RajenReflects

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Cut Your Coat According to Your Cloth, But Don’t Forget to Wear (While it Fits You)

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Save more. Invest wisely. Build the nest egg.

All good advice. I follow it myself.

But somewhere between the SIP instalment and the life you actually want to live, there’s a question most financial plans don’t answer:

When do you get to enjoy any of this?

This week, I wrote about that tension and the one insight from the world of investing that changed how I think about spending on the things that matter.

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The Mistake I Made at 44 (And What It Taught Me)

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I did something eight years ago that two doctors advised against.

I insisted. They eventually gave in. And I got exactly what I asked for.

I’ve regretted it since.

Funny how that works! We chase a version of ourselves that isn’t here yet, only to discover that time was going to deliver it anyway.

This piece is about that. And about my mother, who sees the whole thing very differently.

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The Rudest Thing People Do (And Don’t Even Notice)

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Someone did it to me again recently.

Mid-conversation.

It’s the single most disrespectful thing people do today — and most of them have no idea they’re doing it.

I’ve started responding to it differently.

In this piece, I write about this habit, why it’s more serious than most people think, and what I believe it reveals about the person who does it.

You’ll recognise someone in here. You might even recognise yourself.

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The Moment Every Manager Dreads (And What It Really Tests)

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Mohit Sain left my team last week. And is relocating to Sydney today.

When he first told me he was leaving, my first thought was “oh no”.

Over two decades of leading teams, I’ve been here before — that strange place where you’re genuinely happy for someone and quietly worried how to fill the gap.

It never gets entirely easier. But I’ve learned what to do with it.

This Saturday, I write about letting go, starting over, and the one question that has guided every such decision I’ve made.

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To Every Student And Parent Dealing With Results Right Now — This One’s for You

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To every student staring at a result right now — good, bad, or somewhere in between.

I was you once. Terrified. Underprepared. Hoping for just enough.

What I know now, that I wish someone had told me then, is that the number on that marksheet is one sentence in a very long story.

Not the last one. Not even close to the most important one.

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I Was Warned Not To. I Did It Anyway. Here’s What Happened.

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When I was considering taking on a new job, a well-meaning colleague pulled me aside.

“This arrangement doesn’t make sense. Think it through. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

He was confident. He was sincere. But he had no direct evidence.

I joined anyway.

Years later, I looked back on that decision. Some lessons, you can only learn by crossing the bridge.

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How a Chance Morning Visit Launched My Career

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It’s thirty years since the morning that determined the shape of my career. And the person most responsible for it doesn’t know.

Because I never got the chance to tell him properly.

His name is Shekhar. In 1995-96, he worked at India Feature Service in Delhi and lived in Vasant Kunj. A year later, we lost touch.

I’ve written it down here.

If there’s any chance this reaches him, I’m asking you to share it. As widely as you can.

He deserves to read it.

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