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Trust your gut and fail bravely: seven influential women on the advice they would give their 30-year-old selves
Trust your gut and fail bravely: seven influential women on the advice they would give their 30-year-old selves

The Guardian

time3 days ago

  • General
  • The Guardian

Trust your gut and fail bravely: seven influential women on the advice they would give their 30-year-old selves

If you could go back in time and give your younger self some advice, what would it be? (Mine: always hire a professional to do your taxes and just accept you look best with a side part.) It's tempting to imagine what we might have done differently. Unfortunately, wisdom tends to be hard-earned, and often only arises after a series of mistakes – like parting your hair in the middle for five years even though it makes you look like a potato. While personal wisdom takes time and patience to cultivate, we can always listen to what other astute people have learned over the years. For our series The joys of ageing, we asked seven influential women what advice they would give their 30-year-old selves if they could go back in time. I'd tell my 30-year-old self to write morning pages: three pages of longhand, morning writing, done daily. The pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at hand. They guard – and guide – the writer. I would have told my 30-year-old self that all the things I sought from the world – respect, safety, love, esteem – were not out there, and that experiencing those was going to be an inside job. I wasn't going to be able to achieve, own, lease, marry well enough to feel fulfilled for any length of time. That I could stop dancing as fast as I could trying to fill up on all the prizes and rewards and glitter that the world had to offer – because it was outside of me, it was not of lasting value. I would have told myself to do everything I could do to make myself stronger, keep fit and be the best of what I could be. And we're not all going to be the same. Don't even think that you're going to look like or do the same things as everyone else. Just do what you can do. Sign up to Well Actually Practical advice, expert insights and answers to your questions about how to live a good life after newsletter promotion I would tell my 30-year-old self to trust my gut. Don't overthink. If only we could go back and lend wisdom to our younger selves. But life doesn't work that way. We earn our wisdom, year by year. Yes, I wish I had the overwhelming gratitude for our blue jewel of a planet at age 30, as I do now, at age 75. I wish I had been more forgiving of myself and my blunders. I wish I had been more tolerant of others' blunders. We, all of us, are on an arc of personal evolution. Wisdom can't be rushed. The only goal we can strive for is to eventually arrive at becoming the person we can admire. The understanding that would have been most helpful would have been something like: 'When a door closes, another one can open.' No, I won't go to journalism school after all – a long-held, quiet aspiration – but I've learned a lot contemplating the role of truth-telling, wise detachment and compassionate witnessing. I won't still traipse around Asia as I began doing when I was 18, but I can have a vibrant sense of adventure, a strong love of learning and an ability to not excessively rely on creature comforts. I may not have so many firsts – like I've already had with my first book, my first recording, my first public talk to crowds of people. But you know what – I just might. What's ahead will take courage, but you are ready. Do not shrink to belong. Stand boldly, fail bravely, grow fully and move forward with peace of mind and heart. Start every day with kindness. That's your superpower.

Trust your gut and fail bravely: seven influential women on the advice they would give their 30-year-old selves
Trust your gut and fail bravely: seven influential women on the advice they would give their 30-year-old selves

The Guardian

time3 days ago

  • General
  • The Guardian

Trust your gut and fail bravely: seven influential women on the advice they would give their 30-year-old selves

If you could go back in time and give your younger self some advice, what would it be? (Mine: always hire a professional to do your taxes and just accept you look best with a side part.) It's tempting to imagine what we might have done differently. Unfortunately, wisdom tends to be hard-earned, and often only arises after a series of mistakes – like parting your hair in the middle for five years even though it makes you look like a potato. While personal wisdom takes time and patience to cultivate, we can always listen to what other astute people have learned over the years. For the final installment in our series The joys of ageing, we asked seven influential women what advice they would give their 30-year-old selves if they could go back in time. I'd tell my 30-year-old self to write morning pages: three pages of longhand, morning writing, done daily. The pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at hand. They guard – and guide – the writer. I would have told my 30-year-old self that all the things I sought from the world – respect, safety, love, esteem – were not out there, and that experiencing those was going to be an inside job. I wasn't going to be able to achieve, own, lease, marry well enough to feel fulfilled for any length of time. That I could stop dancing as fast as I could trying to fill up on all the prizes and rewards and glitter that the world had to offer – because it was outside of me, it was not of lasting value. I would have told myself to do everything I could do to make myself stronger, keep fit and be the best of what I could be. And we're not all going to be the same. Don't even think that you're going to look like or do the same things as everyone else. Just do what you can do. Sign up to Well Actually Practical advice, expert insights and answers to your questions about how to live a good life after newsletter promotion I would tell my 30-year-old self to trust my gut. Don't overthink. If only we could go back and lend wisdom to our younger selves. But life doesn't work that way. We earn our wisdom, year by year. Yes, I wish I had the overwhelming gratitude for our blue jewel of a planet at age 30, as I do now, at age 75. I wish I had been more forgiving of myself and my blunders. I wish I had been more tolerant of others' blunders. We, all of us, are on an arc of personal evolution. Wisdom can't be rushed. The only goal we can strive for is to eventually arrive at becoming the person we can admire. The understanding that would have been most helpful would have been something like: 'When a door closes, another one can open.' No, I won't go to journalism school after all – a long-held, quiet aspiration – but I've learned a lot contemplating the role of truth-telling, wise detachment and compassionate witnessing. I won't still traipse around Asia as I began doing when I was 18, but I can have a vibrant sense of adventure, a strong love of learning and an ability to not excessively rely on creature comforts. I may not have so many firsts – like I've already had with my first book, my first recording, my first public talk to crowds of people. But you know what – I just might. What's ahead will take courage, but you are ready. Do not shrink to belong. Stand boldly, fail bravely, grow fully and move forward with peace of mind and heart. Start every day with kindness. That's your superpower.

How Artificial Intelligence Can Stifle Or Enhance Leadership Wisdom
How Artificial Intelligence Can Stifle Or Enhance Leadership Wisdom

Forbes

time22-07-2025

  • Science
  • Forbes

How Artificial Intelligence Can Stifle Or Enhance Leadership Wisdom

Dr. Gregory Stebbins is the Founder and Master Coach at PeopleSavvy. He is a member of the American Psychological Association. Now that artificial intelligence is increasingly woven into the fabric of our daily intellectual activity, we are at a crossroads where the very tools designed to augment human potential are actually transforming how we think, learn and become wiser. Recent research emanating from MIT presents a chilling narrative: AI is dumbing us down. But paradoxically, when used judiciously in combination with human thought and revision, the very same tools could be a doorway to increased wisdom acquisition. The Cognitive Cost Of AI Reliance The MIT study conducted by Nataliya Kosmyna presents solid evidence that should make us think. In the study, three groups of Ivy League students composed essays—one group utilizing Large Language Models, another using traditional search engines and a third relying on their own knowledge alone—and the contrasts were striking. EEG recordings showed that "brain connectivity systematically scaled down with the amount of external support." The students working with AI not only engaged fewer neural processes but also produced "statistically homogenous essays within each topic, showing significantly less deviation compared to the other groups." This homogenization of thought is not merely a matter of intellectual concern; it is a sign of a deeper shift in the manner in which we generate and work through ideas. The students who had employed AI were more likely to forget what they had written and felt less ownership of their work. In essence, they had outsourced not just the writing work, but even the process of thinking. Transcendence: From Individual To Collective Wisdom To understand the deeper significance of this intellectual change, we have to consider what we sacrifice as we surrender intellectual work. Recent research on Abraham Maslow's extended hierarchy of needs shows that human development peaks not in self-actualization but in self-transcendence. This is our ability to move beyond personal interest toward higher understanding and mutual gain. Investigations of young people's orientations to transcendence have revealed a preference for personal rather than communal transcendence. People are capable of differentiating between personal advancement and the advancement of others, and they seldom prefer the latter. This observation takes on additional significance against the backdrop of AI use: If we already lean toward individualistic, as opposed to communal, wisdom, and AI continues to diminish our cognitive participation, then we become at risk of creating a double block to authentic intellectual and spiritual development. The Emancipating Power Of Reflection And Editing But this story does not necessarily culminate in an intellectual wasteland. The answer is not to abandon AI entirely but to understand how to use it as a tool for added reflection rather than cognitive replacement. By applying AI to generate early ideas or initial drafts and then reflecting on and editing them, we create space for more intensive exploration of the material than would otherwise be possible. A thoughtful editing process turns AI assistance into a catalyst rather than a crutch. When we evaluate content generated by AI, we are doing a series of cognitively stimulating activities: We evaluate the logic and coherence of the argument, find gaps in the argument, evaluate whether tone and style are suitable and add our own experience. This process can even enhance our understanding of a topic by forcing us to think through concepts from various perspectives. Wisdom Through Dialectical Engagement The procedure of using AI followed by human editing gives rise to what can be thought of as a dialectical approach to knowledge creation. The AI provides the thesis—a first cut at ideas based on the processing of huge quantities of data. The human editor provides the antithesis, incorporating critical review, deep understanding and contextual discernment. The final result of the edited work is a synthesis that combines the depth of AI processing with the depth of human reflection. This is a parallel process to the development of wisdom. Wisdom is the ability of an individual to make sound decisions and find answers to difficult and important life questions, covering complex problems of everyday life and interpersonal relationships. Wisdom is not imparted through passive absorption of information but through active assimilation of ideas, analytical examination of sources and combining knowledge with experience. In reflecting on and editing AI material, we are doing all these simultaneously Implications For Leadership Education And Development This understanding has sweeping implications for how we structure leadership learning and professional development. Rather than banning AI or embracing it without bounds, schools and workplaces should be focused on developing robust editing and critical thinking skills. Students need to learn to use AI as a starting point for research but not the destination for analysis. The goal is to capture what the MIT study found had been lost: true cognitive involvement, memory formation and thought ownership. When we study AI content, we regain these core elements of learning while still benefiting from the capacity of AI to process and integrate large amounts of information. The Turn Ahead: Mindful Cognitive Engagement Transcendence literature describes true human development as transcending self-actualization to genuine concern for the well-being and wisdom of the group. (For further reading, see Viktor Frankl, Abraham Maslow, Scott Barry Kaufman and others.) Regarding AI use, this means using these technologies for more than individual convenience but in a manner that optimizes their potential to be useful to human knowledge and understanding. This loop of AI-assisted drafting and subsequent reflective editing is a model for such utilization. It allows us to embrace the computational strengths of AI without losing—in fact, enhancing—our uniquely human abilities of reflective critique, creative synthesis and wisdom generation. The future of leadership wisdom in the era of AI rests not on the avoidance of these powerful tools but on their mastery in a way that strengthens rather than undermines our capacity for deep thinking, genuine understanding and higher insight. The process of editing, well-conceived and carried out, teaches us how to do this. Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches. Do I qualify?

Dad has never been afraid to bargain. The day I bought my car, I saw a master at work
Dad has never been afraid to bargain. The day I bought my car, I saw a master at work

The Guardian

time15-07-2025

  • Automotive
  • The Guardian

Dad has never been afraid to bargain. The day I bought my car, I saw a master at work

I was nine when Dad first gave me the advice that would be a golden thread, a parable of wisdom conveying all his hard-earned knowledge in a few words. He had just finished a long week at the mixed business we owned in the city, and we were at Menai Marketplace in Sydney's south for a very special purchase. I was desperate for a PlayStation 1. I pointed at the Big W price tag and asked: 'Dad, is this expensive?' He said that nothing was expensive for us, as long as I got good marks in my tests. We went to the counter. The saleswoman was a blond middle-aged lady. 'Now, tell me, my dear,' he began. 'Is this your best price?' I went outside to let Dad work the trade. On the way home, PlayStation in tow, I asked him why he always did that. He told me that I should never be afraid to bargain: 'If you don't ask, you don't get!' Dad has been putting this maxim to the test every day of his life. In theory, it might sound like some lofty invocation to be courageous, to tackle every challenge boldly. In practice, it's the more banal reality of him asking the guy at the Aldi counter if there are any further reductions on liquorice bullets. In 2022, more than 20 years after the release of the PlayStation 1, I follow Dad into a Volkswagen dealership. Now hunched with sciatica, he still has a purposeful confidence and a rugged but wearied charisma about him. He wants me to feel satisfied with a purchase that will make me proud for a long time after I drive away. He also thinks I'm stupid with salespeople, liable to say and pay too much. There is only one car we're really interested in, and it's not even a Volkswagen. Dad says European cars are too hard to maintain. I give the game away almost immediately, spotting the 2004 Kia Cerato, which Dad discovered after extensive digging online, parked outside with all the other pre-owned vehicles. I tell him it looks like it's in good shape. Dad pulls me aside abruptly and tells me, in Arabic, not to let the dealers know I like the car. Inside the dealership, Dad begins his predatory shark game. His face is grave: vague curiosity, little expression. He circles the gleaming, air-conditioned lot. With his walking stick, he hits a hub cap here and strikes a bonnet there. He is declaring his presence. In his home city – El-Qantara el-Sharqîya, a small town on the Suez canal – fishermen would throw their lines into the canal and wait for hours for fish to take the bait. Today, Dad is also baiting his catch, deliberately provoking the sales staff – standard issue white guys in navy blue polyester suits. Who is the hungriest fish? I follow him from afar, swallowing my frustration and preparing myself for a drawn out pursuit. After about 10 minutes, someone approaches. Dad asks the skinny salesman what he thinks of the Kia. The salesman says it doesn't matter what he thinks, what matters is what Dad thinks. With this, he opens the Cerato's door and gestures for us to sit down. Dad lumbers laboriously into the front seat. He examines the freshly detailed interior. The steering wheel, the rear-view mirror, the glove compartment. He glances at the logbook. Nothing escapes his gaze or his barrage of questions about the previous owners, registration dates and thoroughness of the last service. Dad pulls the car on to the street. I'm in the passenger seat and the salesman is in the back. The salesman reminds us of the 50km/h speed limit. Dad puts his loafer down hard on the accelerator. 'Acceleration a bit slow,' Dad says as he charges down a shopping strip, causing a small woman to jump back from the pedestrian crossing and knock over her fabric wheelie trolley. We arrive back at the dealership. The salesman's composure is intact and Dad's face is like a slate of old granite in the Valley of the Kings. I'm anxious about the possibility that I will not take this car home today, because Dad won't like the price. The salesman says the car is in great condition, and asks if we would like to drive home with it today. Dad mumbles some protestations about the condition of the car. That's when our salesman surprises me. He tells us there are plenty of other buyers interested in the car, and that he won't waste our time if we won't waste his. He is made of firmer stuff than he looks. We learn later that he's from Donnybrook, about 200km from Perth, which, like Dad's home town near Port Said, is the lesser town to a more famous city. My father and the salesman have some things in common. Both men are hungry, both appreciate the value of a dollar and both have nothing else on today. Dad says we're interested, we just need a fair deal. He starts listing extenuating circumstances that might sway this austere salesman to our favour. They include me having a perfect driving record and being able to pay in cash today. I was suspended for speeding twice and the only thing in my wallet is an expired Medicare card. The salesman looks unconvinced. That's when Dad reveals his juiciest bait. We also have a good car for trade-in, he announces and offers the salesman a key. The salesman, eyebrows raised, takes the key and trudges outside to look at my sister's 1999 Toyota Yaris, which I've been driving for five years. A few minutes later, he returns with his manager. Dad leans over to me with a warning, that he's going to say some bullshit about what's wrong with the car. Sure enough, we're told about a 'thumping noise' emitted by the gearbox, scratches to the exterior and the age of the vehicle. They can only offer a deduction of $2,000 on the asking price. Dad scoffs and says they must be joking. The manager – a man of quieter gravity than his protege – speaks up. He tells Dad that he can see how serious we are about making a purchase, but that with all these liabilities in mind and the state of the market, he can't go any lower without losing money for the dealership. My heart drops. I turn to my father, my eyes pleading. I'm on the verge of tears. 'I'm afraid $14,500 is the best I can do, Mr Nour,' the manager says. Dad tells him that for $14,000, I will shake his hand today. This is all too much. My head feels light and there's a catch in my throat. I need a break. I go to make a cup of coffee at the courtesy De'Longhi espresso machine. When I come back, I find the salesman grinning and Dad chuckling softly. Something has changed between these two men – game recognises game. The real arbitration, however, is between Dad and the manager. The manager wearily says he can't budge further. 'It's $14,200 or nothing.' Dad turns to me seriously, with his eyes wide in a questioning stare. He has fixed the contest, but mine is the deciding vote. Will I accept the terms? I reach forward to shake the manager's hand. After a half-hour session of contract-signing and payment transactions, Dad stops on the way out, looking to see if I will say anything else. I surprise myself and ask if they can throw anything else in to sweeten the deal. Dad laughs. I drive off that day with a new car, two branded umbrellas and a feeling that I have just scored the freshest gaming console on the market and finished all my homework. This is an edited extract from How to Dodge Flying Sandals and Other Advice for Life ($29.99; Affirm Press)

The biggest waste of talent in Australian sport in the 21st century
The biggest waste of talent in Australian sport in the 21st century

News.com.au

time13-07-2025

  • Sport
  • News.com.au

The biggest waste of talent in Australian sport in the 21st century

Andre Agassi as an athlete - and as a person - is as unique as they come. And his wisdom is something every athlete on the planet needs to hear. 'It's your job to avoid the obstacles. If you let them stop you or distract you, you're not doing your job, and failing to do your job will cause regrets that paralyse you more than a bad back.' For generational talents like Nick Kyrgios, Bernard Tomic and Ben Simmons, that haunting feeling of regret must already be chewing away at them. Our 25@25 series will finally put to bed the debates you've been having at the pub and around dinner tables for years – and some that are just too much fun not to include. The answer to the above question might seem simple on face value, but the correct answer may be far more uncomfortable than you think. Here is the rub of why a generation of Australian athletes have been wiped out from achieving the success we know they were capable of. Labelling anyone the biggest waste of talent in Australian sport is harsh. But a nation that has built its identity on green and gold, Anzac spirit-wielding pride has high expectations on how our sporting representatives do battle - and maximise their gifts. Nick Kyrgios never wanted it to begin with The year is 2017, and Nick Kyrgios is two-sets to love up against Italian Andrea Seppi in the second round at the Australian Open. Then comes the crash. Seppi comes from nowhere to win 1-6 6-7 (7-1) 6-4 6-2 10-8 and John McEnroe questions if Kyrgios, 21 at the time, is even trying. It is hardly a noteworthy moment in Kyrgios' career, which included a Wimbledon final appearance, an Australian Open doubles championship and a career high ranking of No. 13 in the world. His lack of effort, lack of conditioning, lack of interest, lack of coach — it was all bewildering. And rather than a road bump on his way to greatness, that night against Seppi to often proved the norm. 'That's how it's been my whole career really. I put my head down, want it. But things happen,' he said. 'It's just me not being able to be consistent, not really wanting it. Stuff like that happens.' He went on to say: 'I just like being comfortable.' Nobody, even Kyrgios' sports psychologist, will ever know what goes on in his head. We can only judge from surface level and from this vantage point there is at least one thing we know that is running rampant rent free in that noggin. Regret. We are talking about a special, complex character. We are talking about someone who openly said he would have retired on the spot if he'd have won the 2023 Wimbledon final against Novak Djokovic. He was two sets away. He'll never get closer. Twelve-year-old Tomic says it all Tomic must also be getting regular visits from the same demons. Yep. Countin' his millions. Dropping dolla billz. Playboy lifestyle, Bernie. Another of our uber-talented athletes that we all got wrong. Re-visiting the past, just as Kyrgios and Tomic have done themselves in tell-all TV interviews, doesn't make you feel angry. It just makes you feel sad. Sad to think about the bright, bouncy, innocent souls that were about to get sucked in and spat out by the reality of life as a professional athlete. Sad to think about 18-year-old Tomic who became the second youngest male player to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon. Tomic's interview with a TV network at the age of 12 says it all. When asked how much he loved tennis, he responded with a beaming grin: 'I love it from the ground to the sky. It's my soul.' When asked in 2017 what advice he would give to a young Bernard Tomic, he responds: 'Don't play tennis'. Sport, man, what a b*tch. The tennis bad boys are the obvious pick of the bunch when it comes to this sadly wide-open debate, but they have plenty of challengers. Ben Simmons loses everything in three seconds Ben Simmons says g'day. No. 1 draft pick. NBA Rookie of the Year. The triple-double stats sheet-filler that had Magic Johnson fawning all over him. The teen prodigy that signed with LeBron James' management company. A $20 million contract with Nike in his first year out of Louisiana State University (LSU). This hack reporter might well be starting to lose your attention prattling on about attitude like Allen Iverson being asked about practice, but if you are thinking about voting for Ben Simmons, here is your smoking gun. 'You have an opportunity to be better than me,' James said to Simmons in 2017. 'But you can't skip steps. You have to do the work.' As a three-time All-Star who helped the Sixers to reach the Eastern Conference semi-finals three times, you can't say Ben Simmons didn't do the work. It is for other reasons that he is a leading contender to be considered our greatest waste of talent this century. Imagine reading that sentence as an Aussie fan on June 21, 2021, with the top-seeded Sixers battling it out in Game 7 of their fateful play-off series against the Atlanta Hawks with 3:30 left on the clock in the fourth quarter. The 76ers trail 88-86. Simmons receives the ball in the post. Seconds later, his career is in pieces. We all know what happened. The point guard works his way towards a juicy, wide open dunk. He launches himself towards the basket. You could almost taste that rim-rattling slam he surely was about to thunder down. Then he dishes off to teammate Matisse Thybulle. Chaos reigns. There have been countless theories what was really going through Simmons' head in that moment, but the most popular one is a player so petrified of even the potential of being sent to the free throw line passes up his time to shine. A free-throw percentage of 34.2 per cent in the 2021 post-season was evidence enough to paint a picture of a player rattled by fear and self doubt. Just four field goals attempted in the entire match. It all unfolds quickly from there. The apoplectic look MVP teammate Joel Embiid gives Simmons says it all. The daggers are pointed at Simmons the moment the final hooter sounds. Simmons tries to take some ownership: 'Offensively, I wasn't there. I didn't do enough for my teammates,' he says. But it's not enough. It's not nearly enough. With emotions running high, Sixers coach Doc Rivers can't muster the words needed to protect Simmons from the wolves. When asked if he believes Simmons could ever be a championship-winning point guard, Rivers is too tired and hurt to shield Simmons yet again. 'I don't know the answer to that right now,' he says, pushing the detonate button on 'The Process'. Simmons, by all accounts, desperately needed to be cuddled in his moment of despair and comments made by Rivers and Embiid cut deep. Three days later, his powerful agent starts working away to get him out of Philly — despite three seasons and $147 million remaining on his client's max contract. It shows all the signs of a textbook case of an extrinsically motivated athlete desperately seeking external validation to save himself from the tapes playing over in his head saying he's not good enough. Instead of putting his head down and getting his hands dirty on the court, Simmons has had enough and it comes out in the form of rebellion. Between back injuries, surgeries and mental health leave, Simmons misses 189 out of a potential 246 games over three seasons when traded to Brooklyn. It is a career that never recovered from those three seconds when the Hawks left the rim unprotected. Sad. Just very, very sad. Cold truth Barty devastated us like never before Now we get to the most divisive name on this list. Ashleigh Barty. Before you grab your pitchforks and torches, think about the criteria for this conversation we're having. Her retirement two months after winning the 2022 Australian Open devastated us. Just ask Matildas star Katrina Gorry. Gorry describes Barty as Australia's greatest sporting export of the past 25 years. 'What she did for female sport in Australia was incredible. Her career's been incredible,' she said on Andrew Bucklow's From The Newsroom podcast. 'To win a title like she did and then retire was pretty heartbreaking for most Aussies, but now she's started a family. I just think she was an incredible athlete and an incredible human and very humble through it all.' When asked about Barty's farewell, Gorry responds: 'Honestly, I was like so heartbroken. (I thought) surely this has got to be a prank. And for months I just scrolled hoping she was kidding (and would announce) she was coming back. Yeah, still waiting for that.' Walking away at the age of 25 at the peak of her powers seemed impossible. Barty's career captivated us. She made us as proud as any athlete has in recent memory. Three grand slam titles, all won with the same grace and class Rocket Rod Laver gifted the tennis world. But it could have been more. It could have been so much more. Think about Barty watching Wimbledon on the telly in 2023. Picture the image of Marketa Vondrousova becoming the first unseeded woman to win the tournament. A woman Barty just happened to have a perfect 4-0 record against. Leading Aussie sports journalist Robert Craddock has done the picturing for us. 'I just wonder… what she (Barty) is thinking of that, because she played her four times and didn't lose a set,' Craddock said on Fox Sports' The Back Page at the time. 'She was just a better player. I just wonder whether she's thinking, 'There's still some slams out there for me'.' There could have been. The other contenders: There's not enough hours in the day to mount a proper case for the other athletes in our poll, so I'll be blunt. Brutally so. — Israel Folau: A spectacular two-try performance for the Wallabies in the opening Test against the British and Irish Lions in 2013 showed he could have been the next big thing in global rugby. Imagine the question coming from your kids or grandkids in 20 years' time: 'Dad, Mum, who was Israel Folau?' Your response, 'Oh, he was that guy that put that Instagram post up. You won't believe me, but he actually tried to play for the Giants as well'. — There are serious issues at play in the sad fall of Brendan Fevola. But let's just briefly think about Fevola as a footballer. A three-time All Australian and a two-time Coleman medalist that booted 575 goals despite playing in another underwhelming era for the Carlton Football Club. Yep, before the 2009 Brownlow medal after-party and before Chris Judd was made aware of movements inside his Carlton teammate's trousers, Fevola could seriously play. His raw talents were enough for the Brisbane Lions to offer him a career lifeline despite the overwhelming evidence it was going to end badly. And end badly it did. He is now one of the most-loved figures in Australian radio. A larrikin with a big heart. But let's not forget how different his story could have been if not for off-field behavioural issues, contract breaches, Lara Bingle and Crown Casino's Club 23. Only six players have kicked 1000 goals - it could have been seven. — When Jarryd Hayne was hot, he was hotter than molten. Two Dally M medals and two separate seasons where he earned six consecutive man of the match awards. His 2009 finals series in carrying the Eels to the Grand Final will be remembered as arguably the greatest month of football ever played. He was awarded his second Dally M in 2014 and then dropped one of the biggest bombshells the game has known when he slapped a snap back cap on his head and said he wanted to be a 'fourty niner'. Chasing his dream in the NFL made him Australia's biggest sporting star, but it also cost him a genuine chance of being rugby league's next immortal. We don't have time to get into every dream and disaster after that, but fair to say it wasn't good. — Todd Carney. Bubbler. 'Nuff said. — When an athletic career ends with an Only Fans profile it tells you something has gone awry along the journey. Liz Cambage was a force on the court, but by all reports the only thing more dangerous than her babyhook was her ego. Just ask her ex-teammates. — When you talk about decisions that haunt you, Daniel Ricciardo has one of the big ones. The only driver to match Max Verstappen at Red Bull made the decision to take a fat payday from Renault instead of holding his ground at the energy drink outfit. Christian Horner suggested Ricciardo was running from a fight. Ricciardo, however, could see the power dynamic in the Red Bull garage shifting towards the Dutchman. So the man we know as Danny Ricc walked out and cost himself a very real chance at competing for a world championship while Verstappen roared to four consecutive titles.

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