Focused “Anything great and worth achieving requires sacrifice and motivation. It requires self-control,” (123). What a profound statement said Noelle Pikus Pace, a World Champion and Olympic medalist. Noelle, a quite successful athlete and determined individual wrote Focused. It is a motivational and inspiring book that shares her experiences and valuable life lessons learned from her treasured sport skeleton. This book was given to me as a Christmas present a couple years ago and I will never let it out of my sights. If this were to be taken away by censors or ‘Firemen’, I would have it memorized and treasured in my mind. Noelle shares countless events where her faith and integrity were tested. Did that stop her? The answer is a definite no! That is why I must keep this book in my head, because it gives me motivation and reassurance that life or “running a race” will work out as long as we give our best efforts. Secondly, it helps me get through my personal struggles, such as competing, school, and my faith. My last reason to memorize this book is so that I can offer help and share lessons learned from it. These principles that I learned began helping my athletic abilities. As districts for my sophomore track and field year came around, I became quite nervous and …show more content…
It requires goal setting, determination, and courage. “It takes courage to be a real friend,” said Noelle (49). This example is another reason why I must treasure Focused in my mind and heart. This amazing athlete and saint shared personal teaching experiences and lessons learned from scriptures, Latter-day Saint members, and more inspiring people. I can relate to Noelle Pikus Pace, because of her experience with athletics including track and field. As cross country and track continued for me, I wanted to share these valuable lessons with my teammates in an attempt to help them get motivated and feel