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Daily life

Daily life

Six questions about how your days start, what you refuse, and the small habits you keep.

6 questions, 121 answers on the record, from 89 members. Every question is asked in FLAPSS wording — nobody answers as anybody else.

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Worth reading

In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to?

Allyson Felix

United States sprinter, 2003–2022

What I'm not willing to accept is the enduring status quo around maternity.

Recorded · The New York Times · 2019

Lynsey Addario

Photojournalist and war photographer; Pulitzer Prize winner, 2009

I think I naturally felt like I needed to pull back, and maybe that’s one of the reasons why I decided to get pregnant then because I was 37, and I had Lukas at 38.

Recorded · Academy of Achievement (achievement.org)

Adam Peaty

British swimmer; Olympic champion 2016 and 2021

I'm tired, I'm not myself and I'm not enjoying the sport as I have done for the last decade.

Recorded · The Independent · 2023

Read all 22 →

Every question in this questionnaire

  1. What does the first hour of your day look like? 17
  2. What is an unusual habit or small pleasure you are oddly fond of? 31
  3. In the last five years, what new belief, behaviour, or habit has most improved your life? 21
  4. In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to? 22
  5. When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do? 23
  6. What small daily ritual do you keep that most people would consider a waste of time? 7

Who has answered

Members with enough answers in this questionnaire to be worth arriving at — listed A–Z, not ranked by count.

  • Ahmed Zewail

    Chemist; Nobel laureate in Chemistry, 1999

    2 answers Egypt / United States 1946–2016

  • Barack Obama

    44th President of the United States, 2009–2017; United States Senator from Illinois 2005–2008

    2 answers United States b. 1961

  • Brian Eno

    Composer, record producer and visual artist

    3 answers United Kingdom b. 1948

  • Colm Tóibín

    Novelist, essayist and critic

    2 answers Ireland b. 1955

  • David Vélez

    Co-founder and chief executive of Nubank

    3 answers Colombia

  • DS
    Derek Sivers

    Founder of CD Baby; author of Anything You Want

    2 answers United States

  • Ellie Simmonds

    British Paralympic swimmer, 2008–2021

    2 answers United Kingdom b. 1994

  • HM
    Hilary Mantel

    Novelist and critic

    2 answers United Kingdom 1952–2022

  • Joe Lycett

    Comedian, television presenter and artist

    2 answers United Kingdom b. 1988

  • Juana Molina

    Singer, songwriter and former television comedian

    2 answers Argentina b. 1961

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