Five-time Olympian Dara Torres shared some of her wisdom and “life hacks” with best-selling author Tim Ferriss for his newest book, Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice From the Best in the World.
Torres, now 50, represented the United States in 5 Olympic Games: 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000, and 2008, for which she is perhaps most famous. Torres owns 12 Olympic medals, three of which she won at age 41 at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, two years after giving birth to her daughter Tessa. Torres picked up two silver medals for her contributions to the 400 meter freestyle and 400 meter medley relays, and also placed 2nd in the 50 meter freestyle, coming up just 1/100th of a second behind Germany’s Britta Steffen, setting a new American Record in the process.
Following her successful comeback in Beijing, Torres authored her own book, Age Is Just a Number: Achieve Your Dreams at Any Stage in Your Life.
Ferriss, meanwhile, who is best known for writing The 4-Hour Work Week, is not merely interested in how successful people go about their workdays, but also wants to know their “ticks” and the peculiarities that make them human. Specifically, Ferriss asks his interviewees if they have any odd habits–things even their biggest fans might not know. (Out of the 130+ individuals profiled by Ferriss, Larry King’s odd habit might be the most hilarious.)
An excerpt from Torres’ conversation with Ferriss reads:
Ferriss: What advice would you give to a smart, driven college student about to enter the “real world”? What advice should they ignore?
Torres: Many people have started from the bottom and have worked their way up, so don’t think being at the bottom of the totem pole is a bad thing in the work world. You have nowhere to go but up. Ignore hearsay and rumors until you know it as fact.
Though seemingly super-human, Torres can lose focus like anyone else, and shares her methods of getting herself back on track. Torres also reveals the small investment (under $100) that has made the greatest positive impact on her life, and her answer is so quintessentially So-Cal-swimmer.
Torres is one among many highly-successful and influential people interviewed by Ferriss in Tribe of Mentors. Some others include Jimmy Fallon, Arianna Huffington, Maria Sharapova, Steve Aoki, Tony Hawk, and Gary Vaynerchuk.
Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice From the Best in the World is available on Amazon and from these retailers.
Dara’s own book, Age is Just a Number, has some interesting anecdotes about her comebacks. She has an eternal love of swimming that few people ever have.
On the night before she was to swim at the 2008 OT, she had a full-blown panic attack. She was overcome with a fear of failure. Fortunately, she ran into one of her old coaches, Mark Schubert, who calmed her down and helped her get her confidence back. And the rest is history.
Dara’s 50. Wow, time flies! She looks amazing! Would love to see her swim Masters.
4 hour workweek is awesome, and so is Ferriss (and Dara too). Will definitely check this book out!