Mr Fix-it: Author and influencer Ankur Warikoo on failure,mistakes and making it

Warikoo, 42, grew up in Delhi and started off wanting to be a space scientist. He didn’t get into the Indian Institutes of Technology, he dropped out of a PhD programme at Michigan State University, his NASA dreams didn’t take flight. He worked as a business consultant and at a few start-ups. The brightest spot on his resume was as co-founder and CEO of deals and coupons website Nearbuy. By early 2020, Warikoo had resigned from Nearbuy. He was a husband and father of two, with five months of savings to fall back on.

Then the pandemic hit. As his self-imposed break stretched out, Warikoo began posting educational videos on YouTube and Instagram. He aimed his life, career, finance and productivity tips at small-town Indians aged 18 to 24, a demographic that is large, wired, ambitious but struggling and, Warikoo says, “adulting poorly”. Crucially, he kept his videos simple, ad-free and often in Hindi. He even urged viewers to speed them up to save time.

One video, listing 10 productivity tips, recommends recording details and ideas in separate notebooks, sending oneself email reminders, saving ideas on a one-person WhatsApp group, taking an afternoon nap. It has more than 7.8 lakh views. Another, on how to get the most out of credit cards, includes tips on repayment, purchase points and setting up sources of passive income. It has 1.8 million views.

Much of Warikoo’s material may seem obvious. But to first-generation graduates trying to make it and desperate for a mentor, his guides appear to be invaluable. As YouTube user @pratikvora2578 put it in his comment on the productivity video in 2021: “Ankur Warikoo is to the youth what Sonu Sood is to migrant workers”.

Warikoo has 2.43 million subscribers on YouTube and 2 million followers on Instagram. Last year, he put out a video about how much money he made: more than ₹12 crore. “If I can reinvent my life at 40, what is stopping you in your 20s?” he often asks in his Reels.

His second book, Get Epic Shit Done (Juggernaut; 2022) addresses 36 questions that young Indians might grapple with, and is crafted as a conversation between a student and a teacher. It follows the same format of nuggets as the first. Readers may jump to any page, read as they please. “I’m a keen observer and love storytelling,” Warikoo says. “But I’m a science student. I also love looking for conclusions.” Excerpts from an interview.

* Young India seems hungry for wealth and success in a way previous generations can neither understand nor help with…

I’m 42. When I was growing up, there was no internet, no information overload. We had a limited understanding of the world. At most, you compared yourself to 50 kids. In contrast, 20-year-olds today are up against 1 billion kids. Everyone is flaunting their idea of success: follow your passion, try this new career, stick with that traditional medical degree, become a YouTuber. Even those with supportive parents struggle to make sense of it all. As a result, they’re not prepared for adult life. I’ve failed plenty. And so much of what I’ve learnt would have been useful to me when I was younger — that it’s okay to make a mistake, that hustling is not the same as winning. This is what drives the videos, the books and everything else.

* How often in a day do you learn something new? And what happens then?

No one’s asked me that, and it’s an interesting question. I’d say three to five times. What really helps in articulating it is, surprisingly, Twitter. That 280-character limit forces you to be concise, turn a thought into something quick and easy for a reader. I don’t think in long sentences anyway. I create 63 unique pieces of content across five platforms every week. But now this takes me only 10 hours a week.

With the books, the aim was that a reader could open to any page and find on it a complete piece of advice that offered clarity and made that person happy to encounter it. This generation loves listicles: 7 ways to find love, 5 tips for an interview, 12 ways to make a million dollars. I didn’t want to be prescriptive. There’s no single way to live life. I want to get people to put together the answers that work best for them.

* What’s one thing you wish people would unlearn?

The idea of finding your passion. It’s as if your passion is lying under the table or has fallen behind the sofa, waiting to be found. You need try a lot of things, explore new experiences, grow that passion. I’m also skeptical of the idea of motivation. Rather than waiting for motivation, I prefer to rely on routines and habits that are attached to my internal progress. That helps me focus on the outcome, not the input.

* One page in your new book talks about entitlement. It’s an interesting topic for young people who haven’t made their mark yet.

I don’t blame people who grow up with privilege and a comfortable life. But when an entire generation is used to getting participation trophies, when inclusivity means also including those who have not worked towards a goal, and when everyone believes they’re destined for greatness, it’s a problem. It gets young people to imagine they are moving faster than they can. So when they don’t make a huge impact in their first jobs, and there are no accolades, they’re not able to process it. We rarely acknowledge our privilege. I wanted young people to view their accomplishments keeping their privileges in mind.

* What advice do you still seek?

No one’s asked me that either. I’d love to know how to think about life if you believe it has no meaning. When I die, I believe I’ll disappear. I’ll be a data point on an Excel sheet. So what’s the purpose of it all?