Aruna Gobalan's Blog, page 5

When Was the Last Time You Changed Your Mind?

You are only as young as the last time you changed your mind. Kevin KellyIn the 16th century, when tobacco was first introduced in England, it was seen as a reliable prophylactic against the plague. Kids were encouraged to use it and faced punishment in some schools if they didn’t take the required dose. The current […]

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Self-Negotiation Fatigue: Use the Power of Habit to Stop Negotiating with Yourself

It's 7 p.m., and I’m completely drained. I’ve spent the entire day locked in negotiations—with myself—about writing this very piece. I kept debating questions like, "Should I write in the morning or evening?" "How long should I spend writing?" "Do I even know what I want to say, so why start today?" “Maybe I should […]

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Limitless Choices With Limited Time: Stop Worrying About Unchosen Paths

The options are limitless. But time isn’t. Choose wisely.I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig […]

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Don’t Be the Smartest Person In the Room

If you are the smartest person in the room, it’s time to find a different room. Confucius. In Alice Schroeder’s biography, The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, the author illustrates several anecdotes that led to the Oracle of Omaha becoming the legend he is. One such story exemplifies a value Buffett believes […]

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The Hidden Truth: Without Skin in the Game, You’re Just Watching

In his Man in the Arena speech, Theodore Roosevelt emphasized the importance of having skin in the game:It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually […]

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Instant Gratification: Because Waiting is So Last Century

Instant gratification takes too long. Carrie FisherNobody likes to waitIn Melanie Watt’s children’s book, You're Finally Here, the bunny uses some choice adjectives to describe waiting: unfair “as having to eat a Brussels sprout”, annoying “as having a song stuck in my head,” and rude, “as running on carpet with muddy feet.” Most of us would […]

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Five Simple Productivity Tips: My Go-To Strategies for Staying Organized and Sane

I read a bunch of productivity tips once—and then spent the rest of the day feeling accomplished for reading them.It’s not rare to see celebrities adopt a multi-hyphen tagline (Actor-Writer-Comic-TikTok star) to describe themselves as a means of self-promotion. But believe it or not, we are all multi-hyphenates in some shape or form. We may not […]

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This Too Shall Pass: Why Equanimity Is the Greatest Character Trait

He who is unaffected by praise or blame, and neither laments nor desires, has equanimity and is fit for immortality. BuddhaThis, too, shall passAccording to legend, King Solomon struggled with a problem that is all too familiar to most of us. He sought a way to control his emotions instead of having them control him. […]

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Embracing Impermanence: Why Change Is the Only Constant

Nothing in the world is permanent, and we’re foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we’re still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it. W. Somerset MaughamThere are very few truths on which we can all agree, regardless of our religious, political, or cultural leanings.Naps are wonderfulIt’s impossible […]

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Big Rocks, Pebbles, Sand, and Water: But Can We Do It All?

One of the most quoted (and, if I may, cliched) references in time management and productivity is the Big Rocks, Pebbles, Sand, and Water analogy. The metaphor originates from a technique often attributed to productivity guru Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The story goes like this: A professor stands before […]

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