Lauren Graham

In my experience, there__ no secret to accomplishing almost any goal worth pursuing.

Of all the lists I__e made of goals, and all the visions I__e had, it never before occurred to me that I could be this specific, that I could aspire to a goal actually measurable in inches. I wonder if this is how successful people do it. I wonder if the difference between success and failure could more accurately be described in the waist sizes for jeans.

I guess what I__ saying is, let__ keep lifting each other up. It__ not lost on me that two of the biggest opportunities I__e had to break into the next level were given to me by successful women in positions of power. If I__ ever in that position and you ask me, __ho?_ I__l do my best to say, __ou_ too. But in order to get there, you may have to break down the walls of whatever it is that__ holding you back first. Ignore the doubt__t__ not your friend__nd just keep going, keep going, keep going.

Once again, I've been thwarted by the massive difference between my vision of the successful me and the me I'm currently stuck with.

What with your phone and the Xbox and the taxi TV and that music player you wear on your arm and the headphones that look like donuts on your ears, doesn__ it make life so much smaller? If absolutely everything important is only happening on such a small screen, isn__ that a shame? Especially when the world is so overwhelmingly large and surprising? Are you missing too much? You can__ imagine it now, but you__l look like me one day, even though you__l feel just the same as you do now. You__l catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror and think how quickly it__ all gone, and I wonder if all the time you used watching those families whose lives are filmed for the television, and making those cartoons of yourselves with panting dog tongues, and chasing after that terrible Pokémon fellow_well, will it feel like time well spent?

Because who wants to Fast Forward anyway? You might miss some of the good parts.

Today, I would pick the person who made me feel warm, rather than the one who left me cold.

Honestly, I was such a tomboy as a kid. People were taking from their mothers' closets - I was taking from my dad's closet. It was the '80s, so it wasn't terrible, but I was wearing my dad's dress shirts over jeans from the Gap.

I didn't grow up identifying with beauty. I grew up thinking I could be smart and funny - those are the things I got feedback on.

I've pretty much always been on a diet since I was born. And the women in my family struggle, so I find the less I think about food, in a way, the happier I am. In general, I think I eat less the less I think about it.

I get a delivery of a diet food during the week, which doesn't mean that I don't eat the occasional Krispy Kreme doughnut.

For a time in high school, I had glasses, braces, and a cast. I like to call this look 'no date for homecoming.'

Like my dad, I have a Christmas party most years. I like to celebrate and see as many people as possible.

Anyone can smile on their best day. I like to meet a man who can smile on his WORST.

I must work harder to achieve my goal of not seeking approval from those whose approval I'm not even sure is important to me.

I've always thought my strengths were I'm smart, and I have a good sense of humor. I definitely struggle with feeling confident.