Are you a hedgehog or a fox?

In a famous essay by Isaiah Berlin, the 20th century philosopher divided the world into 2 categories of people: Hedgehogs and Foxes. [1]

The fox knows a great many things. He is cunning and smart. He is fast and sneaky. He is willing to try a lot of strategies to beat the hedgehog and win his share of the forest.

The hedgehog, on the other hand, knows one big thing. He is simple. He knows only one strategy but executes it to perfection. Whatever the fox tries, the hedgehog defends himself with what he knows to do best. 

At 21 years of age, Jonah Hill exploded onto the Hollywood scene. His lead role in the comedy Superbad not only made audiences laugh, but also turned him into one of the most beloved comedic actors of his generation.  

It landed him many follow-up roles in movies like Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Funny People and Get Him to the Greek. In each of these movies, Hill played the chubby, jovial, funny guy – a role that he played with brilliance. But in 2011, Hill wanted to mature as an actor and as a person.

Growing up in rural Austria, Arnold Schwarzenegger had very little chance of achieving fame or fortune. His parents were poor and his father was set on Arnold joining the military, then becoming a police officer like him. Arnold, however, had a different idea. 

As a child, he picked up a magazine with Mr. Universe, Reg Park, on the cover as the star of the new movie, Hercules. As Arnold read through the magazine, he the whole plan began to unfold for him. He was going to follow Reg Park’s footsteps, become a body-building champion and a huge movie star.

Recently, I had the pleasure of doing an interview with Lindsey Stutheit of Ditching Dumb. I thoroughly enjoyed the interview  as she asked some great questions about willpower, goals and finding inspiration!

Here is a transcript of the interview:

In 1994, George Lucas, creator of Star Wars, realized something profound. Special effects technology was now at a point where he could finally create his vision for what he always wanted Star Wars to be! 

The first trilogy of Star Wars films – A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi – were 3 of the most famous movies in history. They had pushed the boundaries of special effects technology and created an imaginative, far away world that people loved.

In the legendary tale, The Odyssey, the hero Odysseus is a man of great strength.

He takes on many challenges throughout his travels. He fights a cyclops, sails through treacherous winds and faces deceitful individuals. Despite his heroism, though, Odysseus is ultimately just a man – with the same weaknesses as the rest of us.

It was 4am on January 6th, 2014. On this day, Chicago was hit by what was called the “Polar Vortex” where northern cities across the United States were hitting record low temperatures. It was a reported −16 °F (−27 °C) with a wind chill causing it to be −40 °F, so cold that Celsius and Fahrenheit measurements are actually the same. Like many people across the country, just one week earlier I had set big goals for the New Year.  

It was the summer of 2012 and a professional athletic trainer named Rob was hired to train the USA basketball team that would be playing in the Olympics in London. He had the opportunity to work with some of the best names in basketball – Lebron James, Carmello Anthony, Kevin Durant and the legendary Kobe Bryant.