Lost and tired, dreaming about a cup of tea or sanity in your day?

How To Start A Fire?

It’s Sunday, 8 September 2024, 11:00 AM here in India. I am spending the weekend with my parents, celebrating the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. I wrote this newsletter on a Wednesday before my trip..

figuring out relevant goals

Break Heroin Addiction

It’s Sunday, 13 September 2024, 11:00 AM here in India. After two consecutive Sundays of not being home, I am finally home today. It is festival time in India. Another month of festivals is going..

The Paradox of Choice

One day, you decide to buy ice cream at an ice cream parlour you haven’t been before. The parlour has 35 varieties of ice cream, most of which sound exotic and mysterious. You sample a few flavours and

Lost and tired, dreaming about a cup of tea or sanity in your day?

Best Piece of Career Advice

In 2012, I was a young management consultant working for a department headed by a charismatic leader. I was trying to develop project proposals that would help me drive efficiencies….

Get unstuck from a career rut with a Coach

Stress SOS: It’s an Inside Job!😵

Last Sunday, I visited a friend to pick up fabric from her shop to make quilts. She was closing her organic clothing boutique and had many scraps of cotton fabric sourced from various parts…

Diffusing High-Energy Conflicts 😮‍💨

A few weeks ago, I went out for lunch with a close friend. We had a sumptuous Indian meal, and we were happy and content. After some time, a sharp digital voice pierced the air.

Lost and tired, dreaming about a cup of tea or sanity in your day?

Gourmet Dining in A War Zone Army Mess 🍰

In their book, “Made To Stick”, authors Chip and Dan Heath relate the story of a gourmet dining experience for soldiers in an army mess in Baghdad. Army food is not something to write about..
figuring out relevant goals

The Recipe for Anti-Fear 😨

One of the favourite ways the mind amuses itself is to conjure worst-case scenarios, magnify them and have them on repeat. Even if one thinks one has secured the future with a foolproof plan..

The Tale Of The Olive Presses 🫒

Thales of Miletus was an Ancient Greek Philosopher who lived during 600 BC. In the village where Thales lived, there were mystics. Mystics went high in the mountains, communed with..

Women Leadership Coaching for getting promotion

The Realm of Hungry Ghosts 👻

In Tibetan Buddhism, there’s a symbol of the cycle of birth, life and death called Bhavacakra or The Wheel of Life. Six realms are depicted in the Wheel of Life, and one of them is the realm of..

figuring out relevant goals

The Self Appraisal Freeze Mode 🥶

At work, I’d be thrilled to take on any challenging project. I pride myself on turning around projects that others have failed to execute. But when it came to writing my self-appraisal..
Overcome Promotion issue

Story of Derethil and the Wandersail ⛵

This story is about Derethil and the Wandersail. This is excerpted from the book, “The Way of Kings” by Brandon Sanderson. This is a long immersive story, so grab a cup of your favourite..
Lost and tired, dreaming about a cup of tea or sanity in your day?

Unlock the Secret to Better Work Relationships! 👩🏽‍💼

In the fitness world, it’s often said, ‘You can’t outrun a bad diet.’ But let’s not forget, ‘You can’t outeat a sedentary lifestyle.’ Just as health requires a balance of diet and activity, professional..
figuring out relevant goals

🚀 Unmasking Hidden Expectations

In one of the teams I used to work with, a Change Consulting team, there was an unwritten rule: only if you contributed to department initiatives would you get an “exceeds expectations” in your..

The Knowing Doing Gap

Solving The Puzzle of Communication

Last Sunday, I attended a workshop titled “Habits of Mind.” The facilitator led us through activities and reflection that helped us to think about the traits or habits of mind we would like to cultivate..

coaching helps getting out of trap

Breaking The Overload Cycle💥

I have started a new running program, which adds an additional 3-5 hours to my week. We all have 168 hours a week (24×7), and finding 3-5 hours in that time frame should not be challenging..

character shown navigating tough conversations at work

The Subtle Art of Task Stretching 🕛

When I was a student at b-school, we had an assessment that was fondly called “WAC”—a Written Assessment of a Case. Every term, we would be assigned a case study related to finance, economics or..

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave 🧠

Imagine a dark cave where a group of people have been imprisoned their entire lives since childhood. These prisoners are chained so that their legs and necks are fixed. They can’t move, so they..

Lost and tired, dreaming about a cup of tea or sanity in your day?

What is the purpose of your brain?

When I was younger, I could hold several pieces of relevant information in my brain. I could always trust my brain to remember the exact things I had to buy when I was physically present at the grocery store..

Difference between Shirisha vs Career Coach

The Myth Of Perfection

t is the last Sunday of September, and with it, we enter the last quarter of the year. What are you looking forward to the most in the next three months? Ranked World No.1 in Men’s Singles for 310 week..

How To Eat Your Frog?

It’s Sunday, 31 August 2024, 11:00 AM here in India when this email arrives in your inbox. I’m writing this to you in a “cave” on 28 August 2024, 10:14 AM. A “cave” is a virtual co-working session hosted by..

Lost and tired, dreaming about a cup of tea or sanity in your day?

The Five Types of Email Procrastination

It’s Sunday, 18 August 2024, 11:00 AM here in India. In my previous corporate life, the one thing I dreaded most was opening my inbox every morning. I received at least 60 emails on a typical workday..
figuring out relevant goals

When My Life Settles Down..

The last place you would expect art to flourish is in the concentration camps. The Holocaust was the genocide of 6 million Jews across German-occupied Europe during World War II..
overcoming career rut

The Dark Side of Scheduling 🌑

I recently attended a three-day silent retreat. The retreat schedule was meticulously planned by the organisers, detailing timings, activities and locations. The schedule was printed and stuck..

Lost and tired, dreaming about a cup of tea or sanity in your day?

The Trap Of More 💀

At 10:30 a.m. on a Tuesday, I was waiting in the lobby of a bank to access my locker. The “locker key person” was late, and I had already been waiting for half an hour. I was told it would likely take..

figuring out relevant goals

The Story of the Funky Shaped Nozzle 💨

It’s like this crazy science experiment (yes, science)! A vat of hot chemicals is boiled and under an insane amount of pressure squeezed through this tiny nozzle. As the pressure drops and the steam disappears..
The Knowing Doing Gap

The Sure-Fire Way To Burn Out 🔥

The easiest way to achieve all the above is to NOT say NO to more work, clients, projects, bosses, team members and stakeholders. We all have a weird relationship with the word “NO”.

the imposter syndrome report

Sign up for the Being Sane Newsletter and access The Imposter Syndrome report. You can find out The Reason Why Imposter Syndrome Occurs (And How To Manage It). Every Sunday, you will receive an article on tough conversations, workplace issues and more that will give you insights, tools and resources to have more sanity in your working and personal lives.

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