Life seldom comes with an instruction manual or a guidebook. It's often messy and unpredictable too. While our education may prepare us for situations covered within its set syllabus, most of life happens outside this realm and this leaves us grappling with questions around work, life and everything in between.
Hence, this book.
Varun Duggirala has survived and thrived in a system that throws curveballs at us without the tools to actually overcome them. In Everything Is Out of Syllabus , he offers answers to important questions
What is the true meaning of success? How can one become more creative and think outside the box? How can we connect with people, including ourselves? And much more. Most importantly, he tells readers what are the skills one needs to master to live a more fulfilled life that is optimized for happiness.
Full of anecdotal wisdom, this book is partly funny, mostly reflective, and completely authentic. Everything Is Out of Syllabus is a must read for anyone who is trying to understand life and figure out their own roadmap to navigate it.
We do not get a manual to lead our lives. It's the first time for all of us and we only learn through our experiences. But we also learn through the experiences of others.
Everything is out of Syllabus is an attempt by Varun Duggirala is a handy guide that informs its readers on the true meaning of success and how one can connect with their authentic self. All of this and more in pursuit of living a fulfilled life that does not fit into the mould of conventions.
Packed with insightful anecdotes and tips coming from a 'curious' man, this book is a friendly reminder of navigating life with an open mind and heart.
Lucid writing and some very thoughtful ideas (of prominent people!), plus the cute illustrations, make this book an enjoyable read. Check it out for a light breezy and mind-filling experience.
It was pure curiosity that made me google Varun's name and since then, he has only intrigued me. He is the co-founder of The Glitch (had no idea about the advertising connection!) and as someone who has a weird (and tough to pronounce) surname, I got more and more intrigued, only to find out that he is also from Andhra Pradesh. It's by going down this rabbit hole that I stumbled upon this book. And my major takeaway from this book has been the power of curiosity. Varun calls himself "information hoarder" - and adds that the information he has is mostly "useless" as it won't help him or anyone in an academic or conventionally successful sense. But he talks about how genuine curiosity can make you an interesting person. In a world where we people talk about finding your passion, it's refreshing to find someone who is genuinely curious and cannot stop talking about it. He is like that rubik cube obsessed kid who just keeps trying because he is just curious about the solution - rather than showing the world that he can get it right.
The best part of this book is a gazillion mentions of some awesome books that have (again) got me curious! Now this a rabbit hole that I can keep exploring!
I have had the pleasure of interviewing Varun Duggirala on my podcast and was deeply inspired by his humility and clarity of thought. This book helps you to explore life with Varun as he shares his takeaways on relationships, happiness, conversations, negotiations and much more. The best part about the book was the experience of looking at life through his eyes. He doesn't ask you to follow a path, rather shines a light on his own so you know what the journey can look like. Highly recommended!
It’s a good read. Frankly speaking, it doesn’t make you glued to your chair until you finish this book, but still there are many things in it which will make you pause and think.
✨An instruction Manual - This book really is an instruction manual for most of the things we go through in our lives. This book is filled with questions, short stories, life lessons, personal experiences, superheroes and exercises.
✨Enjoyed reading this book... the book taught me so many things. If you read this book, it will teach you so many things. There are questions and exercises in this book that can play an important role in your future.
Thank you Varun Duggirala for writing this book. Looking forward to reading this book again.
✨There are so many beautiful lines in this book. I love these lines from this book. If you plan to read this book, don't read these lines.
✅"What's the worst that can happen?" can mean different things to different people.
✅ The one thing that clouds our mind the most is unresolved feelings and emotions and the best way to move ahead is to face them, not sweep them under the rug.
✅ Find some balance now or you never will.
✅ A question is always better than a statement because a statement that ends with a question mark invites the other person to contribute, to add their two cents, to truly get involved in the conversation.
If you read this book, you will find out more lines/paragraphs. This book is filled with lines that can be turned into quotes. ............................................................................
If you love reading books filled with life lessons, motivation, self-help, and answers to some of the questions you are currently facing in your life then this book is for you.
sicked up this book out of appreciation for the wide variety of work varun duggirala does, and I believe all the things I like about this book comes from his unique take on things.
often, self help books have egotistical narrators screaming at you (with reason/aggression) to live your life a certain way. but across these coffee table stories, there is no such rant by varun. he merely picks up a mundane experience in his life and expands on how that made him learn & grow.
alas, this book also falls prey to that self help cliché. I felt that each "lesson" that I got wasn't revolutionary, it was a distilled down version of another prominent thought leader in the space. in a sense, I felt like the author was the arbitrer of learnings from a movie or a novel he found was really thought provoking.
this book shines when varun gets personal, and quickly loses its sheen when he starts quoting scott galloway/tim ferris/*insert thought leader here*
When I saw the title, my curiosity was at another level, making me buy this book!
Varun has written a fantastic book that will make you feel like you have found a mentor to teach you things you couldn't learn in your educational institution.
Simple lessons about building your personality, mindset, ethics, and facing daily life hiccups; The author has kept the content like an informal conversation between a mentor and mentee with interesting stories and, of course, what he learned from other books and people around him. His personal anecdotes are so interesting and valuable that they will leave you wanting more.
I highly recommend everyone to read this book especially if you are in college or have just started working. It would prepare you for many things in life instead of you having to learn them after the trial and error process.
The reason I picked this book was because of its name. N the book could have not done better justice to its name. This book helped me to find out what I already knew. It helped me to put light on things we miss in our day to day Hassel filled life. When thinks get messy just hold on and look back, life is dat simple but we forget this one simple thing and this book did an amazing job at reminding me the same. Of if your life is a mess than just go through this book n it will help you to put light on it
Appreciate the effort put by the author to provide an instruction manual which is actually different for each person. As an entrepreneur, experiences vary and that has been put down well in the book.
Duggirala’s witty and relatable writing takes you on a rollercoaster ride through life’s unpredictability. This book made me rethink how I approach challenges. It’s a must-read for those who embrace life’s chaos.
Feels like talking with someone who’s experienced the busyness of life and telling us what it takes to actually live our lives that we aspire for. A good read and I will recommend this book most to the occasional nonfiction readers and youngsters who have just started their careers and family life.
Awesome book. Lot of practical value. The sheer number of books Varun refers in his piece of writing is phenomenal. I made a note of his bibliography and made it a point to add these books to my TBR.