Photojournalist and war photographer; Pulitzer Prize winner, 2009
Recorded · American Academy of Achievement · 2017
For a photographer — it’s like actually taking a picture is like five percent of what I do.
Learning a craft
For somebody getting good at something. What the work actually consists of once you are inside it, the part of the skill that does not show, and how the day is arranged around it.
15 people · 123 answers
What part of your job would surprise outsiders because it takes up so much of your time?
Novelist
Recorded · The Guardian · 2017
On the best days, I stop pleading, stop bargaining and watch-checking and fall into a rhythm so satisfying that I simply forget I’m working.
44th President of the United States, 2009–2017; United States Senator from Illinois 2005–2008
Recorded · Vanity Fair · 2012
Nothing comes to my desk that is perfectly solvable. … Otherwise, someone else would have solved it. So you wind up dealing with probabilities.
Chinese professional tennis player, 1999–2014
Recorded · WTA (archived) · 2014
After four knee surgeries and hundreds of shots injected into my knee weekly to alleviate swelling and pain, my body is begging me to stop the pounding.
Architect; Pritzker Prize laureate, 1995
Recorded · The Hyatt Foundation / The Pritzker Architecture Prize · 1995
For me, making architecture is the same as thinking.
Co-founder, chairman and chief executive of Meta Platforms
Recorded · Harvard Gazette · 2017
Instead, I’m here to tell you finding your purpose isn’t enough. The challenge for our generation is creating a world where everyone has a sense of purpose.
What are you best at that nobody watching would notice?
Playwright and screenwriter
Recorded · The Paris Review, Issue 109, Winter 1988 · 1988
The look of the thing is one thing. The sound of it is more important.
British wheelchair racer, 1988–2007; member of the House of Lords
Recorded · People's Collection Wales · 2015
I love training. It's not just about the competing.
Co-founder, president and chief executive of NVIDIA
Recorded · YouTube (recording of the Caltech commencement address) · 2024
Of all of the things that I value most about my abilities, intelligence is not top of that list.
United States artistic gymnast
Recorded · ABC News · 2021
Literally can not tell up from down. It's the craziest feeling ever. Not having an inch of control over your body.
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1940–1945 and 1951–1955; Member of Parliament 1900–1964
Recorded · Winston S. Churchill, My Early Life (Thornton Butterworth, 1930), Project Gutenberg Canada · 1930
Mr. Somervell—a most delightful man, to whom my debt is great—was charged with the duty of teaching the stupidest boys the most disregarded thing—namely, to write mere English.
British track cyclist, 1994–2013
Recorded · Cyclingnews · 2008
I just like to get to the start line knowing there was nothing else I could have done, that there wasn't a single session I didn't give 100 per cent.
What bad recommendations do people in your field repeat too often?
United States swimmer, 2000–2016
Recorded · CBS News · 2018
I think it's something that nobody's really talked about in the past because we're supposed to be this big, macho, strong person that has no weaknesses.
Mathematician; Fields Medallist, 2006
Recorded · Quanta Magazine · 2026
AI without validation is too unreliable to be of use in any serious application.
Co-founder and chief executive of Nubank
Recorded · Goldman Sachs (official event transcript)
The second thing there was another thing I learned at Sequoia is that the culture of a business is built in the first six months by the first ten to 15 employees.
Engineer and designer; led the iPod and iPhone teams at Apple, founder of Nest Labs
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 2016
every time I heard the word “smart” attached to anything, it means it’s pretty dumb, because no one knows what it really does.
Chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, 1970–2025
Recorded · Berkshire Hathaway Inc. · 2014
Most investors, of course, have not made the study of business prospects a priority in their lives.
President of Costa Rica, 1986–1990 and 2006–2010
Recorded · The Nobel Foundation · 1987
Seeing that the past dictatorships were only capable of creating misery and crippling hope, how absurd to pretend to cure the evils of one extreme dictatorship by means of its opposite!
What does the first hour of your day look like?
Co-founder and chief executive of Nubank
Recorded · Semana · 2022
Apenas me despierto, a las 5:00 a. m., cuando voy a hacer deporte. Es lo primero que cojo cuando me despierto. No es la mejor práctica, pero sí desde tempranito.
Kenyan marathon runner
Recorded · BBC Sport · 2020
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.
Novelist, short-story writer and translator
Recorded · The Paris Review · 2004
When I’m in writing mode for a novel, I get up at four a.m. and work for five to six hours.
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1979–1990; Leader of the Conservative Party 1975–1990; MP for Finchley 1959–1992
Recorded · Margaret Thatcher Foundation, from Thatcher MSS (Churchill Archive Centre) · 1989
I'm not up at 6 am. I start listening to the incoming news at 6 am. I'm not up until 7. By then I've heard the agricultural news, the news and financial news and listening to radio.
Co-founder, president and chief executive of NVIDIA
Recorded · The Singju Post · 2024
I begin each morning, I do every single morning exactly the same way, I begin each morning by doing my highest priority work first.
Ethiopian distance runner, 1992–2015
Recorded · The Times of India · 2022
Simple. I ran to school. There was no other way to get to it, so I, all of us, ran to school each day. We lived in the countryside and had to go to the town to school.
What small daily ritual do you keep that most people would consider a waste of time?
Novelist, dramatist and screenwriter
Recorded · The Guardian · 2010
Do, occasionally, give in to temptation. Wash the kitchen floor, hang out the washing. It’s research.
Kenyan marathon runner
Recorded · BBC Sport · 2020
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.
Composer, pianist and record producer
Recorded · Kinfolk · 2018
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.
Designer; host of Design Matters; founder of the SVA branding programme
Recorded · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2018
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.
Broadcaster; host of Larry King Live on CNN, 1985–2010
Recorded · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2018
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.
Everyone here · A–Z
Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Chris Hoy, David Vélez, Desmond Tutu, Edmund Hillary, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, John Lewis, Mario Molina, Richard Feynman, Shinya Yamanaka, Simone Biles, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett, Winston Churchill