Aafreen Zubair

i've been getting some horrifying dms lately. here are some greatest hits from this week: → "hi." that's the whole message. sent three days in a row. just hi. hi. hi. → "please circulate my resume among your friends and connections." umm maybe start with a hello? → "looking for an internship, please share if you come across any." not at my company. just… anywhere. be your personal assistant and hunt down an internship for you? sure, bro. → "would like to learn more about your work, tell me!" - is this a command? am i being threatened? what does "tell me!" even mean? → AND bonus points for spelling my name wrong while doing all of this. hey afrin, afreen, afrein 👏 listen, i don't know you. you haven't told me what you do, what you're actually good at, what impact you've made anywhere – so why should i care? i'm not saying i haven't cold dm'd people. i have and i get a response 9 out of 10 times. because there's a way to do it. > you're not asking for something – you're solving a problem for someone. > take an intelligent guess at what they work on, what their company struggles with.  > and show them you can help! throw the entitlement aside. nobody owes you their time or their network because you typed three words and hit send. i'm not on a high pedestal. i don't have 100 jobs to hand out. but i am here to make genuine connections and help where i can – and this is not the way to ask. have you ever gotten dms like this? do you reply, or just let them sit?

i’m 10x more productive when i work from home. the case for wfh right now has rightly centered on the environment, the economy, and how it can help us navigate uncertainty. but we're skipping another strong angle - the emotional toll of showing up every day and how it’s hurting productivity, not enabling it. let’s do the math. an office day looks like: > an hour to get ready, then 60-120 mins commuting through heat and dust > a sea of small talk under harsh lights from 10 am to 7 pm > no real food, not enough water, no movement by the time you get home, there’s no will to live anymore. a wfh day looks like: > work done by 5 or 6 pm > time to go to gym, laundry, clean your house, and nourishing food > space to actually be emotionally available for the people you love while we debate the rupee, crude oil imports, urban infrastructure, and rising cardiac numbers - let's also hold up a simpler image: a workforce that’s slept, fed, and not running on cortisol all day is just way more productive. this is basic biology. not a ‘greedy demand’. the “presence equals productivity” mindset is dated. we don’t live in the feudal age anymore. so why do we still confuse control with leadership and equate exhaustion with competence? it’s 2026. wfh a day a week should be the norm 🤷 are you more productive at home or at the office?

the smartest people i know didn't do an MBA. i used to think that was a coincidence. it isn't. and i say this as someone who almost did one - 8 months of CAT prep, mock tests etc - while holding a full-time job. when i was done with work - where i'd delivered something, learned something, collaborated with someone - i would pick up a textbook to study for an exam that had nothing to do with how the industry actually works. one set of hours was making me sharper. the other was making me a better test-taker. i'm grateful i walked away. i feel an MBA is a piece of paper that says: "i was willing to put my life on hold for two years to be allowed into a room." and i'm not sure the room is even that interesting anymore. we're living through the fastest period of technological change any of us has seen. the case studies they teach at top b-schools were written when the most disruptive thing in AI was chatgpt. the frameworks they sell as moats are on youtube for free, taught by people who built actual things. and nobody talks about the opportunity cost. 8 months of prep. 2 years of school. that's ~3 years of the most leverageable phase of your career, traded for a credential. i'm not saying MBAs are useless. i'm saying: an MBA isn't growth. it's a delayed start. so be honest about why you want one. is it because you want to learn? you can do that in 90 days for free. is it because you want a job? the job will hire you faster if you spent those years building. is it because you want the brand on your resume? then say that. but don't dress it up as growth. what are your thoughts on this?