Seek first to understand A 22-yr old wrote to me last week: I'm feeling overwhelmed by anxiety and self-doubt.My father's taunts and discouragement have hindered my pursuit of an MBA. I resent them so much. I just don't want any relationship with them. No matter how much I look toward the positive side of this, I just can't. They don't provide anything now; neither financial support nor emotional support. I'm grateful to them for giving me an education, a roof over my head, and food to eat....
9 days ago • 4 min read
My 2024 across the 5 things that matter 1/ Health - Hit my fittest self ever, as a 10-yr celebration of my first 6-pack abs in 2014. - Everyday routine is now 2 meals a day, 18-hr fast, 120gm+ of protein, 45 mins lifting weights, 60 mins tennis. 2/ Wealth - Investment corpus rose by an incredible 48% (not sustainable) - Current portfolio is Indian PMS: 47% (Momentum + Smallcap) Startups: 29% (Equity fund + Debt fund) Indian Stocks + MF: 11% (Large cap + Flexicap) Crypto: 7% (BTC, ETH, SOL) US...
15 days ago • 3 min read
My top reads of 2024 I read 31 books this year and here are the best of them, according to my taste. (in no order) The Greatest Minds and Ideas of All Time because it is such a great summary of precisely what the book claims :) The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read because it is such a good guide on how parents shape up their kids. What I learnt about investing from Darwin because I found it fascinating how much one can learn about investing from the Darwinian theory of evolution. Bad...
22 days ago • 2 min read
The 3 people we need in our lives There are 3 kinds of people we need in our lives: Those who tell us what we should be doing. Those who tell us how to do it. Those who tell us how well we are doing. We often usually end up designing a world where all three are the same person. Our parents. Our friends. Our bosses. Our own selves. That is sub-optimal, in my opinion. The first person should be you. No one else knows better than you about what you should be doing. The second person should be...
30 days ago • 2 min read
First-time parents I got an email yesterday “What advice do you have for a first-time parent?” Here are my thoughts: 1/Kids are born with no other fear except that of falling.Every other fear - they learn while living. As parents, we are largely guilty of instilling those fears in them. 2/They are born with the ability to immerse themselves. In play. And focus is a superpower today! As parents, we disturb this immersion by asking them to come and eat, go and poop, go for a bath, study, go for...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Why do you want to prolong this pain? I got an email yesterday: Arranged marriage in 2023. Everything happened quickly. Ignored a few red flags, thinking that things would be fine after marriage. Soon after the marriage, every day was a living hell. No respect. Asked to transfer full salary to mother-in-law. Now, getting divorced. I am just not able to deal with this divorce. Wherever I am, my mind keeps going back to him. My mind always keeps thinking about what he must be doing. I asked...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Parents are humans first 5 ways where parents go wrong: 1/ Comparison:We’re compared to others with the hope that it elevates our game. But this constant comparison makes us believe nothing will be enough. Because there will always be someone to compare ourselves with! 2/ Killing curiosity:As kids, all we did was ask questions. Before we were told not to. So we led ourselves to believe that asking questions means we don’t understand. It means we’re dumb. So we don’t ask. We memorize answers...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Life is a jigsaw puzzle I received an email yesterday:Had trouble sleeping. Couldn't shut down the brain. Tried acknowledging her emotions, and speaking to her family, yet couldn't seem to figure out what was keeping her up. I asked her what usually occupies her mind. Job search, loan, shaadi-related talks, where to settle conversation - move back to India or stay in the States a little longer. It’s hard to pick priorities in life because we have limited time like personal health, career;...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Stop lying to yourself I received an email this morning. 8 years of work experience. Has 2 job offers.Confused which one to choose. In his words, both offers are the same.Same CTC.Same brand value.Same stability.Same location. Here is what I replied:If both are the same, then you would have just tossed a coin, no? Clearly, both are not the same. #1 Stop lying to yourself.It is the biggest reason why we make terrible decisions.We are dishonest with our own selves. #2 Answer honestly, which...
2 months ago • 2 min read