Rajan Singh's Linkedin Analytics

About 15 years ago, during my investing days, I felt a deep envy for an entrepreneur I had met -- he had built an orthopaedic implants company valued at about Rs 100 crores. He had no IIM, IIT, or MBBS degree. He had never worked at J&J or any global corporation. Yet, he had built a company that most of us with Ivy League credentials couldn't dream of creating. So I told him how much I envied his success. He said, "If you knew what it took to get here, I'm not sure you would envy me at all." Most days, he would be waiting outside doctors' offices -- sometimes for hours -- just for a chance to demonstrate his products. And no matter how successful he became, to the top doctors, he was just another sales rep. He had to flatter and please them, often swallowing his ego and dignity. That left me wondering -- would I ever do any of that? Most certainly not. And sometimes, it's not just the entrepreneur who pays the price. Another medical device company my fund was evaluating got acquired by a US corporation for Rs 400 crores. But behind that success was 30 years of relentless struggle -- by the CEO's mother, who spent her life waiting outside the same doctors' offices. So whenever you feel envy, jealousy, or FOMO seeing someone else's success, remember the struggle and pain those people probably suffered to get there. And if you are chasing big success, be ready to pay an equally big price. Nothing in this world comes free. *** I run HabitStrong, which offers programs for calm productivity, digital de-addiction, and building focus: www.habitstrong.com

During my undergraduate days at IIT Kanpur, the night before the mid-semester exams, we would be immersed in feverish prep. And with only one night left, we had to choose which topics to cover and which ones to leave out. So here is what I did: if any topic looked too complicated, I would tell myself, "This is nearly impossible to understand. How can the instructor ask this in the exam? Just leave it." But sometimes, a friend would say, "Oh, I have covered that topic -- it is not that hard." My competitive instincts would then kick in, and I would force myself to go through it. Almost always, the same topic that had seemed impossible an hour ago would start making perfect sense. In real life, the boundary between "possible" and "impossible" is rarely a hard wall -- instead, it is like a stretchable membrane: the harder you push it, the more it extends. It doesn't mean that everything is possible. But we define that boundary -- the "impossible" line starts when we decide not to push further. *** I run HabitStrong, which offers programs for calm productivity, digital de-addiction, and building focus: www.habitstrong.com

Transiting via Delhi, I am staying at a Kerala Government guest house, virtually next door to Jantar Mantar and Connaught Place. Yet, just 50 meters away, a massive pile of garbage covers the roadside. How is this possible in a neighbourhood of the rich and powerful? Turns out, this stretch of road was permanently blocked by Delhi Police. With no VIPs or media passing through, no one was watching -- so people started dumping garbage openly, without any fear of punishment. Now, a mountain of refuse grows there every day. It seems we care about cleanliness only when others -- the media, VIPs, foreign delegates -- are watching. That is not cleanliness. That is just a show. Cleanliness is a mindset -- of treating public places like our homes, private properties, or places of worship. I’m not saying keeping India clean is easy. Nor am I expecting the government to work magic. But cleanliness should not become another symbol of VIP status, like security commandos, sirens, and convoys. Cleanliness is not a privilege -- it is a responsibility. And for this sorry state of affairs, only 50% of the blame lies with the authorities. The other 50% lies squarely on us -- citizens of this nation who have yet to understand what it means to be a citizen. *** I run HabitStrong, which offers programs for calm productivity, digital de-addiction, and building focus: www.habitstrong.com

A few years ago, I was at a relative's place, who was a senior railway official. We were sitting in the lawn of his bungalow, where a water sprinkler had been running for so long that half the lawn was already flooded. So we asked the guy in the lawn to switch it off and stop the water wastage. And while grumpily switching off the sprinkler, he shrugged, saying, "Railway ka paani hai." Meaning -- "What difference does it make? After all it is Railway's water." This behavior, called the 'tragedy of the commons,' is one reason why our public infrastructure is in such bad shape. But this problem afflicts not just government property, but any common pool of assets. And here is a counter-intuitive example. In any organisation, there is no cost to consuming someone else's time for a meeting. So whether you invite 5 people or 10 people, it doesn't cause any incremental pain to you. Effectively, the time of employees becomes like a common asset. And that is one reason we tend to recklessly consume people's time through indiscriminate meetings. And this permeates all organizations -- from government bureaucracies to private companies. Until your organization figures out a way to solve this problem, here is what you should do: start treating your time like your valuable private asset and don't let people encroach upon it at will. If not, all your life, you will be struggling for time to do your work while your time is recklessly consumed -- much like "Railway ka paani." *** I run HabitStrong, which offers programs for calm productivity, digital de-addiction, and building focus: www.habitstrong.com

Today, why should we bother learning how to write? Why not just leave it to AI and the bots? Here is why. The goal of writing is not always to just convey some information to the reader. For that, e.g., when writing an office email, ChatGPT is often more than enough. But probably the highest goal of writing is to move your audience -- to talk to them, to tell them stories, and to make them laugh, cry, or feel the way you feel. And no matter how smart machines get, the burden of persuading and influencing your reader will be yours. ChatGPT can't do that for multiple reasons. First, even if ChatGPT became very good at imitating your voice, you will still need a powerful voice to train it in the first place. Second, AI is not your voice -- it is an imitation. And when people read your writing, they want to talk to you, not to a machine. AI can only be like that replica of a Van Gogh or Mona Lisa, which sells for Rs 500 on the roadside kerb. The reality is that we DON'T want to just see the Mona Lisa, but feel the connection with the genius of Leonardo da Vinci. Also, at a more practical level, ChatGPT generates bland, tasteless drivel that nobody wants to read. So if you want to tell your story, and make something flutter in their heart, you have to do it yourself -- there is no there way. At its best, writing makes it possible to connect with a fellow human's heart. And what can be more precious than that? *** I run HabitStrong, which offers programs for calm productivity, digital de-addiction, and building focus: www.habitstrong.com

In my first job, I had two memorable bosses -- both senior police officers. And I once remember overhearing one of them on a phone call. He was so intent and affirming in his listening that I asked afterward, "Sir, was it someone you know?" He said, "No, it was some complainant." What made these officers exceptional wasn't just their competence, integrity, and courage. It was how keenly and fully they listened when others were speaking. Typically, cops have an image of brusqueness -- and even rudeness. But these officers were exact opposite of that. And maybe that's what made them so effective. Because most police complaints are hopelessly entangled and complex -- it is hard to actually resolve them. But what people want, more than anything, is to be heard. When people are angry -- whether at your workplace or in personal life -- the best way to disarm them is to just listen. Because half their anger probably comes just from not being heard. In fact, of all the 'people skills' you need to succeed, this is one of the most powerful -- and also the easiest to build. Yet all too often, we are more keen on saying something smart than hearing what others have to say. And I have been probably as guilty of that as anyone else. *** I run HabitStrong, which offers programs for calm productivity, digital de-addiction, and building focus: www.habitstrong.com

These days, I have been getting some get AI-generated emails. And I have no problem with that. But occasionally, people are blindly copy-pasting even the AI-generated subject line into the body of the email itself. And even if ChatGPT says, "Don't put the subject line in the body of the email like a dummy," how will it force people to read that? Ultimately, there is no defence against intellectual laziness. What's going on here is nothing less than the zombification of human race. Yes, the pace is slow right now, but it will pick up. And in 5-10 years, just see how many young folks are able to draft a decent email. I am not vilifying AI -- it will bring dramatic benefits to mankind. But like every drug, it will have its side-effects. And one side effect will be our 'intellectual couch potatofication.' The more intelligent AI becomes, the dumber we can afford to be. And if we can afford to be dumb, sadly, we will choose to be. In the coming years, keeping yourself mentally sharp will be your responsibility. In a way, that has always been the case, but until now, you didn't have a choice. Now, unfortunately, now you will. *** I run HabitStrong, which offers programs for calm productivity, digital de-addiction, and building focus: www.habitstrong.com

My mother is terrified of war. She is not half as brave as those TV anchors with guts of steel. That's because she was at Pathankot (where my dad was posted) when Pakistan started bombing the place in the 1971 war. Everybody was moved into trenches, where they would lie covered in blankets in the freezing winter cold. They could hardly sleep out of fear as explosions filled the night sky. Very soon, the families of the Air Force men (including my mother and sister) were ordered to evacuate, leaving only the serving men behind. Somehow, they got on a train and managed to reach their native place in UP. For the next two weeks, until the war ended, my mother would hardly eat out of anxiety. There was no way to know if your people back there were safe or not. I think that trauma has never left my mother. Probably, that is why whenever I take a flight, she keeps calling me around the time the flight lands. I keep telling her that civilian commercial flights are safe, but she does not understand. I am sure some people are not like her -- they are brimming with raw courage and fearlessness. And they typically join TV channels as anchors. The rest of them, especially families of soldiers, don't like war. Yes, they understand that it is sometimes necessary, but they still hate it. What to do? Not everybody can be as gutsy as those people on TV. And honestly, who can blame them -- I just wish they had experienced even a 9 mm bullet pass over their head. Just once.

I couldn't believe it when I read about the death of a young girl named Misha Agrawal, who apparently died by suicide because her declining Instagram follower count pushed her into depression. On reading this, my first thought was -- is this news even real? But a Google search revealed that, sadly, it is. I sometimes wonder, what the hell is going on in this world? Have we completely lost perspective? I understand that we all like some validation but aren't we getting totally disconnected from reality? And there is a particular kind of advice that I see on social media which I detest the most: people flaunting their 9/10/11-figure income derived from social following. And they imply that others are a fool for doing routine jobs and facing daily struggles of life. Let me say this one more time: There is NO HARDER way to make money than by building a social following. Why would you want to do that? Yes, some people might succeed in doing that, but that way, some people might even win a lottery. So what? And just in case it is of any consolation to anyone: Some of the smartest people I know are either not on social platforms (like LinkedIn), or they don't care about their follower count. Two of my friends are case in point: Sankar Krishnan and Vinod Thomas. Both are brilliant but they don't care to publish any content (even though I nudge them occasionally). We need to tell young people and each other -- 90% of what you see social media is either fake or a half-truth. Nobody is living it up. Everybody's life is the same mix of struggle, pain, and occasional joy. And the only way to know this is to put down your smartphones, meet real people, and talk to each other.

Last week in Mussoorie, I met Gyanendra Tripathi, a most remarkable IAS officer, who runs 10 km every morning, 7 days a week. And he has been doing that for the last 2 years, without any any breaks, despite his heavy official responsibilities. Gyanendra told us that he has even had an open bypass surgery. Yet today, he is at his healthiest best. But what was even more interesting was to see how his running enthusiasm spread amongst some other civil servants who were there to attend a training program. Soon, a small group of IAS officers started joining him for his morning runs, most of whom had never run on their own. And he also became my running buddy. Soon, a micro-movement for running was taking shape, inspired by Gyanendra. And when the training ended and people were ready to leave, a few had fallen in love with running and fitness. In general, the easiest change-management hack is this: hang around people you want to be like. On LinkedIn, a lot of people try to advise, exhort, and 'influence' others. Yet, I saw the most effective mechanism for influencing -- keep your mouth shut, and act. *** I run HabitStrong, which offers programs for calm productivity, digital de-addiction, and building focus: www.habitstrong.com