7 Lessons from an Old Indian Tale

Let me share a story with you… The story of three donkeys, their master and a wise man! Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a young man who lived in a small village. He owned three donkeys and used them to carry loads for people. One fine day, he was walking along a river towards his destination. The sun was at its peak and it was extremely hot. The cool river water was tempting. He decided that he wanted to take a bath in the cool river water. So, he started tying up his donkey’s to […]

#MeToo: Where There is One, There Ought to Be More..

I was reading a book by Max Bazerman “The Power of noticing”. He has a chapter in the book titled “Missing the obvious on a Slippery Slope”. This chapter is based on the results of a study done with Francesca Gino. The Frog, the Boiling Pot of Water & “#MeToo” This is very similar to the story of the frog in a pot of boiling water. If you put a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will jump out immediately. If we put the same frog in a pot of cold water and slowly increase the temperature, the […]

How to Help a Colleague Who Seems Off Their Game

When we think about productivity at work, we need to think beyond ourselves. As they say, as a team we are as strong or as productive as the weakest link on our team. This translates to the fact that if someone on our team is not doing their best work, we have a role to play in helping them back to being their productive best. This might not be an official part of our job but working with peers who are productive and doing good work has an impact on our work as well. Most of the times, it could […]

How To Make Good Decisions

One thing that follows us all day around is the need to make decisions. Right from the time we wake up to the time that we go to sleep, we keep making decisions, one after the other. Some of these decisions are simple and don’t impact our lives much, while some of these decisions could have an everlasting impact on not only our lives but also those that live with and around us. We also have learnt from research that There are a lot of biases that are inherent in our thinking and can creep up in our decisions affecting […]

Strategies for Avoiding Distraction and Increasing Your Productivity

I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday (you know who you are) and the conversation steered towards how difficult it has become for either one of us to be able to do distraction free, focused effort to think deeply. About anything. We are constantly distracted. We keep switching tasks. We are continually distracted by our environments, our devices and our primal need for novelty. Yes, you read it right. Our brain constantly searches for stimuli that can help it to fight, flight or freeze if necessary or something interesting, funny that can give us a dopamine hit which […]