British Paralympic swimmer, 2008–2021
When I was in Beijing, London, and also in Rio I was still a kid really, I didn't feel pressure. Now I'm a 26 year old woman. Being a lot older I feel those expectations.
Recorded · The Telegraph · 2021
Stuck
For a bad week. What people do when they cannot think straight, what they carried out of the worst thing that happened to them, and what turned out later to have been the beginning of something.
98 people · 103 answers
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
President of Czechoslovakia 1989–1992; President of the Czech Republic 1993–2003; playwright and dissident
The kind of hope I often think about (especially in situations that are particularly hopeless, such as prison) I understand above all as a state of mind, not a state of the world.
Recorded · Václav Havel Library Foundation (havelcenter.org) · 1986
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1940–1945 and 1951–1955; Member of Parliament 1900–1964
You cannot tell from appearances how things will go. Sometimes imagination makes things out far worse than they are; yet without imagination not much can be done.
Recorded · International Churchill Society · 1941
Novelist and essayist
Never stop when you are stuck. You may not be able to solve the problem, but turn aside and write something else. Do not stop altogether.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2010
Novelist and critic
If you get stuck, get away from your desk.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2010
United States artistic gymnast
Yes. Today has been really stressful. We had a workout this morning. It went okay. And then just that five and a half hour wait or something. I was just shaking, could barely nap.
Recorded · Rev · 2021
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure?
Film director, photographer and installation artist
I have never made any money from my films but I have won prizes and recognition. I have been on the margins forever.
Recorded · Eye For Film · 2018
Graphic designer
When you’re working and you make mistakes, particularly when you’re young, you make discoveries because you do things that are inappropriate and wrongheaded, but within the wrongheadedness…
Recorded · Psychology Today · 2009
Novelist; author of The Joy Luck Club
I didn’t fear failure. I expected failure. I think I’ve always been somebody, since the deaths of my father and brother, who was afraid to hope.
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 1996
Engineer and designer; led the iPod and iPhone teams at Apple, founder of Nest Labs
I had such failure for the first ten years in Silicon Valley. General Magic — over a billion dollars invested in 1990 dollars! Could you imagine what that is today?
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 2016
Co-founder and former chief executive of Spotify
It was like switching out the engines mid-flight.
Recorded · Music Ally · 2016
Chinese professional tennis player, 1999–2014
As hard as it's been to come to this decision, I am at peace with it. I have no regrets. I was not supposed to be here in the first place, remember?
Recorded · Fox Sports Australia · 2014
What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it?
Baseball centre fielder; twice National League Most Valuable Player
I was the first black in that particular league. And, we played in a town called Hagerstown, Maryland. ...
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 1996
Jazz tenor saxophonist and composer
I went through some really terrible times. I don’t know whether I should really even mention it, but you mentioned that I had to go to prison and all that stuff.
Recorded · Academy of Achievement (achievement.org)
Writer and human rights advocate; Nobel Peace Prize laureate, 1986
After the war — I was 15 when I entered the camp, I was 16 when I left it, and all of a sudden you become an orphan and you have no one.
Recorded · American Academy of Achievement · 1996
British Formula One driver
For me, school was probably the most traumatising and most difficult part of my life. I already was being bullied at the age of six.
Recorded · Sky Sports · 2023
South Africa international rugby union flanker and captain
It went past being hungry; it was actually painful in your stomach. I could feel my intestines twisting in the middle of the night.
Recorded · BBC Sport · 2021
Actor, director and producer
God has never let me down. He’s a key factor in guiding my decisions and feeling safe within them. My wife and I suffered three miscarriages, one of them quite late in the pregnancy.
Recorded · The Observer / The Guardian · 2025
In the last five years, what new belief, behaviour, or habit has most improved your life?
United States international footballer, 2006–2023
I am kneeling because I have to do something. Anything. We all do.
Recorded · The Players' Tribune · 2016
Novelist and screenwriter; Nobel laureate in Literature, 2017
The reason why so many vivid, undeniably convincing characters in novels, films and plays so often failed to touch me was because these characters didn’t connect to any of the other…
Recorded · The Nobel Foundation (nobelprize.org) · 2017
Former chief operating officer of Facebook; founder of LeanIn.org
Finding gratitude and appreciation is key to resilience. People who take the time to list things they are grateful for are happier and healthier.
Recorded · Los Angeles Times · 2016
British professional tennis player, 2005–2024
I've never set out to be a spokesperson for women's equality.
Recorded · BBC News · 2017
Composer, record producer and visual artist
I like to break up days and structure them. You have breakfast, work for two hours on a project, check your emails, work on another project for another two hours and then lunch.
Recorded · Telekom Electronic Beats · 2011
Co-founder and chief executive of Dropbox
That night, I realized there are no warmups, no practice rounds, no reset buttons. Every day we're writing a few more words of a story.
Recorded · MIT News (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) · 2013
Everyone here · A–Z
Abby Wambach, Ada Yonath, Adam Peaty, Agnès Varda, Ahmed Zewail, Akio Toyoda, Amy Tan, Andrew Ng, Andy Murray, Angela Merkel, Athol Fugard, August Wilson, Ben Bradlee, Bozoma Saint John, Brian Chesky, Brian Eno, Carlos Slim Helú, Cathy Freeman, Charlie Munger, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Chris Hoy, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, Daniel Ek, Daniel Kahneman, David Oyelowo, Desmond Tutu, Drew Houston, Elie Wiesel, Elinor Ostrom, Eliud Kipchoge, Ellie Simmonds, Frederick Sanger, Frederick W. Smith, Hilary Mantel, Howard Schultz, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, J.K. Rowling, Jacinda Ardern, Jeanette Winterson, Jensen Huang, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Joe Lycett, Joyce Carol Oates, Juana Molina, Katie Taylor, Kazuo Ishiguro, Kurt Vonnegut, Lewis Hamilton, Leymah Gbowee, Li Na, Lynsey Addario, Malala Yousafzai, Margaret Atwood, Megan Rapinoe, Melanie Perkins, Michael Phelps, Mikhail Gorbachev, N. R. Narayana Murthy, Neil Gaiman, Nicholas Kristof, Nithin Kamath, Nobu Matsuhisa, Nora Ephron, Norman Borlaug, Novak Djokovic, Oliver Sacks, Paul Farmer, Paula Scher, Peter Doherty, Rafael Nadal, Ray Dalio, Richard Leakey, Rita Levi-Montalcini, Robert S. Langer, Sarah Waters, Sheryl Sandberg, Shinya Yamanaka, Simone Biles, Sir Roger Bannister, Siya Kolisi, Soman Chainani, Sonny Rollins, Steve Jobs, Susan Butcher, Suzan-Lori Parks, Suzanne Farrell, Theodore Roosevelt, Tobias Lütke, Tony Fadell, Tu Youyou, Twyla Tharp, Václav Havel, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Warren Buffett, Wendy Kopp, Willie Mays, Winston Churchill, Yo-Yo Ma