It’s wasting time to listen to music when you go outside because there are so many interesting noises. For example, every time it rains, I open the window and put the recorder outside. I should always be ready to be surprised, like by the siren of a patrol car in Barcelona and other cities. I hit things, on the street or anywhere, to check the sound—until I find the perfect idea of sound. I haven’t found it yet and am always searching.
What small daily thing do you do that most people would consider a waste of time?
Question
What is the thing you are best at that nobody watching can see?
Craft & work
Question
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
Daily life
Question
What advice would you give your twenty-year-old self, and what should they ignore?
Time & hindsight
Question
What does the first sixty minutes of your day look like?
Daily life
When you become a boss, you don't think straight. It's better to be a leader than a boss. That is why I do my share of the cleaning. That is how to show the way to young people. I am trusting that I am leading them in a good way.
Global Sports Communication training camp, Kaptagat, Kenya, BBC Sport, 24 April 2020 source ↗
Others on this question
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Ryuichi Sakamoto
Composer, pianist and record producer
Soman Chainani
Novelist and screenwriter; author of The School for Good and Evil
But here’s one I guess that’s more important to me. It’s not something I confess regularly. But every night before I go to bed, I pull out old issues of Archie comics and read them.
Debbie Millman
Designer; host of Design Matters; founder of the SVA branding programme
I’ve been told that because I like to make up silly songs and then sing them in all sorts of absurd situations and occurrences, that I am trying to turn my life into a Hollywood musical. Since I was first told that, I’ve come to completely agree with that, and I think that is awesome. But I have songs for everything.
Larry King
Broadcaster; host of Larry King Live on CNN, 1985–2010
I have a habit of – thought habits. I try to total up words in a phrase or a sentence and then divide it to see if I get an even number. Like true love divided by two is four. There’s four words in each things, four and four. ... So, I don’t want an odd number, I want an even number. I do that a lot in my head.
More from Eliud Kipchoge
View profile →When I have a lot of pain, I try to confuse my mind to forget about the pain and think about the distance. I don't want pain to be in my mind, because I'd really lose focus on running. After winning, you won't have that pain, but it comes later. The marathon is hard; the second day, you don't go up or down stairs.
Recorded
Address and Q&A at the Oxford Union Society, November 2017, Outside, 10 February 2018
source ↗
You run, eat, sleep, walk around - that's how life is. You don't get complicated. The moment you get complicated it distracts your mind.
Only the disciplined ones are free in life. If you are undisciplined, you are a slave to your moods. You are a slave to your passions.
Recorded
Address at the Oxford Union Society, November 2017, Outside, 10 February 2018
source ↗
Our life here is simple, very simple. Get up in the morning, go for a run, come back. If it is a day for cleaning, we do the cleaning, or we just relax. Then go for lunch, massage, the 4 o'clock run, evening tea, relax, go to sleep. As simple as that.
Recorded
Global Sports Communication training camp, Kaptagat, Kenya, BBC Sport, 24 April 2020
source ↗
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