When you have the opportunity to ask some of the most interesting people in the world about their lives, sometimes the most fascinating answers come from the simplest questions. The Thrive Questionnaire is an ongoing series that gives an intimate look inside the lives of some of the world’s most successful people.
Thrive Global: What’s the first thing you do when you get out of bed?
Becca Tobin: Coffee ASAP. Then I let my dog out in the backyard and sit in the sun for a minute or two.
Keltie Knight: I have to get up early for work so I’ve mastered the 5-minute wake-up-and-get-out-of-the-house. I go directly to brush my teeth, take a vitamin and I’m in the car immediately.
TG: What gives you energy?
BT: The right kind of people and a cocktail.
KK: Diet Coke and nailing an important interview.
Jac Vanek: Black coffee and country music.
TG: Name a book that changed your life.
BT: “Many lives, Many Masters” by Brian L. Weiss M.D.
KK: “My Stroke of Insight” by Dr. Jill Bolt Taylor.
JV: “Daring Greatly” by Brene Brown.
TG: Tell us about your relationship with your phone. Does it sleep with you?
BT: I pretty much ignore my phone when I’m home. I leave it on silent and check it occasionally. In the past it became a really bad habit and I didn’t want to become a phone Zombie (you know the types).
KK: I’ve learned that if I hang out on my phone at night my mind will race and I won’t be able to fall asleep. I put my phone down and try to read on my kindle for 20 minutes while I fall asleep, but the rest of the 16 hours of the day my phone and I are in a very sexy, can’t-get-enough-of-each-other type relationship.
TG: How do you deal with email?
BT: I go in spurts of responding to them unless they are super important or timely. But I refuse to respond immediately to everyone. If I did, I would never be off my phone.
KK: I have 6 email accounts coming to my phone. Everything that is done gets deleted. Things I need to do later get flagged. I love a clean inbox.
JV: I currently have 3,763 unread messages in my inbox.
TG: You unexpectedly find 15 minutes in your day, what do you do with it?
BT: Probably take my dog for a walk or call my sister.
KK: Hop onto our secret LadyGang Facebook group. We have 10,000 best friends inside who are always sharing stories, memes, asking for advice or inspiring us!
JV: I’m with Keltie…LG FB group is life.
TG: When was the last time you felt burned out and why?
KK: When award season ended I went to bed and slept for 17 hours straight.
JV: This morning and also every morning and day and night when I have a million things to do and feel like I accomplish one or maybe two if I’m lucky.
TG: When was the last time you felt you failed and how did you overcome it?
BT: I actually feel like I “fail” a shit ton, since I’m an actress and we are constantly being told no. But, that amount of failure has given me the ability to not look at it in a negative way. Don’t get me wrong; it sucks to fail that often…but at this point in my life, I don’t see them as a negative failures.
KK: I constantly feel like I am failing. The only thing I’ve learned is to let failures go quicker, they never hurt less.
JV: I also constantly feel like I’m failing or being a total phony, but what I’ve learned is everyone is kind of falling apart on the inside in some way or another, and that’s okay. It’s human.
TG: Share a quote that you love and that gives you strength or peace.
BT: I’m not a quote girl. But my therapist provides me with strength and peace.
KK: In LadyGang we have something called a Mirror Message, when you write yourself a little note on your mirror that you look at everyday. Right now our Mirror message is “Stay Sassy, Classy & bit smart-assy” which I love!
JV: We had Sophia Amoruso on our podcast and her mirror message was “don’t compare your hustle to their highlight reel” and that totally hit home with me.
The “LadyGang” is a celebrity driven podcast from the minds and mouths of Keltie Knight (@keltieknight), Jac Vanek (@jacvanek) and Becca Tobin (@itsbeccatobin). Inspired by their bottomless mimosa brunches, each week a celebrity guest joins the girls for a raw, honest and hilarious look at what life is really like under the bright lights of Hollywood. Guests will help the girl gang answer life’s burning questions from listeners in #AskTheLadyGang and share their own unapologetic stories about stumbling through womanhood. www.theladygang.com
Originally published at medium.com