Three tips from an olympic medalist that anyone can use to work towards excellence.
Olympic athletes…they’re just like us! Or at least that’s what this interview with medalist Noelle Pikus-Pace will have you thinking. Her major secrets you need to know to accomplish your biggest goals are based on mindset, purpose, values, and relationships.
She offers three simple tips, and ultimately reminds everyone to start super, super simple. Listeners from this community will especially resonate with her approach to habits, and her unique bucket list (spoiler: it’s a lot like a Do Something plan!) Plus, the stories from her Olympic and World Cup victories, intertwined with family and travel, offer a fascinating perspective.
About a few other things…
One or two times a year I open enrollment to my small group coaching Progress Program, where we focus on transforming your body, mind, and spirit by combining mindset and action. If you’re searching for your identity, feeling like you don’t have purpose, then this group with will provide the guidance and accountability that you need. You can read all of the details here, as well as hear testimonials from former participants in their own words.
Sign up for your spot in my FREE class, How to Make Habits that Stick, where I guide you towards narrowing in on your goals through habits. You can have more control and live with intention, and it starts here. Choose from 3 dates and times. See you there!
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TRANSCRIPT:
Monica: [00:00:00] Noelle Pikus Pace, thank you so much for being on About Progress.
[00:00:03]Noelle: [00:00:03] Thanks for having me, Monica. This is exciting. I’m excited to be here.
[00:00:07] Monica: [00:00:07] Well, it is for me. And that’s actually the exact phrase I had to adopt this morning. Instead of “I’m scared.” I had to say, “I’m excited,” because you are someone who I have tracked for many years, and I know I’m not alone in this. You were a fellow Utah Girl, like me, and I know that I’m not alone in looking up to you and admiring where you got to in your athletic career, but also where you are now and what you’re doing with your life.
[00:00:33] So let’s just back up a little bit for people who maybe aren’t as familiar or obsessed with you, like I am. And let’s give them a little bit of a past on you. So tell us a little bit about, a little bit about who you are, but also how this ties into our discussion on goal making and having a vision that we’re going to talk about today. .
[00:00:53] Noelle: [00:00:53] Sounds great. Awesome. so I grew up in Utah, and I grew up, I grew up dancing until I was about 12 years old and then I realized there were sports. So I actually didn’t start out growing up, competing in sports as a lot of kids do now. I didn’t start doing any kind of sport until I was about 12 years old and started with softball and basketball and then track.
[00:01:14] And just one by one, I started playing a lot of sports; fell in love with it. and then my junior year of high school, I was introduced to this crazy sport of bobsledding and later switched to skeleton. So that was, really because time and place, right time, right place. One of those situations where the 2002 winter Olympic games were just around the corner.
[00:01:34] And, so I was asked to go up and try these winter sports. I lived about an hour away from the bobsled track in Park City, Utah. And so I went up, I tried it, I fell in love with it and, I stuck with it for 15 years. So , I graduated from Utah Valley university in 2005. I competed in 10 events and track and field.
[00:01:55] I love, love, loved track and field. you can hear me smile probably and then, as time went on in between Olympic games, I had, my husband, I had our daughter she’s 12 years old now, which is crazy. And then we had a son between 2010 Olympics in the 2014 Olympic games, which were in Sochi, Russia, which led us to the podium.
[00:02:18] So, that is seriously my life in a really, really quick nutshell. And we’ve had twin boys since then, twin little boys and their little blessings in our lives. We have four kids and we reside in Utah. So yeah, that’s like, you know that my 30 seconds, like, okay, let’s see if I can do this.
[00:02:34] Monica: [00:02:34] And that was amazing. So, you know, clearly you’ve been to the Olympics twice. You’ve won a silver medal. You have also won many world events. I know I’m totally butchering all the language here, but you’re the real deal. Tell us what you’re up to now.
[00:02:50] Noelle: [00:02:50] Yeah. So now, you know, you mentioned goal setting. I am so passionate about goal setting and even a step further than that is gold getting, I feel like there’s a huge gap between, most individuals, you know, I’m sayin this and you’re feeling this way then you’re definitely not alone. But as we set goals and we try, but then something comes in a hiccup comes and, our goal falters and fails.
[00:03:14]We’re not alone in that honestly, but I’m a huge, huge advocate in helping people to reach their goals and achieving their goals. And so now, currently I am creating eCourses to help individuals to live their life on purpose. And with that it’s figuring out how to reach those goals. There’s there really is a strategy and a process to achieve goals.
[00:03:37] It’s more than just, you know, saying I’m going to do it and then doing it. You have to have healthy habits. And I know on your show, you talk about discipline and habits and, and it’s really truly stems from mindset and purpose and values and the relationships around you. So, I’m just super excited about these e-courses that I’m launching and, it’s a lot of fun.
[00:03:55] I’m so, so passionate about helping people live on, on purpose. And that’s what I’m up to right now.
[00:04:02] Monica: [00:04:02] Well, you’ve lived this and, and more ways than one. I know a lot of people will want to only focus on your Olympic career, but you are a multifaceted woman, a multi-passionate woman, a mother, and a leader.
[00:04:14] I would say in a thought leader as well. And how will we want to translate this conversation today about goal getting, I love how you phrase that, is how to focus more on the process instead of only anchoring into a very specific outcome, which is really a complex idea. Let’s back up a little bit and just talk about the importance of vision and having a target in mind and why that matters before we then talk about your experiences and also your philosophies on how to break this down in ways that. Is more focused on the process instead of getting to a specific spot.
[00:04:50] Noelle: [00:04:50] Yeah, absolutely. I’m a firm believer. I love the quote, Stephen R Covey says it. A bunch of, I’ve heard a lot of people say it, “Begin with the end in mind.”
[00:04:58] And I think that’s critical to have a clear vision of where you want to go, whether it is. This month or this year or the end of your life. I think it’s extremely critical to have that vision in place. And I’m an advocate of writing things down. And, if you can do it outside of your phone or outside of a digital device, just to be more intentional with your time so that when you pull out that notebook is specifically intended to help you reach your goals, to create that vision, to drive you forward. I believe in that. But have this clear vision in mind and then build that process. It’s funny, as we, you know, are in 2021, I, I’m not a huge advocate of, new year’s resolutions.
[00:05:41] they falter, they fail. They, you know, you have these big goals, these big dreams. And then all of a sudden they crumble by January 15th or February 2nd. And you’re just like, okay, you throw your hands in the air. And you’re saying, “Oh man, you know, I tried, I guess that’s that.” But, I really truly believe, and there’s actually research that proves this to set goals within a 30 to 90 day frame and try not to go past that 90 days.
[00:06:02]My husband and I, we love bucket lists. We love creating these lists of just everything we want to do see. And our bucket list, isn’t like swim with sharks in 20 degree water. Like, well, yeah, we’re a little more practical than that. Like, okay. You know, maybe some that’s the on your bucket list, but for us, it’s like, okay, we want to read these 50 books and we want to, and there are some travel ones that we want to do, but most of them are, are really just like talents or skills or things that we want to develop.
[00:06:28] And, so we just set goals every 30 days. And sometimes those goals go into 60 or 90 days, but never past that. So, whether it’s learning a new musical instrument or learning how to play a certain song or learning how to juggle, which is a fun one, or setting a workout goal for the next 30 days or 60 days or whatever it might be.
[00:06:49] Knowing where you want to end up knowing what that end vision is, is absolutely critical for goal setting. And then focusing, as we, as you’ve mentioned, Monica is focusing on the daily tasks, focusing on the process and not, not necessarily just keeping your sight set on that podium. And I say podium, you know, whether that’s learning how to make 10 new meals or, or learning maybe five phrases in a different language, whatever it may be, having that as your goal and then just kind of shelfing it. I love this sense of just like taking this main goal and just putting it on the shelf and now figuring out, breaking it down into the tiniest, smallest little bite-size pieces possible to create daily habits, to be able to now move yourself or just I, so here’s what I call it.
[00:07:34] The 1% better rule, right? To be a little bit better today than you were yesterday. And that’s really what it’s about. That’s what the process is, is becoming just a tiny bit better today than you were yesterday. And yes, if you mess up today, then you’re going to have to be a little bit better tomorrow than you were today and that’s okay. You’re just making progress each and every day.
[00:07:53] Monica: [00:07:53] A lot of people are, I think amazed by you that you do this so regularly. But let’s break this down for them on what this actually looks like, because if you’re out of practice of making goals, this is going to seem super overwhelming.
[00:08:08]And a lot of people are doing it wrong. Like you said, they’re just, their goal is to do that huge bucket list or to be the big things , or they’re too vague, like get in shape or read more books. For you, what are some keys that you would say help you create a solid vision of where you want to go for starters, but also breaking that down into a process that works.
[00:08:30]Noelle: [00:08:30] The number one thing is to keep it simple, like as simple as possible. I mean, even if, if you have a goal like this and this to me, just so you know, is very like far reaching. So for those that are listening and you’re thinking, man, I just don’t even know where to begin. Like, if you’re to say like, I’m going to go run a mile today and let’s say you don’t even, you don’t exercise at all and you don’t, you hate running maybe or something like that.
[00:08:54] Maybe the first step would be okay, just set a smaller goal. Like every day, this week I will. Put on my workout clothes and walk around the block. Like it just starts as small as possible and you build onto it .
[00:09:07] You think about the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. It really is true that the smallest simplest acts that we do will make a big difference.
[00:09:15] If we trust in that process, to just be willing to put on those workout clothes and then to say, okay, I’m going to get my water bottle, put on my workout clothes and walk to the end of the street and back, and look, I did it and then to be disciplined to do it. And that’s really where I think a lot of us falter is in that discipline, in that consistency, in that routine in making those habits.
[00:09:35]One tip that I would suggest is, a tool called habit stacking. And what that means is to take something that you already consistently do. So for me, for myself, for example, let’s say I want to start a new workout routine and I’m feeling super overwhelmed and I’m just like, I don’t even know where to begin. ‘ve tried this before and failed many, many times. How do I make this happen? For myself, within the Olympics, when I was going to the Olympics, I didn’t want to compete. I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to compete. I didn’t want to train every single day. Like that’s daunting and burn-out is super high.
[00:10:08] And so I had to not look so far ahead. I had to be focused on what I can do today and today. So as I would get ready for bed every night before bed, I had this habit. That I created through this habit stacking process. And I would say every time i, put on my pajamas. So this is, this is what I would do every time I put on my pajamas, I will pull out my workout clothes and lay them on the floor.
[00:10:32] So then I got in this habit of every time I put on my pajamas, I just automatically, my hands started going to the drawer where my workout clothes were. I would lay them out. I start getting my water bottle, my headphones, I had everything ready to do this workout in the morning.
[00:10:45]When that alarm went off, the only discipline that I had to think about was will I shut my alarm off? Or will I, will I get out of bed? Like I just had, that was the only decision cause every other decision was made for me.
[00:10:56] I already had my clothes out. I had my stuff ready to go. I didn’t have to think about what I wanted to wear that day for my workout or fill up, you know, get my, go to find my water bottle in an unknown place. It just made it so much easier for myself. So that would be a huge, Tip is to make whatever habit, whatever goal you have as easy on yourself as possible.
[00:11:15] Obviously you want to push yourself as far as you can, but make those habits as easy as possible so that you continue with those habits, towards those goals.
[00:11:23]Monica: [00:11:23] Yeah, because a habit is nothing without consistency. And you know, the science literally shows that that is the only way to be consistent, especially for this bigger thing.
[00:11:33] Do you have any other basic tips for them? Cause I’m full of other questions about your, your life and how that applied, but let’s, let’s stick to the tips for a little bit longer.
[00:11:41] Noelle: [00:11:41] Yeah. Sure. So, I think if, if I were to share three tips on what maybe listeners can do to better move towards like excellence, by focusing on the process that the three tips I would offer would be number one to learn from the past.
[00:11:57]Just three simple, three simple steps is just learn from the past, learn from past experiences. don’t beat yourself up over it, just learn from it and, and, learn all that you can from your failures. And also from success. Like a lot of times we look back at success and we just take it as a win and say, okay, that was great.
[00:12:14] There’s no more room for improvement, but just learn all you can from the past.
[00:12:18] I learn from the past daily. Honestly, I make mistakes daily. I find reasons to celebrate, continuously. Those are, might be a little harder to find is those reasons to celebrate, you know, sometimes we really have to dig deep, but, I’m continually, constantly looking for ways to learn from past experiences.
[00:12:36]An example of this, you know, it actually took me quite some time. To, to step back and learn from success. I think it’s, I think it’s much easier for us to look back at a failure and not just a failure, but a loss, a struggle, you know, a shortcoming it’s much easier for us to look back on those experiences and to say, wow, What can I learn from this?
[00:12:58] I don’t want to go through that again. That was rough. Like what can I learn and how can I move forward? I think it’s easier for us to look back on those situations and to learn something from it. But I think there are so many missed opportunities, and not learning from success and from, celebration.
[00:13:14]I think one of the times that I can remember clearly, learning from success was at one of my World cup competitions in Germany.
[00:13:23] And I had just walked away from this world cup competition on top, and I walked away with the gold medal. I didn’t really walk away. I, you know, I fought really hard to earn that gold medal, but I remember walking away and at the end of the day, everybody just wants to celebrate. They want to go out and, you have, you know, big parties and things like that after world cup competitions.
[00:13:42] And I remember at the time. Specific race looking back, we actually had to get straight into a car and drive about six hours to another competition. So there was no time to really, you know, take in all this excitement. So all I could do is like sit in this car and think about what had just happened and about this success.
[00:13:58] And I remember that was really when it hit me. That I, you know, as an Olympic athlete, I think that was when I really started shifting from being a rookie to being elite. And obviously I was, I had just won this world cup medal, but I realized that there was still so much more room for improvement. And I wasn’t seeing that in a way to be down on myself.
[00:14:16] That’s not what I’m seeing it all. Because a lot of times I think we beat ourselves up more than anything. Like we talk about trying to be perfect and that is completely not what we’re aiming for. I mean, we want to be as best as we can, but perfection is this, really truly this unattainable thing that we’ll continually progress progress towards, but it’s really hard to reach it.
[00:14:34] So just to give yourself some slack. And I remember, as I walked away from this world cup competition, looking back and thinking, “wow, Even being top in the world, there’s still so much for me to learn, to learn about this sport. There’s still so much for me to improve upon.” And I started analyzing my race.
[00:14:53] I took that time. We all need to take time to celebrate, of course, when we have those wins, but at the same time, I think it’s equally important to look back and say, what else can I learn from this? How can I be just a little bit better? And, that really took me to the next level and led me onto the, to the 2014 podium in Sochi, Russia.
[00:15:11] Monica: [00:15:11] how were you able to learn to do that without attaching your worth to it and these emotions of, well, how good am I, who am I, you know, putting it on the outcome because you have that every single day, you have outcomes based on a workout or, down to an Olympic race or a world cup, race there’s outcomes every single day.
[00:15:30] So how did you learn to detach that? To look at it as data instead of. Blaming yourself, I guess, is what I’m trying to say.
[00:15:37] Noelle: [00:15:37] Yeah,
[00:15:37] To be honest, it takes, it takes practice. It doesn’t come easy. because we all have negative thoughts that enter into our mind. We all have thoughts of this, you know, needing to be better, which we should want to be better.
[00:15:50] But to be honest, I think it comes down to mindset, and recognizing where we are within our mindset. A lot of times it’s just that awareness of where our thoughts are leading us. Something as simple as one little tiny little thought of saying something like, Oh, you just messed up, but then it’s, it’s taking it a step farther from saying it like a lot of times we’ll think every day we have, we have thousands of thoughts that come into our mind, but then we have a choice to make.
[00:16:18] And there’s this millisecond of thought that goes into deciding whether this thought is true or false. And we all have this decision to make, right when that thought comes in. But a lot of times we just brush it off and just accept that thought for being truth. And then all of a sudden that thought changes our, our behaviors and our actions.
[00:16:37] And it changes obviously what the outcome will be in any situation because of, because of that one initial thought. So I think to be honest, it just took,and continues to take, a lot of practice of recognizing my thoughts and for each of us, whether it’s in parenting, like as a parent, Holy cow, like the thoughts can go spiraling down.
[00:16:57] The second that bowl of cereal goes flying off the table, or the second that like, you know, you’ve been working on a project and also your papers are all drawn on, on the back of, you know, you know, all these like little pictures are all over your work papers that you really needed to turn in and you just all send these thoughts, go immediate to actions.
[00:17:15] And we don’t recognize that there’s that brief millisecond even less than, you know, nanosecond of time when we are choosing to attach our behaviors and actions into this one simple thought, we can choose to accept it as truth, or we can say, you know what? All right, I’m going to take a breath. So, why didn’t, you know, these pictures are great, you know, how come you chose these papers while they were sitting right here.
[00:17:39] And there was a box of crayons, right? Yeah. There, and they were sitting right next to each other. So I thought you got them out for me. That was really nice of you mom. Thanks for getting out paper. And you’re like, Oh man. Okay. So how can you be mad when they’re, it’s not an intentional, they’re not trying to like drive you crazy as a parent.
[00:17:53] So it’s just this, like, you know, a split second of making that choice as to whether we will follow their thoughts, but it all begins with awareness and then a desire and intention to want to change and to improve.
[00:18:03] Monica: [00:18:03] Yeah, it’s just like any other physical muscle on your body, at least in my own experience, paying attention to your thoughts and being able to intercept that nanosecond of time between stimulus and response just takes some strengthening.
[00:18:17] And I was curious in your own experiences, if you’ve been able to see the difference between an athlete or a mother or someone, you know, in your life who was able to slow down those thoughts and detach their worth from the outcome and still lean into the process and still have this vision and goals, or someone who is so up and down.
[00:18:38] All up and down, depending on their performance or the outcomes or the achievements that go with it. And I’m sure that makes a big difference on where they’re able to get to. I’d love to hear your own perspective on that.
[00:18:49] For sure. I’ve seen both ends of the spectrum and I think we all can. I mean, if we take the time, we can all put a.
[00:18:54] A person, you know, in each of those rounds and even ourselves jump might, may jump from each of those rooms from one end to the other at times. first I’ll start with the one end of the spectrum where I’ve seen, I’ve seen people and athletes where they are. So, swayed by their thoughts, their emotions, their, the surroundings around them.
[00:19:14] That, as an athlete, I’ve seen this and on the Olympic level, where if somebody said sat in their spot, that they’d been sitting in, all of a sudden there goes their race. Or if, the weather is different than what the weatherman would had said, that it would be, there goes their race. Like everything was dependent on, you know, those circumstances around them.
[00:19:32] And they had no control. They just weren’t able to control those thoughts and shape their behavior. And it’s just so destructive, to, to themselves. And then a lot of times it pulls down the people around them. If the people around them, aren’t strong enough to see past it and to be aware of their own thoughts and actions.
[00:19:47] But on the other side, I have seen such great things come from that, positivity and that awareness of thoughts, despite the circumstances my sister is a great role model to me and one of my heroes and despite any circumstance that I’ve seen her around, she has a happy face on, and not in a, not in a facade of a way, not as a mask of sorts, but, but really as just truly making lemonade out of lemons as they come her way. And every time there’s something, some kind of struggle, some kind of tr trouble, she just kind of says, well, we’re going to have to figure out how to get through this. All right. Well, there’s just one more thing we’re going to have to learn, you know, and just seeing her attitude and her reaction.
[00:20:31] Noelle: [00:20:31] I never see that. I guess it would be like a, an instability of sorts with, with those reactions. It’s very consistent and very calm. And I, and she still gets to be this very, very happy person when their success and I’ve seen her cry, you know? So I’m not saying that she’s, you know, that she doesn’t have emotion, but she controls it very well.
[00:20:52] Monica: [00:20:52] Yeah, I’m sure this is vital to all of us who are listening. We might not have Olympic goals in mind, but they’re all things that we desperately want and ways that we want to work on ourselves and who we want to become. And I love that you can make this apply to so many areas of our life. So let’s get back to the tips a little bit.
[00:21:13] Thank you for letting us wander around a little bit. So we’ve talked about keeping the goal simple and small, small, and we talked about habit stacking. What else have you got for us?
[00:21:23] Noelle: [00:21:23] Oh yeah. The three things would be one would be to learn from the past, which we kind of talked about. And the second one of those three tools would be to be excited about the future.
[00:21:33] Look forward to the future. Just be hopeful about the future. Just expect great things to come. You know, especially during this pandemic, I’ve seen a lot of people that say, I just can’t wait until this is over. I can’t wait until this ends. I can’t wait until I can do this. I can’t wait till life goes back to this.
[00:21:47] And instead of just, being where they are and making the most of what they can be today and looking around for ways to bring light to others, I can see so many people are, taking this all in and it’s changing them. And so, I mean, it’s changed every one of us. I don’t know one person that has been unscathed by the pandemic around us.
[00:22:06] I really don’t. But it’s been interesting to see a variety of ways that people have. Looked at this pandemic and some have, it’s destroyed many lives. It’s destroyed many careers. It’s destroyed, a lot of different opportunities for people, you know, in all different aspects of life. But on the same regard, it’s opened up doors for people to innovate and to be creative and to, get out of their shell and to become something more than what they thought they could become.
[00:22:33] So it’s been very, very interesting. You’ve seen this big separation in individuals and in mindsets, in the mindset of people. The second tip would just be to be excited about the future. Look forward to everything. This is one reason why, after the 2014 Olympic games, my husband and I, I knew that the Olympics were coming to the end and that was like a 15 year career, you know?
[00:22:53] So that was a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of effort that went into this one goal. And then what’s next? Like I was looking ahead, as I sat there in our hotel room in, Russia and the Olympics, my, my race was about two weeks away. And I remember just thinking, what am I going to do next? Like what, what do I want to do?
[00:23:12] I’ve seen a lot of athletes where the end of one chapter at the end of their Olympic or. Or competitive chapter has completely destroyed them. And I didn’t want that to be, what would happen in my life. So as we sat there, my husband and I sat down and we were, we just started talking and we said, you know what we want to, we want to look forward.
[00:23:29] We want to be excited about the future. It’s like Dr. Seuss said where he said, Don’t be sad that it’s over be happy that it happened. Be excited that it happened. And, that’s really what I wanted to see the Olympics as, don’t be sad that it’s over, just be happy that it happened.
[00:23:43] And so I wanted to look ahead to the next chapter in my life. And so we started creating this bucket list, this massive list of all these things that. We wanted to do. And one of those on my list was to write a book. So over the next couple of months, I wrote a book and it was published by that fall. Which was exciting.
[00:24:01] That was like, that’s always been, one of my dreams was to, was to write and I want to continue to do that. And then another goal on our list was, I really wanted to learn Spanish and my husband wanted to get a master’s degree. So, totally not conventional, but, we had lived in our house. comfortably for nine years, great community, little park across the street.
[00:24:21] Our kids were having, we were, we were just living this great life and we decided to just uproot our family. And I was 33 weeks pregnant with twins and we moved to Costa Rica. So that I could learn Spanish. And so that my husband could get his master’s degree. So, you know, as you see one door close, we have this opportunity to either see it as a shut door and just to be sad and miserable and upset, or we can see that closed door as an opportunity to try something new and reinvent who we are and what we want to do in our lives.
[00:24:55] And that’s the joy in, in. In life really is that every day is a new day to begin again. And, you know, coming up, you know, as, as, as we go into this 2021 year, it, yes, new year’s resolutions are awesome, but we have every day to restart. We have every week to restart. Maybe you want to restart on every Sunday or every Monday or whatever that day may be, or at the beginning of every month.
[00:25:19] But we have these opportunities all around us to be who we want to be and to become the person we’ve always wanted to become. We don’t need to wait until the first of a year or until, you know, until the timing is right, because I can tell you timing will never be right. And you just have to move forward with your dreams.
[00:25:35] So just be excited about the future.
[00:25:38] Monica: [00:25:38] Well, I, I think, many of us. I think all of us actually have not needed a worldwide pandemic to have a terrible year. If we can never predict how things are going to be. And while, you know, we’re not downplaying the suffering that has happened and what will continue to happen.
[00:25:54] Because we’re still right in the middle of it at the, you never know what’s next. So we might be hindering our development, our lives off of, you know, arriving to a normal life again, when we don’t really know what that normal life is going to look like or what it will bring. So I love that you are putting an emphasis on development and being a whole person and also asking what’s next, because I’ve seen so many people who have reached amazing successes that we can only dream about.
[00:26:24] And the crash and burn is so real because they’ve been waiting to feel like they’ve arrived based off of success. Yeah, absolutely insight you had there. Tell us, tell us more about that.
[00:26:36] Noelle: [00:26:36] Yeah. So the third one, so I was just sharing these three steps and the first one is to learn from the past the second one, be excited about the future and the third one, the third tip, to just better move towards excellence. The third one is just to give your absolute best, the absolute best you have. In the present moment, to not beat yourself up over it. I mean, every day is a new day. So you can’t expect your best today to be the same as your best yesterday or tomorrow. Sometimes you’re going to be a little bit better and sometimes you’re going to feel maybe a little sick or a little or a little off or a little bit.
[00:27:07] Maybe you didn’t get enough sleep or, you know, maybe your, the things always get thrown into the schedule that kind of throws us for a loop and we just have to be forgiving of ourselves. So just give your absolute best in the current moment. And that’s really where I love to focus on the 1% better.
[00:27:21] If I could just be 1% better right now than I was yesterday. If I can just be present, fully present in this moment right now and give my absolute best here on this podcast, give my absolute best on this podcast. And when I get off this podcast is time to be with my twin five-year-old boys. I’ve got to go make them lunch, you know, so I’m going to go be with them instead of trying to multitask and being on my phone while I’m talking to them while they’re telling me about their day, while I’m cooking lunch or whatever it might be to just be fully present.
[00:27:49] Just be present, be all in and give your, give your absolute best in the present moment.
[00:27:55] Monica: [00:27:55] There’s this book called the one thing I’m sure you’ve heard about it at least. And it talks a lot about this principle of the 1%. And it talks about, you know, a domino like a normal domino. If you just put a little bit bigger each time, by the time it hits some low number, like in the thirties, it will knock over the Eiffel tower. And that’s what I love so much about what you’re saying is, we need goals. We need visions, but we also have to be in the moment and just doing a little better than we thought we could do just a little bit better and how that will build and build and build. So let’s talk about the process because Noel, everything you’ve done in your life has entailed a lot of boring, boring days, you know, monotonous, monotonous work that.
[00:28:42] It doesn’t sound so fun or doesn’t look so pretty. Like we love to see you on the podium. Yes. But, we don’t like to know that, Oh, it was boring a lot artwork. It wasn’t exciting all the time. So let’s talk a little bit about how you have learned to lean into the process, both within your athletic career and also now in your normal development and how you continue to reach for the next, the next thing for yourself.
[00:29:08] Noelle: [00:29:08] Yeah, for sure. The last two years of my competition going into the 2014 Olympic games, so I had retired after 2010. I finished fourth in the Olympic games, which is the worst position possible to finish and, two years. So I retired after those games. Two years later, I had a late miscarriage, which then sparked this idea for my husband.
[00:29:28] I was really just sad and depressed and didn’t know how to overcome this trial. And he said, well, what if we could travel the, what if you go back to compete, what are, and he knew I didn’t want, he, he knew I didn’t want to be away for my kids and for my family for the months and months and months at a time.
[00:29:42] And so he said, well, what if we could do it as a family? What if we could travel the world together as a family, for the next two years, as you train and compete to go to the Olympic games. And for me that was like magical, it was just perfect picture. Perfect. I had my husband and my two kids by my side, as we traveled in and out of country to country, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, you know, all over the U S wherever it may be to Russia.
[00:30:10] It was absolutely amazing to be able to be there with them. And with the coaches. the one thing that just really stood out to me with the coaches along the way is my head coach, Tuffy, Latour. He had this, this saying, or this mantra that he would use in and out, of every, every week of competition.
[00:30:28] And he would say let’s be process oriented and results driven. And he would say that. All the time let’s be process oriented and results driven. There’d be a lot of athletes that would say, Oh, I just, I want to be on the podium. Oh, I want to take first. I’ve got to beat her or I’ve got to beat him. I’ve got to, you know, I’ve got to increase my rankings in order to end up at this level.
[00:30:50] And he would always have to kind of tone it down and to say, okay. Okay. Okay. Like, that’s all good. But let’s be process oriented and results driven. And what that means is that, and how that applied has applied to my life as a parent, as a business owner, as a, you know, a career woman or, or whatnot, is just to stay really, to stay present in the moment is to say, you know, I’m going to have this vision.
[00:31:11] I’m going to have this end goal of what I want to achieve. I’m a huge advocate in. And deadlines, my husband, it drives him crazy sometimes. Cause I’m like, he’ll say, Oh, we’ve got to get this done. And I’ll say, okay, by when, like, okay, what’s our timeframe here. What’s it look like? You know, so I’m, I’m always like I’m throwing out dates because if I don’t have a date, then I don’t, I don’t know how hard I need to work in the moment.
[00:31:33] And, and when I will reach that end point. So, I really liked deadlines, but I can set that deadline for what I know I want to achieve for that clear vision, that clear goal. And then I can shelf it like, like we were talking about or a little bit earlier, but I can shelf, I can put it up there on the shelf kind of a way out of my mind and just say, I know that’s my end goal.
[00:31:50] Now I’m going to backtrack and just break it down into pieces. If it’s a 30 day goal, usually I’ll say, okay, here’s 30 days out. I want this accomplished. So by week four, I need to do this by week three. I need to do this by week two. I need to do this by the end of the week. This has to be accomplished. So what do I need to do today?
[00:32:05] To be 1% closer to where I need to be by the end of the week and then the end of two weeks and by the end of the month. And so, all I need to focus on now, I’ve made it as simple as possible to achieve this goal because I know all I need to do is this one thing today. I don’t need to worry about that big picture because I know if I do what I need to do today and just do my best at it, it’s going to be okay.
[00:32:25] Like it’s, it’s going to work out. And even if that means I fall short, A lot of times, we, we just, we give up on our goals either because we failed at it. We fall short, we have a hiccup, a struggle comes to trial. Sometimes it’s because of a lack of discipline or habits as we’ve talked about. But, a lot of times it’s just not focusing on what I need to do right now in this moment and becoming very overwhelmed by the end goal, whether that’s losing weight and you’re like, I’m not seeing the results really fast. Well just keep pushing forward. Like keep doing a little bit today and be a little bit better tomorrow and a little bit better the next day. Or maybe it’s memorizing or doing, you know, being with the kids more intentionally at night and tucking them in.
[00:33:06] Maybe you can’t, maybe you don’t have time to read them a full book every night before bed, but it’s been nagging you to want to spend more time with your kids and to be able to read to them at night. And, and so maybe all you can do, maybe all you can do tonight is to, is to read the first paragraph of a book and you say, okay, each night I’ll read one paragraph and you stop wherever you’re at.
[00:33:26] And you just say, Nope, we’ll read through it. We’ll read another one tomorrow. And if that’s all you can do to begin that goal, then start there. Start with just a paragraph. If you’re, if it’s a book you want to read to your kids each night, it’s just starting with the smallest simplest aspect, looking ahead to a bright future and just saying, this is going to be great.
[00:33:43] Like I’m going to do the best I can, and I’m going to give myself some credit for it.
[00:33:47] Monica: [00:33:47] I adore that, you know, what came to mind for me, Noelle is, I think a lot of all those things you said totally are obstacles to us, achieving greatness and aspiring for more in our lives. But I think a lot of it comes down to is belief belief that we can be.
[00:34:05] Great belief that we can be those people who we admire and to do better and be better, but also belief in the process, like does this really work? Does the little thing I’m doing today, does it really matter that much? And the answer is yes to all of the above and belief seems so central to us being able to be the people we want to become and both the practical process ways, but also in the, in the big achievement kind of ways.
[00:34:34] Noelle: [00:34:34] Absolutely. Absolutely. It starts with the belief. It starts with a desire really. you have to want it just in a littlest bit and then believe that it’s possible that, that what you are doing, as you mentioned, Monica, that what you are doing is making a difference because, because it does, and it is making a difference and you won’t always see those results.
[00:34:53] If you’re looking for quick, quick results, immediate results. Those are far and few between and they do happen, but very, very, very rarely. And, I would have to think for quite a while of any time in my life, when I’ve seen immediate results from something I just picked up on right then and there, if, if I could even think of something, but honestly, the.
[00:35:13] Everything I can think of that has brought me success in my life has taken that first, that desire to want to change and then a belief that it was possible to do. So. And then from there it just starts building into your mindset and developing a purpose of, what is your purpose in life?
[00:35:30] We have multiple purposes, whether it’s, you know, I have a purpose for cooking dinner or a purpose for going to the store purpose for this or that, but what’s your purpose in life and really taking time to figure out who you want to be in the direction you’re going. And then. Coming back to relationships and things like that.
[00:35:43]They’re all very, very important, but it’s focusing on that process and it, it definitely starts with that desire just saying, I want to be better. And then just saying, I believe I can be better and just taking it baby steps at a time.
[00:35:56] Monica: [00:35:56] I have two questions to end this interview, Noelle. And the first is, I’m just thinking of, if I were listening to the show five years ago before I really started to open up in that belief in myself and belief in the process too, and the desire as well, you know, that it was okay for me to want more out of my life. I had to allow myself to even want that, but I’m just thinking back to that time before then when I would listen to this kind of interview and I’d be really inspired by it, but I’d also be like, but that’s Noelle. Like she’s, she’s done all these amazing things in her life. And I’m not that person, which kind of hurts my heart to even imagine the women who might be thinking that right now, listening to this show Because I know you would be the first to say, Nope, I’m normal, I’m human.
[00:36:40] I have, you know, struggles just like you and I have to work hard like everyone else. Anyway, let’s level this a little bit for them, if you can think of, and I didn’t even prepare you for this, so it’s okay. If you want to skip out on this one, but, is there one person in your life who maybe hasn’t been on an Olympic podium, but who was lived this out, like an, like a normal, ordinary person who has achieved greatness in their lives because of this.
[00:37:08]
[00:37:08] Yeah. I’m going to go back to my sister, my, my hero in my life. she’s my sister is five years older than me. And this question is going to make me tear up a little bit because, recently she was posting, just on social media of something she was grateful for.
[00:37:25] Noelle: [00:37:25] She was posting a message of gratitude and she was just saying, showing gratitude for all of her siblings and saying, in her post, it made me tear up because she said that she didn’t have any, any talents, that people could see. She said, how you know myself, I went to the Olympics, my, my brother’s a doctor.
[00:37:42] Yes. My other brother owns his own like big concrete company. And my sister, she does sonography on little babies. So she doesn’t see what she does as being extremely important, which obviously, as, as I hope, every listener understands is extremely important. And the way that she said it was just, you know, seeing how, she’s she then went on to say, but I am grateful for the compassion that I have for others and for, the service that I offer and maybe it’s not doing much good, but she’s like, it’s harder for me to recognize the talents that I have, because they’re not something that can be seen on a stage or performed. And she’s like, so I have to really search deep for those talents and for, an appreciation of those talents. And, to me, it’s interesting for me to hear her say that because to me, she is my hero. Because of all the good that she does.
[00:38:32] She’s always looking for someone to put her arm around, for someone to brighten their day. She’s always baking cookies and just taking them over to someone in need or, offering to help in any way. She watches my little kindergarten five-year-old, you know, rascal twins when she can see that I’m like struggling and she’ll say, you know, I just came to pick them up and to just go take them to the park for a little bit.
[00:38:54] And she has four kids of her own. She is the epitome of just who I want to become. and her talents aren’t those that are seen on a stage or in front of a camera so much, but she has so many more, qualities and talents and strengths than she’ll ever know. And she continues to strive to be better.
[00:39:13]she continues to strive to believe that, what she is doing it, getting down to that belief, that what she is doing is making a difference. And she’s commented. I don’t know if what I’m doing is making a difference, but I’m going to continue doing it anyway. And I think that’s really, that’s at the heart of it all, is that, we believe that what we’re doing can and is making a difference and we’re going to just do it anyway.
[00:39:35] So, she’s incredible. She’s, she’s my hero.
[00:39:38] Monica: [00:39:38] I was tearing up with that Noel. It’s so wonderful to hear about this. And it takes us back to the very beginning of this conversation. We’ve talked about the importance of having a vision of who you want to be, and let’s just remind people that that’s going to be different for every single one of us.
[00:39:53] And it doesn’t mean you have to have fame or money, or even a professional outlet where this plays out. It means you are living. As a whole woman and you’re being who you want to be, and you have values and purpose in your life, and that can be chosen too. So thank you for sharing about your sister and letting me throw out that question, for you, but Noel, let’s talk about what you’re working on right now.
[00:40:16] Self-development wise, we’re all works in progress. So what are you working on?
[00:40:20] Noelle: [00:40:20] Sure. So I just finished creating. Yeah, I’m so excited about it over, over the past, like 15 years I have been on, I don’t know how many stages, hundreds of stages in front of thousands of people. And I love speaking. I really, really, truly enjoy it.
[00:40:35] But at the end of the day, every time I walk off the stage, I just think, ah, Did it, did it make a difference in the lives of somebody? Are they just going to go home and be the same person that they’ve always been saying? Oh, that was a great idea. But now back to reality, you know, and I’ve, I’ve always wanted to do more, something more to help transform people’s lives and to help them to reach that, level of success that I felt in, in my life, but in every area of an individual’s life. So I just finished creating and just launched a 12 week course that dives into what it takes to live your life on purpose. So, I’m really, really excited about this. this pandemic has allowed me to slow down enough to just fulfill another dream of mine that I never had to do.
[00:41:18] Before now, you know, and so that’s to create an online course with Olympic proven methods to live life on purpose. So it just launched and I really, truly just can’t wait to help individuals live their lives by design and live the best life they can live.
[00:41:33] Monica: [00:41:33] And I know you put the title in there. What’s the title of the, of the course
[00:41:36] Noelle: [00:41:36] It’s called life stacking shift from good to great.
[00:41:43] Monica: [00:41:43] Thank you. So we’ll make sure that’s linked in the show notes. we love hearing about what you’re doing and how you’re putting your gifts and talents and experiences in a place where others can benefit from it. And are there any other like small little habits that you’re working on yourself right now?
[00:41:57] Noelle: [00:41:57] Oh, wow. I’m constantly working on habits right now. my most recent habit at the beginning of every week, well, on every Sunday, I’d like to ask myself a couple of questions. I like to ask myself, what can I be doing that I’m not doing? And what can’t I be doing that I am doing? So it’s this kind of backfiring thing, but it’s, so you can say it with sheds.
[00:42:18] I just don’t like to say should like, you shouldn’t be doing this or you shouldn’t be doing that. I’m not a huge fan of that word, but, it’s basically what should I be doing that I am not doing? And what shouldn’t I be doing that I should be doing if you want to think of it in that sense. But, the one thing that I thought of this week is I have just been staying up way too, too late, like way too late.
[00:42:38] Just trying to get like last minute work done, you know, as a parent, I’m like, finally, the kids are going to bed. They’re in bed. I can finally get up on my laptop and get some work done and, check emails and do some things that I’ve been wanting to do for my online course. And so I stay up, I’ve been staying up way too late.
[00:42:53] Like I’m, I’m, I’m talking one, two in the morning and find them like, Oh my gosh. So then I’m tired in the morning and I’m groggy. And then things fall through the next day. And so my one habit that I’ve been doing better at this week is I set a timer on my phone. And this might sound weight to some of you, but this is really early to me, but I set a timer were on my phone for 10:45 PM.
[00:43:14] And what I have on there is it says time to be better. And so it’s my reminder that right, when that alarm goes off, whatever’s going on. I just need to close it down. I need to shut it off. I need to turn it off. I need to go straight into the bathroom, start brushing my teeth, start getting ready for bed.
[00:43:28] And it’s just my cue. That is time you you’ve decided to be better. So now do it and just take action on it. And it really helps me to set timers and alarms and things like that for the habits that I’m trying to implement in my life, it helps me to stay consistent.
[00:43:42] Monica: [00:43:42] I’m smiling because I have a similar problem. I’m a life long night owl. And my listeners know I’ve been working on this for years, but I have a, an alarm too. That reminds me too becauseI work at night as well. That’s what we do as busy moms, right?
[00:43:57] Noelle: [00:43:57] Yeah. Gotta do what you gotta do.
[00:44:00] Monica: [00:44:00] Noelle, this has been such a joy for me to learn from you and to connect with you. You are so generous with your time, but also down to earth in ways that we all desperately need in our lives. So I honor you for your journey and for sharing with us and teaching us and thank you for being on the show.
[00:44:15] Noelle: [00:44:15] Thank you so much, Monica. And thanks so much. Have a great day.
