Jia Tolentino
Writer
I think it’s so good to abandon projects. I never feel sad about not trying to publish that novel.
What made you decide to stop something you were known for, and how did you know it was time?
Question
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure?
Failure & regret
No, because I was set for it. My core, my whole life was medicine. I wanted to become a specialist. So for ten years I concentrated solely on medicine. It took ten years to become a consultant in neurology.
Academy of Achievement interview, 7 June 2002 source ↗
Others on this question
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Kobe Bryant
United States basketball player, Los Angeles Lakers, 1996–2016
You gave a six-year-old boy his Laker dream And I'll always love you for it. But I can't love you obsessively for much longer. This season is all I have left to give. My heart can take the pounding My mind can handle the grind But my body knows it's time to say goodbye.
David Hare
Playwright and screenwriter
I stopped directing movies in the late Eighties because I believed I couldn’t be a playwright and a filmmaker.
Derek Sivers
Founder of CD Baby; author of Anything You Want
I read that at a key fork in the road moment for me where I just sold CD Baby and had a ton of money. I was like, “What to do now?” And I read this book from this filthy rich old man being entirely honest, and I thought I should just learn from his experience. ... So if what I’m doing seems weird, it’s because I took his advice to heart and I’ve quit the game.
More from Sir Roger Bannister
View profile →I had set my mind on winning the 1500-meter gold medal in Helsinki in 1952. ... And, it all came disastrously wrong when I came fourth instead of winning. ... Instead of retiring in order to devote myself to medicine, I decided to go on for another two years while I was still a student, working clinically in London, and I did that.
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Roger Federer, Li Na, Dan Carter, Ellie Simmonds, Kobe Bryant, Serena Williams
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