Most people read books to gain knowledge of things they would otherwise never learn. While school textbooks impart a fair amount of knowledge, they often leave us unprepared for real life. This is where Nihit Mohan’s latest book ‘What School Doesn’t Teach You: Influential Lessons to Achieve Your Dreams’ comes in. This collection of conversations, anecdotes, and experiences of the author’s mentors and gurus, is a unique guide to life that promises to help readers perform better and address their confidence issues.
As a Senior Manager in Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore, Mohan does not come across as a traditional writer of self-help books. However, his experience of living in multiple cities and exposure to many cultures in India and abroad, have made him adaptable and experiential. He shares, “Both my roles as a hard-core financial service professional and author have been quite strenuous but extremely rewarding. And I have two great teams rooting for me—one at home and one at work. Both have helped me perform these roles appropriately and also enjoy them simultaneously.”
Having been an avid reader since childhood, the step into writing was a natural one for Mohan. He recalls reading the book ‘Built to Last’ by James Collins and Jerry Porras, which moved him greatly and made him want to write something in that genre. This was one of the catalysts for the release of ‘What School Doesn’t Teach You’, and the other was his belief that everyone has a purpose to fulfil.
“This book is a ‘Food Court’ of concepts. There are many books available for each of the topics I have discussed in the book. So for a young professional who works 12-14 hour days and feels sapped of energy, this is an ideal read. Going through multiple different books can be a monumental task and it is equally tough to implement the concepts one learns in real life. This book presents the reader with many concepts, in brief, so one can pick and choose which to use now and which later. And each of the chapters is independent of each other, so you could pick up each chapter independently to read and assimilate,” Mohan explains while speaking about his latest work.
Response to the book has been encouraging, especially from the student and young professionals community. Mohan had shared his manuscript with various industry stalwarts and was pleased that they appreciated it too. Recently deceased hero Gen. Bipin Rawat too reviewed his book and gave encouraging feedback.
Speaking with candour about his writing process, Mohan says it was strenuous for him to begin but he gained momentum slowly. He describes overcoming the initial inertia as a big task, but he enjoyed the ideation and research, much of which amounted to a midnight exploration of various ideas and landscapes. After reaching the midway point in the book, this task that had seemed impossible—of writing a book—suddenly seemed very doable. “Aware of our generation’s mindset of not being able to focus on one thing long enough, I had to speed the process of writing by putting my sleep, family, and friendship commitments at stake!” Mohan smiles. It took almost nine months to write the book, which became in the process almost like Mohan’s second child. The entire experience was a very rewarding one.
Non-fiction is his preferred genre to write, and he would take to fiction only if someone forced him. Mohan takes inspiration for his work from conversations with friends, family members, and mentors. His research is funnel based as he attempts to get to the crux of the idea or method through multiple sources including published research papers, books, anecdotes, and previously published articles and newspapers. Though his first book is all his work, he is open to exploring co-authorship for future works of non-fiction. “I am currently developing my second book and researching various topics to solidify my writing. I am reading a lot for this upcoming project,” Mohan says before signing off.
‘What School Doesn’t Teach You’ by Nihit Mohan is available online on Amazon, Flipkart, Kobo, Kindle, and other platforms. One can also buy them from two leading bookstores of Singapore—KinoKuniya and POPULAR.
The writer pens lifestyle articles for various publications and her blog www.nooranandchawla.com. She can be reached on nooranand@gmail.com.
