What used to drive me was the fact that I wanted to be better than everybody at something. One of my best qualities is that I used whatever other people found to be an adverse thing to be a positive thing for myself.
My mom was a single mother in the South Bronx living in adverse conditions. Seeing her struggles to get herself off of welfare and get back into the workplace and give me and my sister a better life - it's an inspiration for me.
There are many things people don't know about me, and maybe when they read about those things, they will have an understanding of the journey I have been on, why I've made the mistakes I have, and hopefully help other people overcome their adversities.
In sports, you deal with disappointment often, but it's how you handle it and come back from it that shapes you. All these lessons are transferable to life and have really helped me with the adversities I've had to deal with in life.
If you get into an armbar and someone locks it down on you, it's easy for you to tap out, but sometimes dealing with certain things, fighting through certain adversities, and being that I've been in some of the toughest situations in life, it just gives me an edge on my opponent that I'm going to torture him and beat him up.
The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity.
Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I'll show you someone who has overcome adversity.
Before Ricky Gervais came along, I was a jobbing actress and perfectly content if a little unfulfilled: I'd just done an advert for Imodium. That year, 1999, I auditioned for four parts. 'The Office' was the only one I got. What its success gave me was freedom of choice.
The coolest thing to me, and especially now that our program is PG-friendly, and we advertise that to the hilt, but fathers and mothers come up to me and tell me to keep doing what I'm doing because I'm a good role model for their kids.
Some people want to advertise their weirdness, and spread it out, that's not me.
It strikes me as bad manners for a magazine to accept one of my advertisements and then attack it editorially - like inviting a man to dinner then spitting in his eye.
I know that campaigns can seem small, and even silly. Trivial things become big distractions. Serious issues become sound bites. And the truth gets buried under an avalanche of money and advertising. If you're sick of hearing me approve this message, believe me - so am I.
When I ran for the Senate the first time, I ran against the wealthiest guy in the state of Vermont. He spent a lot on advertising - very ugly stuff. He kept attacking me as a liberal. He didn't use the word 'socialist' at all because everybody in the state knows that I am that.
Advertising seemed almost natural to me because it was a business where you had to inform, persuade and educate. And so from being a junior copywriter to being the creative director of one of the largest advertising agencies in the country took me 4.5 years, which is, well, a fairly spectacular rise.
If the Almighty were to rebuild the world and asked me for advice, I would have English Channels round every country. And the atmosphere would be such that anything which attempted to fly would be set on fire.
My trainer don't tell me nothing between rounds. I don't allow him to. I fight the fight. All I want to know is did I win the round. It's too late for advice.
I believe God is managing affairs and that He doesn't need any advice from me. With God in charge, I believe everything will work out for the best in the end. So what is there to worry about.
When I was a kid, I got really great advice from someone who is so important to me and someone who I respect so much, and they told me, 'Don't do too many endorsements. Don't throw your name on things; think of your longevity.'
This possibility bothered me as I thought it was not advisable to remain in one academic environment, and the long dark winters in Edinburgh could be rather dismal.
The reproduction of mankind is a great marvel and mystery. Had God consulted me in the matter, I should have advised him to continue the generation of the species by fashioning them out of clay.
