Chemistry LESSONS
On success
DUNCAN: How did you define success when you were younger?
AMANDA: When I was a kid, success was being rich. Fancy houses, flash cars, overseas travel, designer clothes. Success for me now – at the ripe old age of 42 – is happiness, and being in a loving relationship. Also having good relationships with your family, with your girlfriends, at work, and having a job you love. Being happy and content, basically.
D: And that’s good for you, isn’t it? Because you haven’t always been so settled, and it’s always worried me a bit. Now you’re the settled one, and I’m not.
A: Yes, we’ve swapped. We’ve changed roles. But what about you, how did you define success when you were a kid?
D: It was about winning. I was always very competitive. Doing the biggest bomb in your friend’s pool – I actually did okay in the bomb stakes, because of the body mass thing – and then scoring tries on the rugby field. I also remember running home from Birkenhead Primary School, I got third prize in the talent contest…
A: What was your talent?
D: I sang You Are My Sunshine while playing the ukulele. And I won a dollar, and I ran all the way home to Mum because I was so proud, but of course I told her I’d won, even though I got third.
A: Never let the truth get in the way of a good story… How’s that changed?
D: Nothing’s changed.
‘Do you feel you’ve got to the top of your game?’
A: Winning, that’s still what defines success to you?
D: Well, it’s matured – against all odds. I mean look at our team at The AM Show – happy, you accept that?
A: Yeah, absolutely.
D: Okay, so we’re happy because the show feels good, and the ratings are good, and that’s winning. I very much see my role in that team as being to contribute to those wins. That might mean making sure everyone’s having a say, and that everyone feels involved, and that you know your views are as important as mine, and everyone else’s, and at the end of each show everyone’s happy, because they’ve been included.
A: But, do you feel like you’ve made it now? Do you feel like you’ve got to the top of your game, or is there more?
I think it’s a constant perfecting, so no I haven’t made it. If you say you’ve made it, you’re gone. Because then you’re not hungry. I worked as hard today as I did
