The three most substantial accomplishments in my life comprise an athletic, a personal, and a professional accomplishment.

The Japanese language is highly complex. Two alphabets and a large number of kanji (characters) must be memorized, and respect for one’s elders reflected in the grammar itself: to mistake this is to risk insult.

My most substantial accomplishment was my recovery from a motorcycle accident during my junior year at Tufts.

Entrepreneur: In 1998, at the age of eighteen, I cofounded what is now Australia’s largest online accounting firm—www.eTax.com.au.

My most substantial accomplishment is my success as finance manager at Helisur, in a position I took with no professional exposure to aviation, advanced degree, or managerial experience.

My three most substantial accomplishments have been genuine turning points in my life.

Four years after I had initially set myself the goal, I succeeded in winning the National Mathematics Competition in Germany.

It was fall of my senior year, and I was attending one of the few financial services interviews I’d secured. The interviewer glanced at my resume, shoved it in a binder, and packed his belongings as he asked, “An English major—why aren’t you going to be a teacher?”

In the earliest days of my first job out of college, I fought through a major setback and achieved a position of significant responsibility.