“I never think about the failure of the what. I always think about the failure of the how. How did I show up in these contexts? Was fear a really important emotion during these experiences or did I feel light? Was I courageous and open hearted, or did I feel closed?” – Rishi Garg

Rishi Garg (@rishigarg) is co-head of the Consumer Investing Practice at the Mayfield Fund, a seed and Series A focused venture capital firm. Before joining Mayfield, Rishi co-founded FanSnap, which was acquired by Nextag. He has led business and corporate development for Google, Square, MTV, and Twitter, and has invested in companies such as Quilt, Grove Collaborative, and Projector.

To hear Rishi's full interview, including how he decided to join Mayfield, click here.

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Chapters in this bonus interview:

• Bringing the “people first” mindset to work every day
• Rishi’s top habits for success, including journaling and physical activity
• Rishi’s favorite tools: the legal pad and Flow Club
• Books recommended by Rishi
• Rishi’s favorite failure and his definition of success
  

Links in this bonus interview:

• Tai Chi
• Flow Club
• Centered
• Tim Chang‍
• Rob Kaplan

Rishi's recommended books

• A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload by Cal Newport
• The Autobiography of Malcolm X
• The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche
• The First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter by Michael Watkins‍
• The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael Singer

Key Takeaway

Rishi’s thoughts on success and failure are a great balance. 

On success:

There are three words that come to mind. Resilient spiritual freedom. That's what I'm working on. I see that as the journey of my life—as life unfolds, to become better at practicing that. It's not so much something you achieve, resilience because you can achieve spiritual freedom by disconnecting from life. But I don't think I want to disconnect from life. I think real freedom comes when you can be plunged into the river of life and still be free, and still be spiritually open and at peace.

On failure:

I never think about the failure of the what. I always think about the failure of the how. How did I show up in these contexts? Was fear a really important emotion during these experiences or did I feel light? Was I courageous and open hearted, or did I feel closed?