The Best Advice I Ever Got (7 page)

Apolo Ohno

Speed Skater and Eight-Time Medalist in the Winter Olympics

It’s Not About the Forty Seconds

My dad always used to tell me that sometimes you have to have a massive storm in order to clear the sky. Whenever it rains like crazy one day, the next day will be filled with sunshine, a clear blue sky, and everything will be pristine. To me, that’s what life’s journey is all about. You have to be willing to put forth the dedication and effort to go through the storms; to be the one out there putting in the time and the work in order to enjoy what could be waiting at the end when the air clears.

But there’s a hitch: There’s no guarantee that you’re going to reach your goal—that’s the thing. It’s not really about the destination, but about what it took to get you there. After I’ve crossed the finish line in a race, I sometimes think to myself, Oh my gosh, the past four years of my life have been dedicated to a race that lasted only forty seconds. You know, I can’t remember the forty seconds in their entirety, but I can remember a lot more about the bulk of time leading up to the race when I was training. I think that’s a very useful perspective to have. It’s not about the forty seconds; it’s about the four years, the time it took to get there. So that destination point no longer becomes the true focal point. It becomes a goal, it gives me a point to focus on, but in terms of overall importance it’s not very significant. The things that I learned about myself and what I endured throughout those four years are really what mattered most.

The 2002 and 2010 Olympic Games both had many instances in which I was the strongest, the fastest, the most fit, and also the skater with the best strategy, but something happened and I didn’t come in first. Either I slipped or somebody bumped me—something seemingly out of my control happened—and I didn’t win the race. I complained to myself—
Man, that kinda sucked
—because I felt that I was the best person yet I didn’t win. But in the end it wasn’t really about the win or the loss.

In 2002, I weighed about 165 pounds and I leg-pressed approximately 1,400 pounds. In 2006, I weighed 157 pounds and leg-pressed about 1,500 pounds—my strength-to-weight ratio was a lot higher. Four years later, in 2010, I vowed to weigh less than 150 pounds. I wanted to race at 147, so I had to totally change my mentality about what was possible from a physical perspective. To put that into context, I hadn’t raced under 150 pounds since I was fourteen years old, and here I was going to be almost twenty-eight. I ended up racing at 141 pounds and legpressing almost 2,000 pounds, so that to me was a testament to the strength of my mind and my will. You can accomplish whatever you set out to do, even when people think it can’t be done. As an athlete, that’s what taught me most about myself. It was more about the training and the discipline that led up to the race rather than about the race itself. Even now, looking back on that training, I think, Wow, I actually did it. That was pretty cool.

Chelsea Handler

Stand-Up Comedian, Bestselling Author, and Television Host

Pay Attention!

I wish someone had told me when I was growing up that succeeding in life is as simple as paying attention. Paying attention to everything and everyone, and not just paying attention to Lifetime movies starring Tiffani Amber Thiessen and Emmanuel Lewis, and reruns of
Charles in Charge
, wishing it would turn into a reality show called
Chelsea in Charge
. Paying attention to each person’s success and each person’s failure, and learning that the two go hand in hand. Paying attention to the fact that just when you think everything’s going your way, it won’t, and just when you’re ready to give up you’ll be reminded of why you started trying in the first place.

If someone had told me that I’d be able to make a living by hiring a bunch of my friends, throwing food at them on a daily basis, and then spending half an hour making fun of celebrities, I would have dropped out of kindergarten. You can do whatever you want to do—you can create a job that never existed, you can create nonsense or create genius. But as long as you’re paying attention you’ll grab inspiration from everything and create something that’s a little different and a little newer. If you’re really lucky, you’ll end up being the first woman to anchor the evening news by herself, or the first woman to anchor a show on the E! network. Just pay attention. And, no matter what, don’t sleep with your boss.

Michael Bloomberg

108th Mayor of New York City and Founder of Bloomberg, L.P.

The Real Eighty Percent

Woody Allen once said that “eighty percent of success is showing up.” But I’d like to amend that. I think eighty percent of success is showing up … 
early
. Let me explain.

When I was in business school, I worked a summer job in a real-estate office renting apartments. Four full-time professional brokers worked there, but every day the majority of customers who came in seemed to have an appointment with me—the kid! The others could never figure it out, but all I did was come in early and answer the phone. My calendar was full by the time they arrived at 9
A.M
. That summer I made enough money to pay room, board, and tuition for my whole second year at business school. (I don’t think I was the first one in the classroom each morning, but that’s another story.)

I took the same approach at my first job after business school. Toiling at the bottom of the ladder at Salomon Brothers, the Wall Street firm, I made sure that I was the first one in the office every day. Not only did it save me a little money, by allowing me to read the office copy of
The Wall Street Journal
, it also gave me the chance to get to know the other guy who was always there before everyone else: the CEO, Billy Salomon.

Of course, even with hard work there will be setbacks. After fifteen years, I was fired from Salomon, a company I loved. But the following day I went to work starting a technology company with three guys, one coffeepot, and no customers. It was a major risk, and most people tried to talk me out of it. With a lot of long hours and hard work, the company grew, and its success eventually gave me the chance to run for mayor of New York City—another long shot that most people thought I was crazy to attempt. And maybe I was. But I’ve never feared failure or hard work. That approach—along with a lot of luck—has opened doors I never imagined possible. And I still try to walk through those doors every morning before anyone else.

Jeff Immelt

CEO of General Electric

Be Humbled by What You Don’t Know

One of my great lessons of leadership is the knowledge that no task is beneath me. In 1989, I was leading GE’s appliance service business when we had a catastrophic failure of our refrigerators and had to replace three million compressors. Despite my lofty title, I learned how to fix compressors. I would go out into people’s homes to do this so that I could understand the problem. For a math major, there is no better way to be humbled than to sit on someone’s kitchen floor while the ice cream melts. I didn’t have to do this, but I can’t tell you how much I learned. In 1997, I was leading our health-care division. We wanted to build a business in China, and our sales were close to zero. I didn’t want to merely read a book about China, and our local team didn’t know GE. So I spent three weeks in China and visited two hundred hospitals in twenty-five cities with the local team. At the end, we designed a product line and a distribution process. Today, the company has a billion-dollar health-care business in China that can satisfy every segment of the population. I didn’t have to do this, but it helped me understand the Chinese culture.

In 2004, we studied global warming in order to understand the science behind it, its impact on our customers, and whether we could develop technical solutions. Despite the fact that I had 300,000 people working for me, I wanted to develop my own sense for the issues. I spent my entire vacation studying technical reports and speaking with experts. I couldn’t delegate the analysis; I wanted to own it. I didn’t have to do this, but my firsthand knowledge is better because I did. I am humbled by what I don’t know. But I have a passion for learning. I want to learn things on my own terms. I enjoy common tasks, and I know that no job is beneath me. When you are willing to learn, and get your hands dirty and be accountable, people will follow.

Donald J. Trump

Chairman and President of the Trump Organization

Know Everything You Can

My father told me, “Know everything you can about what you’re doing.” He was my mentor, and I spent time working with him and watching him for many years. He had a comprehensive approach to his work and his life, and I learned a lot from being around him. What he told me in that short sentence had great significance as I grew up and became a businessman myself. I understand now how important it is to be thorough and well prepared in daily life. It has to do with focus; without focus, things can become difficult as well as unproductive. So know everything you can about what you’re doing—which is a daily commitment to education, excellence, and persistence.