Growing Keep Gayle King

Has a few ideas about being the best you.

As I sit

here today, people on the outside looking in might see me and say, “Oh, you’re so successful. You’ve done so much.” And though that may be true, my thing is that there’s always something new to learn and there are always new ways to be better.

Stay Curious

I was a very curious kid, even when I was in elementary school. That hasn’t changed. Just the other day, on our regular CBS Morning work call to go over the show, we welcomed a new member to the team. While they were introducing themselves, they said, “I am so sorry; I am just really tired today. I was up at midnight.” My natural reaction was to say, “What were you doing up at midnight?” Two seconds later, I received a text from a colleague that read, “Only you would ask that question.” But how could I not? I didn’t think it was out of line. When someone says something out of the ordinary, it seems natural to ask more and learn something new.

CBS Morning’s

Chin Up

I’ve always said failure is a great teacher. Most people wallow when they fail. I look at it like a lesson. Sometimes failure is a wake-up call, a message to move in another direction. It can say, “This isn’t for you. You could be doing better.” I ask myself, “What is this here to teach me? What can I learn from this?” When one door closes, another opens. I’ve found that to be true. Kendra Scott told me, “No is on spelled backward, so when you get a no, that means, game on.”

No Whining

Whenever someone says, “It just can’t get any worse,” I say, “Watch out!” Because you will be shown how much worse it can get. One day, while I was talking with Maya Angelou — and when you talk with her you better have a notepad and pen with you because she is pure wisdom

— I was complaining. And she said, “Just say thank you.” And I, a bit taken aback, replied, “But I haven’t even told you what I was talking about.” Her response was, “Whining is so unbecoming, Gayle. It lets them know there’s a victim in the room, and you are not a victim.” Be solutions oriented. When things don’t go to plan, ask how you can fix it.

Sometimes failure is a wake-up call to move in another direction.

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A funny thing

happened to Piera Gelardi while rising through a career as an entrepreneur, creative director, and co-founder of media platform Refinery29: She made play her superpower. And with her just-launched venture, Wild Things World, she’s on a mission to entice the rest of us into doing it, too.

“I want to create community experiences and products that fuel cathartic, creative play,” says Gelardi, whose livestreamed Play Breaks feature everything from dance and doodling tutorials to crowd-sourced word games with evocative prompts like “travel agency,” “pizza parlor,” and “discotheque.”

The benefit of getting wild and weird with Gelardi and co.? Feeling more energized. “Play cracks us open to ourselves and to others,” says Gelardi, who cites addressing the national loneliness epidemic as another source of inspiration for Wild Things World. “It requires us to be vulnerable and, in doing so, allows us to create real, live connections.”