Yeah and we get calls all the time, and there's so many calls, but the like I said, it takes me five seconds to say no. It takes, Greg's a little more polite than I am, but I just as soon get the calls just to see what people are doing. But they aren't offering anything that's at an attractive price, and what they want is a trade.
In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to?
Question
What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Question
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure?
Failure & regret
Question
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Failure & regret
I'm tired, I'm not myself and I'm not enjoying the sport as I have done for the last decade. Some might recognise it as burnout; I just know that over the last few years I haven't had the answers.
Public statement announcing his break from swimming, April 2023, The Independent, 1 July 2023 source ↗
Others on this question
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Warren Buffett
Chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, 1970–2025
Recorded
Becky Quick, CNBC “Squawk Box”, recorded in Omaha; CNBC's own transcript of its own broadcast, 31 March 2026
source ↗
Ory Okolloh
Co-founder of Ushahidi; lawyer and open-government activist
I am personally passionate and anal about non-negotiables. If those needs aren't met, I quit. Life is too short to play-act if you don't have to.
Allyson Felix
United States sprinter, 2003–2022
What I'm not willing to accept is the enduring status quo around maternity. I asked Nike to contractually guarantee that I wouldn't be punished if I didn't perform at my best in the months surrounding childbirth. I wanted to set a new standard. If I, one of Nike's most widely marketed athletes, couldn't secure these protections, who could?
Steve Jobs
Co-founder and chief executive of Apple; co-founder of NeXT; chief executive of Pixar
We tend to focus much more. People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.
More from Adam Peaty
View profile →As a great man.
I was on a cliff in Dartmoor, doing a Royal Marine abseil. I fell upside down and thought, “I’m going to die here.”
The realisation that I am not the best version of myself.
When I lost that 100m final I spiralled. I went quite aggressive. It is an Adam I don't really recognise.
To the people who, because of my career, I cannot spend time with. I have to be selfish, unfortunately.
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