Career Guidance

You can't change the last 15 years. You can change the next 30.

Ankur Warikoo

Jul 31, 2026

Critical Turning Point

Received an email this morning (edited, for brevity)

Dear Ankur,

I hope you are doing well.

I am writing to you because I find myself at a critical turning point in my life and career.

I am 35 years old and, for the first time in my life, I am confronting the consequences of years of poor decisions, procrastination, and a lack of direction.

Academically, I struggled from the beginning.
I failed Class 11, changed schools, failed Class 12, and eventually passed through NIOS.
I later joined a BCA program but dropped out after losing focus and getting involved in alcohol and substance abuse.

Throughout my twenties, I worked in BPO and customer service roles.
While I managed to stay employed, I was not disciplined.

In 2018, I developed severe anxiety, which I believe was linked to years of alcohol abuse and eventual withdrawal.
After a hospitalization and a major health scare, I quit alcohol completely.

One of the positive aspects of my journey is that I married the woman I love in 2020, and her support has helped me through some of my darkest periods.

Professionally, things began improving in 2022 when I moved internally into a quality and testing role involving speech-to-text systems.
In 2025, I received a promotion into a governance and risk-related analyst role.

However, I now find myself facing a layoff due to organizational restructuring.
I have less than a month before my role ends unless I secure another position internally.

What scares me most is that I do not have a graduation degree, I do not possess strong technical skills, and I often feel that my career progression happened more because of luck than competence.
For the first time, I want to take full responsibility for my life and build something meaningful from where I stand today.
The problem is that I do not know where to begin.

Given my background, age, lack of a degree, and current situation, what would you do if you were in my position?

Here was my exact response:

Hi <his name>

1. Start with a professional email address and not sna****ter
(he had a cool email ID that we all created when we were teens, but it stopped being cool very quickly thereafter!)

2. You can spend time wallowing in your misery and regret over the past 15 years of your life, or you can work to improve the next 30 years of your life.
The choice should be straightforward.
You can’t change what has happened; you can only change what is going to happen

3. The way to change - is to take one step at a time.
Don’t look at the mountain to climb; look at the next step to take.
The next step for you is to get your resume in order - in the best shape possible - and apply to roles that fit your experience.

4. Everyday, learn something new.
Spend 15-30 mins.
It could be a free YouTube course, a book, an online interaction.
Make it a ritual.
Delve into anything that catches your fancy.
Don’t think of employment; think of preparing yourself to start learning as a habit.

5. And no complaining, no excuses.
If you say you are ready to take responsibility, the only way you show that is by following these 2 non-negotiable restrictions.
No complaining. No excuses. For anything!

Need your help

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I would love to get your feedback on the product.

Can you please go through Monzy.co and then fill up this form?

Book I am reading

Finished reading Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy.
She has had an incredibly difficult, and fascinating life.
I also personally felt there is a fair bit of residual bitterness in her - which perhaps manifests in the stands she takes, some of which I do not agree with.
However, all said and done, she is a wonderful writer. It is impressive and joyful to see her weave a sentence out of nowhere and help the reader visualize the finer details.

Here is a list of all books I have shared in this newsletter.

3-2-1

3 pics from last week

Fancy coffee shops in the middle of the malls.

I visited Chandigarh University in Lucknow and was quite impressed with the infrastructure. This is a pic of their library. Good to see such world class educational facilities in India now :))

Ayush and Pratyush have been managing my money for the past 5 years. And I have never met them, until this week. Incredible team.

2 quotes I wish to share

Kids are the parent's resume!

Share on X

In today's world 500 words on impact travels further than the impact itself.

Share on X

1 new thing I learnt this week

In the 1850s, a group of brokers began meeting under a banyan tree opposite Mumbai’s Town Hall.
Around 22 of them.

That informal circle became the Native Share and Stock Brokers’ Association in 1875. Today we call it the Bombay Stock Exchange :))

Quiz of the week

Last week I asked: Which was India’s first unicorn startup?
The right answer is inMobi - in 2011.
About 700 people got it right.

The lucky winner last week is Ishfaq (iam****97@gmail.com)

Question of the week (don’t Google or ask AI!):

Which country has the most time zones in the world?

Reply with your answer, and I will pick one random winner with the right answer.
They will get a signed copy of a book of mine :))

🎙️ My top content from last week

🏦 YouTube Finance: Why two incomes is making India poorer?

📹 YouTube Career: 10 careers with huge demand

📱 Instagram: The relationship is boring

🐥 Twitter: The perfect teacher (not my content)

You can, of course, always write to me by simply replying to this newsletter.

I love reading all your emails, even though I may not be able to reply to them all.
Yes! I READ ALL MY EMAILS. ALL OF THEM.
(Apni zindagi ko dekh kar nazar naa lag jaye ki kasam)