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Every week, I answer 3 questions that you have asked me. This week I received 380+ questions so I am sorry in advance if your question wasn't answered.
To ask your question simply reply to this email and I will pick 3 questions every week.

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Question from Chirag
What to do if you come to know that you have wasted precious time (like a month or a year of your life)?

Let's say I gave you Rs. 100 today.
Unfortunately, you lost Rs. 5 from that.
You would spend some time and energy looking for it, right?
We all would.

But, would you spend your entire time and the remaining Rs. 95 looking for Rs. 5?
No - none of us would be that stupid.

So, why do we do the same thing in real life?
In a life of 80+ years, we WILL lose time doing something that did not work out.
Maybe a month, maybe a year, or maybe even a few years.
But, in the larger scheme of things, that's the equivalent of the Rs. 5 you lost.
We think it's the end of the world because we look at the time we have wasted.
Instead, look at the time left.
I assure you, you have a lot more time than the time you have wasted.

If you spend every day regretting the time you have wasted - guess what?
You can not change the past. You are regretting the present. And you are wasting the future.

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Here is an uncomfortable thought:
The reason you regret the time wasted is because you are scared to face the challenge again.
This is just an excuse in your head to not fail again, to not waste again, to not suffer again.
You are not regretting the time wasted.
You are just scared!

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Question from Shruti
You have seen multiple ups and downs in your life and career till this point. How do you keep yourself motivated and push through all the negatives that encompass your situation in such times? Are there any tools you use?

My first response?
I didn't have a choice.

What choice do we have?
Choice 1: Cry/act as a victim/blame circumstances.
Choice 2: Get up and change something about where you are.

I'd choose Choice 2 any day of my life.
That doesn't mean I do it on day 1 itself.

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The process I follow:
1. Feel all the emotions I am feeling. I will cry, feel sad, reflect, be in pain - all of that.
2. At some point, I would have processed the grief. Then I will ask myself: what is the smallest possible thing I can do to change my current situation? The smallest possible thing.
For example: If I failed an interview, what's the smallest possible thing I can do to get me out of my situation?
I'd say - go back to my resume and relook to fix something.
It will not get me a job. But it will break the circumstance I am in.
3. Do the same exercise every day.
You will be surprised at how far just this small exercise will take you.

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Question from Amit
How do you manage to read a book a week and retain what you read?

I often say this:
​Do not try to complete books. Try to read them. ​
​(tweet this)​

I just read books. Every day for 30+ mins.
I don't care if I am finishing them or leaving them midway - I read them as long as they are interesting.

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Here is my process:
1. I read all my books on a Kindle first.
2. While reading, I highlight actively - sometimes entire pages :)
3. Once I am done with the book (whether I finish it or not) - I export the highlights into a PDF (Kindle allows that) and email it to myself.
4. Then, I sit with the PDF, go through the highlights and reflect upon it. Asking myself one simple question - what's something new that I can do, that this book has taught me?
5. I try and do that and be conscious of it.

That's it.
We won't remember what we read.
We will remember what we did.
So do what you read :)

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📕 Book I'm reading this week

Finished reading The Greatest Minds and Ideas of All Time by Will Durant.
Really nice book - highly recommended.

Started reading Stop Walking on Eggshells: Taking Your Life Back When Someone You Care About Has Borderline Personality Disorder. This was a book recommended by a friend who is going through the experience of a family member suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and was struggling to cope with it. I love reading about the human mind, so I am using this book to make myself aware of something that (thankfully) I do not have to deal with, but would love to know more about.

The book is rated very highly and is considered a masterpiece of sorts. For those who may have someone close suffering from BPD, this book could be a saviour. As it was for my friend.

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Results of last week's survey

How do you feel about India as a country, for the next 30 years?

1. Very positive
2. Somewhat positive
3. Neutral - neither positive nor negative
4. Somewhat negative
5. Very negative

Here are the results:

1. Not surprisingly, all age bands are quite positive about India's future.
2. What is interesting though, is that with age, the likelihood of positivity increases.
3. This happens at the expense of "somewhat positive". Which means people are more conclusive in their outlook as they age.
4. The share of somewhat negative and very negative also reduces with age.

My response:​
I am very positive about India in the next 30 years. I believe we have entered the golden period for the country for the next 20-40 years, where the working population will create unprecedented wealth for itself and for the economy.

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Quotes to share

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The entitled do not drive the collective forward. It is the 1% who are not, that do!

🐥 Share on Twitter

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If all leaders in the company engage in politics, then it is not politics. It is the culture.

🐥 Share on Twitter

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Once you start taking your life seriously, you start losing your friends.

🐥 Share on Twitter

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📸 My week, in pictures

In this section, I share my week in pictures, for those who do not like to read as much as I write :))
I do so not to show how cool a life I live, but instead to show you what are the highlights of every day. As you will see over time, my days are mostly in repeat mode - the same things, but different experiences from them.

At our offsite, we gifted everyone in the team wariCrew merchandise. This was my favourite of them all - luggage tags :)

On Friday, I went to the book launch event of Big Bull of Dalal Street: How Rakesh Jhunjhunwala Made His Fortune. Aditya Kondawar, along with Neil and Aparajita, has written a lovely book on the life and works of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala.

Vidur made this lovely badge for Father's Day that I wore all week :)))

Sunday, 25th June, was the 14th anniversary of StudyTimes.com - a startup I launched with 2 other folks in 2009. It doesn't exist anymore, but it's funny how I have come full circle to start another education startup. Let's see how this one goes!

Came across this pic from 2002 - my roommate in the US at that time clicked this while I was coming out of the toilet, haha.
No epic shit here!

Ruchi is learning pottery. This is her work after just 2 months of training.
#AlwaysAStudent.

And here I am on a Wednesday in Bangalore - writing this newsletter from a hotel lobby, as I get ready to step onto stage in an hour. Here for a talk for HP Finance Day 2023 - some 750+ people in the audience wow!

That's it for the week in pictures. Have a lovely weekend and week ahead, all of you lovelies :)))

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Question of the week​
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How did you buy your current phone?

1. Zero-cost EMI
2. Personal Loan or Interest-EMI
3. 100% through own money
4. Got it for free or as gift

Answer here

(and see the results of others, too)

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🎙️ Podcast I shared last week

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🚀 Content I shared this week

📹 YouTube:​

​15 stages of success​

📱 Instagram:​

​3 non-obvious signs of high emotional intelligence​

🐥 Twitter:

​The ONLY 20 books you will EVER NEED to read, to get a thorough understanding of the world.​

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You can, of course, always write to me by simply replying to this newsletter.

I love reading all your emails, even though I may not be able to reply to them all.
Yes! I READ ALL MY EMAILS. ALL OF THEM.​
​(Bangalore ke awesome mausam ki kasam)

You can view all previous newsletters here.

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