FUTURE TALENTED Spring Term 2019 - Issue 2 | Page 52

Gatsby Benchmarks
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INSPIRING YOU
TO BE THE BEST
YOU CAN BE
Everyone wants to be the
best version of themselves.
Here, leading figures from
sport, business and comedy
provide advice on achieving
your potential.
Entrepreneur Arianna
Huffington on the
power of sleep
Glamourising sleep deprivation is
deeply embedded in our culture.
Everywhere you turn, it’s celebrated,
from “you snooze, you lose” to “I’ll sleep
when I’m dead”. But perhaps those
who equate sleep with laziness or lack
of dedication can be convinced
otherwise by looking at sport.
To professional athletes, sleep is not
about spirituality, work-life balance, or
even health and wellbeing; it’s about
using every available tool to increase
the chances of winning.
Comedian Lenny Henry
on embracing change
Your biggest enemy is your own fear
of change. In many respects, change is
good. Reading is great; learning is
fantastic. If all your mates and family are
from one area, doing one thing, and
you’re saying “I want to be different”, it’s
a world change. It can be tough but
you’ve got to remember why you’re
doing it. It’s because you think you can
be better. Be brave, because only you
know how far you can go.
Olympic medallist Sir Steve Redgrave on setting
bite-sized goals
When things are going well, you tend to look at the bigger picture – standing on the
Olympic rostrum, for example. If your job’s not going well, and you feel like giving it all
up, you have to change your mindset. How can I complete this one task to the best of
my ability? Little goals are really important. We had six-monthly assessments. We
wanted to do well in those, so we worked hard for them. If you find a task is too much
of a drudge, chop it up into smaller pieces to make it more manageable. It’s a pride
thing – work hard for the little goals to get a real sense of achievement.
52 // LEADERSHIP