Jitesh Luthra is an active member of the startup ecosystem in Bangalore. He works with startups, and he has worked with venture funds before. He treats long hours as a feature, not a bug. He thinks that given the kind of asymmetric outcomes, we chase in our industry, long hours are inevitable.

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What is your relationship like with aviation and flying?

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I think it's my relationship with planes and aviation is very special.

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Planes are my first love

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And I enjoy every aspect of aviation and flying. I even have a tattoo ✨

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What is your morning routine like?

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I am a morning person, so I like to wake up early and get ahead of the day. I do my morning routine and then start other things, and that's what it's normally like.

I’m generally up early, by 6:30, if not earlier. I do my workouts, journal generally, meditate, have breakfast and then start off with my day 🌞

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What do you do in the evenings?

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There's no fixed structure to my evening. It just varies a lot, and that's part of work when you're doing multiple things so.

Sometimes it's just catching up with people over a coffee or dinner.

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I try not to do anything that is intensive energy in the evenings 🍻

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It's often just talking to people or just taking it easy at home, sort of winding down and watching something.

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How do you manage your workload?

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I treat long hours as a feature, not a bug.

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I think for me, It's less about the length and more about what you're doing in that time ⏰

I feel like, given the kind of asymmetric outcomes, we chase in our industry, long hours are inevitable. For me, what's more important is energy. Like, are you feeling energetic or not? 

Obviously, if there are periods where you feel that you're not at it, I think it's important to recognise that It's hard and do something about it 💪

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How do you Identify areas to improve?

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I think a few things. One, I think I've lucked out in having my tribe.

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I think I'm a very strong support system in terms of people who are genuinely giving me feedback in terms of how I am, what I could improve, behavioural things, things I may have said to somebody which I shouldn't have, why I am not taking certain decisions and so on and having that is important 😊

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I feel half the time, the people around you are biased. They don't want to say things to you because it's not nice, or they only tell you things which just give you validation. I have a few people who sort of bypass that, and then you reciprocate as well.

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I think that's my biggest way of learning. And the rest just happens as a result of that. 

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What do you do for your mental health?

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I just enjoy my own company, so I spend a lot of time just by myself.

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It's either reading or watching plane videos, or working out. I think they're very closely linked to how active you are physically and how your mental health is actually a very underrated correlation 📚

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I also go to therapy, and that certainly helps sometimes just to have a clear perspective and give me clarity.

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Any advice for team leaders?

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It's a long journey, don't burn out. I think that it’s a classic marathon versus Sprint analogy, but the fitter you are physically, mentally and fiscally plays a huge role in the outcomes you will have. So treated like that, it's a 10-year journey that requires you to be fit.

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 I actually feel that it's not just mental health. It has to be clubbed with physical fitness and fiscal fitness as well 🏋️‍♀️

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They should go hand in hand, and like that'll serve a great purpose.

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One interesting thing I'd like to point out, you'll generally see fit people, mostly in Silicon Valley people there, are prioritising that, and that translates to clarity and better thinking. It could potentially give you another idea of how to pitch your stuff up during a run. So I think it's incredibly important to focus on your mental health and equally physical as well. 🏃‍♀️