I was watching kids interact with their parents at a play zone recently. If their basic needs [not hurt or hungry] were met, I realised that two words summed up most of what they asked for: attention and appreciation. Just as I was about to file that away as a reflection on kids, it got…

There is a lot of power in the idea that we should replace: Eating until we are full with eating until we are no longer hungry. There is an analogous idea with speech too: Don’t speak until you have nothing left to say, instead, speak until you have said just enough. Note to self. 🙂

  Clay Christensen wrote a powerful note on extenuating circumstances in his book “How Will You Measure Your Life?” – “Resisting the temptation whose logic was “In this extenuating circumstance, just this once, it’s OK” has proven to be one of the most important decisions of my life. Why? My life has been one unending…

Doing well in school required us to get good at studying. To study, per the dictionary, is to devote time and attention to acquiring knowledge on (an academic subject), especially by means of books.  Studying, however, is different from learning. To learn is to gain or acquire knowledge of or skill in something by study, experience,…

You are more powerful than you think Pick yourself Entrepreneurs are made, not born Leaders are made, not born Leveling up is a choice They say you can’t, we know you can Dance with fear See, assert, change Overwhelmed is temporary Disrupt yourself, don’t wait to be disrupted Do work that matters, not popular Hard…

Asking this question is a terrible place to start. I don’t know of many great ideas where the first question the creator asked was, “How can I make money from this idea?” You have to care about the idea and understand the problem you are setting out to solve first. Not in a naive, if…

We all love problem solvers. We might not all be aware of it, but we do. People who solve problems make lives better. No matter what job you are in, where you live, who you are partner is, how many friends you have, you will be judged on your ability to solve problems. Because problems…

Too often, we focus conversations about learning plans around getting a degree. There is an implicit assumption in these conversations that getting a degree and getting an education go together. But, that need not be the case. You can get a degree without getting an education, there are plenty of people who do. And, conversely,…

Zoom buttons on digital devices let us examine images from many viewpoints. While you zoom in to identify objects and understand them, you zoom out [or look away from the camera lens] to put them in perspective with other objects. In most cases, you only click the photo after you zoom in and out. Solving…

Trust is often the core of any relationship, personal or professional, and the only way to establish trust is to be consistent between what you say and what you do. One of the most simple and best definitions of trust that I have heard is: Trust equals consistency over time. There is no shortcut for…

The past few weeks I made a couple of business mistakes, and I learned a huge deal from them. I have renewed appreciation for small mistakes that cost us some reasonable amount of pain or money in the short term. While some of these mistakes are indicative of a high volume of experimentation or bias…

Look at your life right now. How much of your life is dreams you have taken for granted? Maybe it is owning that nice car. Maybe making your own money. Or, perhaps, it is being with a partner you fell in love with. It could also be that university education. What about your job? Your…