rarely wants to rock the boat. If you want to bring change, you need to be willing to be a minority of one – you have to stand alone.

***
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The best book has not been written. The best ad campaign has not been created. The best painting has not been painted.

But who will write the next big book? Or create the next big whatever?

The book that beats Harry Potter will probably not be a book about a magic school, nor will its lead character be ‘Larry Potter.’ It will be something we can’t anticipate.

The one who will move away from the ‘success formula’ is the one who will give us that breakthrough. 

Formulas are based on what worked yesterday. But tomorrow will not be yesterday’s clone.

However, when you move away from a success formula, by definition, you are doing untested things. You risk failure.

Whether you are a youngster building a career, or a company building a product, the more you go off the beaten path, the more you may have to muddle through failures.

Struggle is part of the journey. Just find the energy to pivot and persevere.

I don’t intend to glorify failure -- it is ugly, and painful.

There is no glory in failure but unfortunately, there is also no glory without risking it.

Nothing in this world comes free. The risk of failure is the price of breakout success.

***
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When I hear people talking about 'what a great leader should be like', I am reminded of a class we had during my Civil Services Foundation Course training at Mussoorie. A senior IAS officer was taking the class.

The topic of discussion was 'Officer Like Qualities' (or OLQ, in short). The Civil Services, and I believe even the army, have a minor obsession with OLQs.

The instructor asked us to name a few OLQs. People started adding all the good qualities any homo sapiens member can have. Soon the list crossed 25 items, and was growing.

At that point, one officer trainee raised his hand and said: “Sir, these are more God Like Qualities, than OLQs.“ Even the instructor started laughing.

Similarly, when we talk about leadership qualities, we think of an idealized, mythical guy. And when we compare ourselves against that ideal, we see ourselves falling short. I most certainly do.

Real leaders, even very successful ones, often conform to no such standards. They are, sadly, highly imperfect - not unlike you and me.

I believe the only essential leadership qualities are integrity, problem-solving skills, and ideally, a bit of daring (vision?). Even this, I believe, is quite a high bar.

***
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