In short
Motivation and consistency when willpower fades; “no excuses” mindset built through preparation, small daily actions, and systems (60 seconds/day; “Daily Three” journaling; start where you are; 1% improvements).
Guest backgrounds
Noelle Pikus Pace is a U.S. Olympian and world champion skeleton racer from Orem, Utah. She began sliding sports in high school after trying bobsled, then switched to skeleton (head-first, ~90 mph). She competed in 2006 (Trino, Italy), 2010 (Vancouver) and won silver in 2014 (Sochi, Russia) at age 33; she also competed for about 15 years.
Key claims
Excuses arise when motivation dies; preparation prevents breakdowns; setbacks are inevitable (“when you crash, not if”); focus on controllables and tiny steps.
Notable examples
A bobsled accident at Olympic trials shattered her leg and forced a mindset shift; she recovered and later became world champion; her husband designed a custom sled for Sochi; she used 60 seconds to finally paint a kitchen splotch after seven years; she journals nightly (what went well/what didn’t/improve tomorrow).
Guests
Noelle Pikus Pace (single guest).
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOThe Journey to Skeleton Racing
0:45 to 4:30
Noelle shares her unexpected path to becoming a skeleton racer and her experiences in the sport.
“But I'm so curious because you are a skeleton racer.”
Overcoming Challenges in Skeleton
4:30 to 8:10
Noelle discusses the physical and mental challenges she faced in her journey, including injuries and setbacks.
“So Park City my home track and I could not figure out corner 12.”
The Power of Perspective in Setbacks
8:10 to 9:37
Noelle talks about a pivotal moment with her coach that changed her perspective on dealing with difficulties.
“Maybe it's a loss of a job or a loss of a child or a loss of a loved one or an injury or something, some kind of setback.”
The 2006 Olympic Trials Incident
9:37 to 12:50
Noelle recounts the traumatic experience of getting hit by a bobsled during the Olympic trials and its impact on her career.
“I don't want to go back to competing ever again.”
Competing Again After Injury
12:50 to 14:02
Noelle shares her journey back to competing after her injury and the emotional rollercoaster involved.
“They were born in 2015, just a year later.”
The Importance of Having a Bucket List
14:02 to 18:15
Learn how having goals and things to look forward to can enhance personal growth.
“It was just the best to be able to move there and just fulfill some of our other bucket list things that we've had.”
No Excuses: Taking Small Actions
18:16 to 22:25
Discover the concept of taking 60 seconds each day to tackle nagging tasks.
“And then the next day is another celebration, another celebration.”
Mindset and Overcoming Excuses
22:26 to 24:56
Understand how mindset influences our ability to overcome excuses and take action.
“Would you get nervous before your races?”
Strategies for Building a No Excuses Mentality
24:57 to 28:00
Learn effective strategies for minimizing excuses and enhancing personal accountability.
“And so is that part of your book is make something you want to do every day a little bit better and don't have the excuse to do it?”
Overcoming Excuses and Embracing Action
28:00 to 28:28
Learn how to confront excuses and take immediate action towards personal goals.
“that's like, man, my sleep isn't working out very well, then maybe you need to have a better bedtime routine if you're not able to wake up in the morning and have a good morning routine.”
Show all 24 chapters
Strategies for Building a No Excuses Mentality
28:28 to 29:31
Learn effective strategies for minimizing excuses and enhancing personal accountability.
“Let's take a quick break to hear from our show sponsor.”
Living in the Moment and Taking Action
29:40 to 30:42
Understand the significance of living in the present and acting now to achieve future goals.
“Okay, so I feel like, though, a lot of people's excuses are like, oh, when this season of my life is over, or when this week is over, or when this busy thing is over, then I'll be happier.”
Nutrition's Role in Athletic Performance
30:43 to 31:40
Explore the connection between nutrition and athletic performance and the importance of being prepared.
“Being Just Ingredients as our company, I'm always fascinated by nutrition and health.”
Breaking Down Nutrition Goals
31:41 to 33:34
Learn effective strategies to overcome common barriers in achieving nutrition goals.
“And you're going to reach for those things.”
Shifting Perspectives on Success
33:35 to 34:20
Discover how motherhood and personal priorities can redefine success and goals.
“I could never live a healthy lifestyle like you do.”
Children's Interests and Personal Growth
34:21 to 36:13
Reflect on how children find their own paths and the importance of supporting their choices.
“I would say my whole outlook on life has shifted because of my priorities.”
Lessons from the Olympics
36:14 to 38:03
Understand what the Olympic experience taught about perseverance and personal fulfillment.
“And to be a supporter in that atmosphere.”
Inspiring Change Through No Excuses
38:04 to 39:24
Learn about the motivation behind writing a book on personal growth and overcoming excuses.
“And to see as they grow and they, and you don't always feel like it.”
Practical Tools for Personal Development
39:25 to 41:44
Discover practical strategies and tools to implement change in daily life.
“I have tools in every single chapter, 60 second challenges, little things, little bite-sized pieces.”
Focusing on Control and Overcoming Fear
41:45 to 42:01
Learn how to shift focus from fear to actionable steps towards goals.
“If you keep focusing on what's in your control, what you can do and take the tiny steps that you're capable of doing, you'll eventually get to where you want to go.”
Overcoming Fear and Embracing Possibility
42:01 to 43:32
Learn how to shift focus from fear to potential success.
“And I can keep focusing on the direction that I want to head in rather than the fear around me.”
Living a No Excuses Life
43:33 to 45:57
Discover strategies for personal and professional goal achievement.
“So besides being a mom, well, that is a full-time job.”
Advice and Best Practices for Life
45:58 to 49:49
Explore practical health tips and advice for everyday living.
“Okay, tell people where they can find your book.”
Finding the Good in Life
49:50 to 50:39
Understand the importance of positivity and mindset shifts.
“I would say the best ingredient is to see the good, see the good in people, see the good in whatever situation you're in, no matter where you're at, just look for the good.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Kristin J. H. P. A.:Welcome to the Just Ingredients podcast. I'm Cara Lynn, and here we dive deep into the journey of healing and wellness. If you're ready to learn, feel empowered, and take charge of your health, you're in the right place.
0:16Kristin J. H. P. A.:Welcome back to the show, everyone. Today, I am really honored to have the guest that we have. She is an Olympian. She is a world champion, and I am so excited to hear her story. So welcome to the show, and it's Noelle Pikus Pace. Thank you so much. It's so good to be here. I'm so excited. Well, I have been wanting to interview you for a long time. I think your story is just fascinating. I love it. I know you've written a book, and so I just want to delve into all of it and so many things. But I'm so curious because you are a skeleton racer. That's not a common sport that you hear about. So how in the world did you get started in that?
0:54Kristin J. H. P. A.:It's crazy.
0:54Noelle Pikus Pace:So I grew up in Orem, Utah, just and I was in high school right before the 2002 games came to Salt Lake City. And just right time, right place. One of those outlier moments when the stars aligned where my track and field coach came up to me and said, hey, I happen to help out with the bobsled program up in Park City, Utah. Do you want to go up and try bobsledding? And I was like, cool runnings, you know, like the very cool runnings, right? I didn't know anything else about it. And so I went up and I tried bobsledding for a year, my junior year of high school. And then the following year, they had me try skeleton, which is head first.
1:31Noelle Pikus Pace:You're on like basically a cookie sheet. You run, you sprint, you dive onto your stomach. And we reach speeds of 90 miles an hour, just steering our way in and out of every corner down an icy track, the same track that they use for bobsledding. Wow, which sounds really terrifying. It's so fun.
1:48Kristin J. H. P. A.:Is it fun? adrenaline rush.
1:50Noelle Pikus Pace:Yeah, it is. It is. Okay. So did you love bobsledding? I did. Yeah, I really did. And I thought I would stick around and continue doing bobsledding. But when I showed up to the track, my, so I was like 17 years old, showed up to the bobsled track looking for, it basically looks like a little tube car type of vehicle. There wasn't one there. And my coach said, oh, we're actually going to try something new. Come to find out they'd lost the funding for the junior your bobsled program. Oh, interesting. Yeah. So it was just by happenstance where they're like, so let's just like fit you, you know, this group of athletes.
2:23Noelle Pikus Pace:I was there with about 10 other athletes and they're like, let's just kind of figure out where to put you until the bobsled program comes back. And then by the time it did come back, I was on the world cup team for skeleton and doing pretty well. And so when they said, Hey, come back to bobsledding. I'm like, no, I'm good. Actually. I really love, I really love skeleton. So let's stick with this.
2:42Kristin J. H. P. A.:Okay. So did they want you to try this because you were a fast runner? Like you had done track and field? Is that who they're looking for?
2:48Noelle Pikus Pace:Yeah, speed and power is what they were looking for. I went on to compete in what's called the heptathlon in college. So I did like high jump, long jump, shot put, javelin, 100 meter hurdles, 200 and 800. So it's just a lot of events, a lot of learning. They were looking for athletes who were teachable. And usually if you're an athlete that's in various sports, you're going to be a little teachable because you have to learn the technique to different things. And then it was just trying it. It was just really putting your face on the ground and just like trying it. And it's like, I don't know how you decide who's going to be good at this or not, but you just have to try, be willing to try.
3:21Kristin J. H. P. A.:Okay. So I'm so curious because most Olympians, like you think of a gymnast, they have started since they were like two years old, three years old. The skeleton you didn't start till you were in high school then.
3:32Noelle Pikus Pace:Yeah. It's a later sport. A lot of the athletes that join the sliding sport. So we have bobsled, which is like, you're sitting down in this little tube thing, like we said, your head bobbles which is why it's called bobsled and then you have luge where you go feet forward on your back and then a skeleton and these sports it's interesting but they're usually later on in life usually they pull from college athletes so most of the athletes that are competing in the olympics are in their 20s sometimes 30s i was 30 by the time you know 33 when i was in my last olympics but yeah usually we're older in those sports so it's kind of cool to have the opportunity to continue to compete in a sport.
4:09Noelle Pikus Pace:Interesting.
4:10Kristin J. H. P. A.:Okay, so tell us about just the whole experience getting to the Olympics, because I know it was quite the journey. Yeah. So you want to tell us
4:17Noelle Pikus Pace:that story? Sure. I mean, I'll condense it a little bit, but man, so many highs, so many lows, so many lessons learned. And probably one of the first lessons that I learned happened when I was, it was in when I was in high school. And I remember coming out of Park City. So Park City my home track and I could not figure out corner 12. Like I kept crashing and crashing and crashing. I'd come out of corner 11 and just brace for impact. When you're going at that point, it was probably like 70 to 80 miles an hour and you come out of a corner and you're slamming against the ice and beneath that ice is just concrete.
4:52Noelle Pikus Pace:So it's just, you're just hitting the concrete over and over again and your arms would end up black and blue. So you start bracing for it. You start expecting it and trying to fight it. And I remember one day after really just hard hit out of corner 12, my coach came up to me. He's like, Hey, how was that run? And I'm like, can you not tell like how miserable I am? Like, this is the worst day ever. I'm like, just beat up my speed suits torn. And I was like, basically in tears. And he's like, so what's going on? And I was like, well, I just keep crashing in corner 12. I cannot figure it out. And he's like, well, let's talk about it.
5:27Noelle Pikus Pace:Let's figure this out. What are you doing in corner 12? And I'm like, I am slamming against the wall. That's what I'm doing, right? It was really cool what he did. He said, well, okay, so what are you doing in corner 11? And I'm like, well, I'm preparing to hit corner 12. And he's like, okay, then let's backtrack. What are you doing in corner 10? And I'm like, I'm coming in three inches to the right. And he's like, okay, what are you doing in corner nine? And I'm like, I'm putting my head down. I'm holding on. I'm gripping here, eight, seven, six. We made it all the way up to corner four. And he's like, what are you doing in corner four?
5:56Noelle Pikus Pace:And I'm like, well, I'm entering in at this point and I'm steering it really hard. And then I'm trying to get out to this position. He's like, oh, that's your problem. He's like, your problem isn't corner 12. That's where you're feeling the pain. But your problem is actually happening in corner four. And I bet if we can fix corner four, your corner 12 is going to be smooth as butter. You're going to be able to fly through that corner and have a really great run. And so once I realized that a lot of times the problem that we have or the problems we have happen earlier, and to be able to focus on that and be prepared, then I realized how to manage the problem where I felt the pain.
6:35Kristin J. H. P. A.:Okay, that sounds terrible, crashing over and over and over. So a lot of injuries with the skeleton?
6:41Noelle Pikus Pace:Yeah, I've had a handful, had my fair share. whether it's concussions or a few broken bones probably one of the most crazy ones was I got hit by a bobsled right before the olympics um before my first olympic games a bobsled came flying out of the track and crashed into me but honestly like injuries are just kind of part of it if if something matters to you you're going to find a way to push through it and to keep moving forward and to and to reach those goals so you just had to start where you are when you mess up when things happen, when injuries come, you know, it's not if things, if setbacks happen, but when they do, what will you choose to do?
7:16Kristin J. H. P. A.:Oh, I love that. Okay. But I want to talk about your story of the bobsled because anybody that knows you, I think knows this story. So you were planning on going to which year Olympics?
7:27Noelle Pikus Pace:So I originally, like the first one was 2006. It was in Trino, Italy, and I was ranked first in the world. Just really looking forward to competing in my first Olympic Games. And at our Olympic trials, a bobsled was sent down the track, a four-man bobsled. And the brakeman, he'd never been in a bobsled before. And I'm not blaming him or anything. Just wrong time, wrong situation. And the brakes were never applied to the bobsled. So they came flying out of the track and just crashed into myself and where my teammates, we were all sitting there waiting for a truck to take us up to the top. And my dream changed in an instant.
8:04Noelle Pikus Pace:Like everything I had hoped for, everything I had planned for. I know that some listening right now are, you know, we've experienced these things. Maybe it's a loss of a job or a loss of a child or a loss of a loved one or an injury or something, some kind of setback. But in those moments, it really hit me hard that, and not just like literally, but like also just it hit me that I had a choice to make. I was either going to be stuck in this mindset of why me, poor me, how did this happen. I'll never get back to where I was. Or I could choose to move forward. I could choose to see what I could control.
8:39Noelle Pikus Pace:I could choose to do what I could do and then just start from there. And so that really got me through that time. Okay, because when the bobsled hit you,
8:47Kristin J. H. P. A.:it shattered your leg. Yeah, yeah, my bones came out. Wow. And so then you did not compete in that year's Olympic. And so had to, did people encourage you to keep training for four more years? shot? The next one?
9:00Noelle Pikus Pace:No, there was definitely opposition. I was so mentally shot. I had tried so hard to come back from that. And I did. I came back. I came back like five weeks after getting hit. After my bones came out of my legs, I was back in Austria competing in a World Cup race, trying to make my Olympic dream come true. And I was just after that season, I barely missed the Olympics that year. And I was mentally drained. My husband encouraged me to go on to compete one more year because he knew if I stopped then I would just be done forever. Like I just couldn't, I couldn't push myself to do it again. So I went back for one more year and had quite a remarkable season.
9:38Noelle Pikus Pace:I was world champion that year. And by the end I was like, I'm done. Like I'm shot. I can't think of anything. I don't want to go back to competing ever again. I took a year off, had our baby girl, and then my husband talked me into coming back to compete. So yeah, I ended up competing in the 2010 Olympic Games. I finished in the worst possible position you could ever finish. And it's not second place. It's fourth. It's fourth place. You don't get a medal. And I walked away. I walked away from the sport thinking that was it, thinking I was done, thinking I was never coming back. And again, my husband was like, hey, you know, you should you should consider this if we could do it as a family.
10:16Noelle Pikus Pace:So we did. We traveled the world in and out of hotels and in and out of countries and myself, my husband. And then by that time we had two kids and it was just a journey. It was such an incredible experience to be able to go back and compete in Sochi, Russia in 2014.
10:31Kristin J. H. P. A.:Okay. So tell us about 2014. Oh man. What do you want to know? Just the whole journey. What happened at those Olympics?
10:38Noelle Pikus Pace:Well, my husband designed and built my sled. So that was really something very special. Like people don't just design skeleton sleds but he he saw that there were a lot of flaws in the design and he wanted to bring the best I mean it's like it's like what you've done with with just ingredients you want to bring the best products so that you know the user has the best experience and the best outcome and for my husband he saw that there were flaws in the system flaws in my product flaws in my sled and he said I want to make a sled that is designed specifically for you Every body is different. And this is very nutritionally based as well, but every body is different.
11:17Noelle Pikus Pace:And my sled had to be customizable for me and in order for it to bring me the best success that I could have. And so through hours and hours of studying spec books and rules and things like that, thousands of hours, he was able to design a perfect sled for me that I competed on. And it was just it was so much fun. And oh my gosh, it was so much fun to be able to have that piece of him and to have my two kids by my side. And it was just surreal, you know, to be able to have this dream. And you have this image in your mind of what you'd like it to be like. And then to see all the pieces coming together and then to have it to come to fruition is just, it was beautiful.
11:57Noelle Pikus Pace:And so how old were your kids at this time? So my daughter was six and my son was two. Wow. Yeah. And how old were you? I was 33 when I competed in the 2014 games in Sochi.
12:09Kristin J. H. P. A.:Oh, that's awesome. And you won a second place. Yeah, silver medal. Yeah, it was really cool. That is incredible. Thank you. Okay, so you went on this huge journey. How many years then of skeleton racing? That's a lot of years. It is a lot of years.
12:22Noelle Pikus Pace:I competed, including bobsledding, for about 15 years. So just a big commitment of life and, you know, dreams and every focal point of every day in and out waking moments. Everything that I did was centered around how will we get to the next step? How will we make it to the World Cup? How will we get enough points to make it onto an Olympic team? And once it happened, I'm like, OK, I'm good. I'm good. Let's start a new chapter. OK, so then after the 2014 Olympics, that was the end? I shut down. Oh, my gosh. I just shut down. Like mentally, I was exhausted. and physically and having our two kids.
12:57Noelle Pikus Pace:We knew we wanted more kids. I became pregnant. We have twins. They were born in 2015, just a year later. We up and left and moved to Costa Rica. So here's a random story. I am a firm believer of looking forward, of looking ahead, of hoping for what's next and what's in front of us and just becoming our best selves. And so after, well, once the Olympics were approaching, I knew I would be done and I needed something to look forward to. I needed something to hope for because it's this like if you've experienced like you know empty nesting or whether it's like aging your body's not the same as it used to be all these different changes that we experience in our lives I knew I needed something to look forward to when this big chapter was coming to an end in my life and so my husband and I created a bucket list just of everything we wanted to do to be to have to learn to see and on that list one of the things was I wanted to learn Spanish.
13:52Noelle Pikus Pace:I don't know why. I just have always wanted to learn Spanish. And my husband wanted to get a master's degree. And so we found a university in Costa Rica. He applied and we moved there for a couple of years. And it was just the best. It was just the best to be able to move there and just fulfill some of our other bucket list things that we've had. And our bucket list continues to grow today. But to have something to look forward to, to hope for, to work towards, I believe that that is so fundamental in our lives to be able to grow and to search and to keep doing.
14:25Kristin J. H. P. A.:Oh, I love that because the chapters of our lives are constantly changing. So to always have something to look forward to. I love that. Yes. Okay. So you did this whole journey and tried to fill your bucket list, but now you've become a writer. Yeah. You've written a couple books. Yeah. So that's your new journey. Oh, I love it. I love it so much. Okay.
14:43Noelle Pikus Pace:So tell us about your latest book. It's called No Excuses, right? Yes, it is. And it's just, it's all about living the life that you want to live, about putting aside the excuses of not having time, not having money, not being, you know, such and such in such a such place and just doing. It's about taking 60 seconds of action each day to become the person you want to become, whether that's with your nutrition, with your finances, with your friends, with your social, however that means. but I believe I truly believe that 60 seconds can change your life 60 seconds of intentionality send a text to someone you've been thinking about and just saying hey how are you doing it takes 60 seconds we all have that kind of time so just breaking it down into small bits okay let's talk
15:26Kristin J. H. P. A.:about that 60 seconds each day yeah of doing something different that you haven't done before
15:32Noelle Pikus Pace:doing something that's been nagging you like if if you walk into your kitchen so for example one of the reasons that this came to my mind this happened a few years ago when I'm like oh my gosh that paint on my kitchen wall there was a splotch of paint in my kitchen wall that never got painted and I know we all have something like this something that is just driving you crazy maybe it's the mulch bag sitting on your driveway maybe it's the you know the bulbs you never planted maybe maybe it doesn't have to do with the garden but whatever it is something has been nagging you and for me it was a little splotch of paint in my kitchen and I kept walking out and every time I looked walked through my kitchen which is like a central place in everyone's home I would look at that paint and just get discouraged.
Read the full transcript
16:10Noelle Pikus Pace:And I'd be like, oh my gosh, like that paint is still not painted. Like it's my, my kitchen is like a light blue and there's just this little white patch like right there. And I'm like, oh my gosh, that is so annoying. And for like seven years, I'm not kidding. Seven years I would walk by that until one day I'm like, oh my gosh, I started this. I have a theme each year and it was the year that I started with this no excuses theme. And I said, no excuses, Noelle, like just grab the darn paintbrush, you know? And so I just 60 seconds, I caught myself stopping thinking if I would walk past it or if I would actually do something about it and that moment was different I grabbed my car keys I ran to the paint store and I said I need this kind of paint and I came back with a little pint and I just opened it and it wasn't perfect but I got paint on that wall and I haven't looked at it since I'm like oh my gosh it took seven years for me to do something that literally took like 60 seconds of just grabbing my car keys get in the car grab the paint and yes painting it took me maybe like an hour or so but I'm done Like I'm done with that nag that was on my shoulders.
17:08Noelle Pikus Pace:And that's really what it's about is just taking action. Take action.
17:11Kristin J. H. P. A.:Okay. So what was a 60 second thing that you did this week?
17:14Noelle Pikus Pace:My daughter went to the MTC. So a lot of my 60 seconds, she's serving a church mission and she's leaving our family for 18 months to go preach about Jesus in the Alps. And so I'm getting a little choked up about it. My 60 second moments were all with her. It was 60 seconds of just being fully present, of just like appreciating when she was talking, not letting my mind wander and just saying, no, I'll be here, be in this moment right now. So a lot of my 60 seconds were very intentional presence moments for me this week.
17:43Kristin J. H. P. A.:Oh, I love that. Yeah. Okay. So this No Excuses book, why do you think everybody has excuses? We all do.
17:50Noelle Pikus Pace:We all have excuses because willpower fails, motivation dies down. And so we come up with excuses. We either blame someone else or blame ourselves or justify. We avoid a problem. I mean, And it's just natural instinct for excusers to come into our lives and to say, hey, you know, maybe you'll do it tomorrow. Today's not the day. You'll start your goals tomorrow. Or, oh, just like one donut. Oh, it's a celebration. It's a birthday. I can do this just this once. And then the next day is another celebration, another celebration. And we just find ways to justify. And it's just a natural part of life.
18:24Noelle Pikus Pace:And if we can just recognize, yeah, it's going to come. It's just like in skeleton. It's not if you crash. But when you do, what are you going to choose to do? And one of the most impactful lessons that I've learned in skeleton is that in order to build consistent results, in order to get the goals that we want, it all comes down to one simple system. And that's just being prepared. It's preparation. It comes down to being prepared early on in the week, whether that's for maybe family meals. You've been running out. You don't have time because so you're eating a lot of fast food and doing things like that.
18:57Noelle Pikus Pace:being prepared earlier in the week and just having your grocery list ready and knowing that these times are going to be hard, knowing that bedtime is going to come and that hunger is going to come. Preparation is key to everything that we do.
19:07Kristin J. H. P. A.:Okay. So if we're prepared, you're saying our excuses maybe will minimize.
19:12Noelle Pikus Pace:Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. If we're prepared, then we're ready when those excuses come and say, no, when I feel myself hesitate, when that hesitation comes in, maybe it's like, I haven't talked to that person forever. Or maybe you've been avoiding a neighbor. Maybe they've been irritating you and you're like, I'm just going to avoid him. I'm just not going to pull in my car while they're backing out. I'm just going to sit in my house. I don't know what it is, right? But if there's something that is causing you to pull you away from who you want to become, it's time to address it. And just like catch yourselves in those moments of hesitation, of those doubts, of those justifications, and just say, okay, what's one small action I can take right now?
19:47Noelle Pikus Pace:Maybe it's just saying, hey neighbor, you know, your launcher is looking good today. And that'll ease the tension. I don't know what it is, but being humble, you know, just taking those little actions can really make a big difference. Do you think people's excuses have to do with their mindset? Oh, for sure. Yeah, I think in many ways it does have to do with mindset, seeing the world half empty, seeing the world half full. But I do believe that we can shape that mindset. And just a little bit here, a little bit there. And taking action is really the way to do that.
20:16Kristin J. H. P. A.:How do you think we can shape our mindset?
20:18Noelle Pikus Pace:There's a lot of ways. That's a big question, how to shape your mindset. Honestly, like one of the best things that I've been able to do, and I'm sure you find this too, is just finding gratitude for the things that we do have. That's like the starting point of every mindset is looking for the good, looking for the joy, looking for the opportunities, looking for the blessings around you and naming them. And that would be like the foundational starting point.
20:44Kristin J. H. P. A.:So I have a question for you because I talk to a lot of women and a lot of women are afraid to go do whatever it is in life, whether it's like to go volunteer at the Mayo Clinic or to go teach in a classroom or teach a lesson or whatever it is. I hear all the time like, oh, I couldn't do that. Oh, I'm too afraid to do that. Oh, that would make me too nervous. I've got to think that doing skeleton racing is scary. Yeah. I mean, it sounds very, very fast. Knowing you can crash, knowing there can be injuries. So when you're at the top of that run, do you have to mentally get yourself in the right mindset?
21:17Noelle Pikus Pace:Yeah, you do. And also coming back to like if a woman is scared to try something, scared to get up and speak in public or to join a cause that they believe in. I mean, coming back to skeleton, the best thing that we do and that we teach our athletes and how we learn is by taking it in small pieces. Sometimes we think that we have to be there and be this person and be at the finish line before we even begin. and breaking it down into the smallest little bits, the smallest little steps. So for example, in skeleton, we don't start from corner one. That's not how we start our race. If I'm teaching a young athlete how to do skeleton, I'm going to start them at corner 16 out of 19.
21:53Noelle Pikus Pace:They're only going to do three corners. And then they're going to come up and they're going to do five corners. And then they're going to come up and do eight corners until they inch their way back up. So if you're wanting to do public speaking, you don't have to stand in front of a thousand people at once. Just invite a small group over to your house. Get in front of people when you can. start to speak up or to prepare. Just do it little bits at a time until you inch your way into the situations that you're really hoping to do. If you want to serve in your community, start small. Start by saying, each Wednesday, I'm going to go visit an assisted living center in my neighborhood, if that's what you want to do, and then start adding to that, if that's what makes you nervous.
22:27Kristin J. H. P. A.:Would you get nervous before your races? Yeah. Oh, yeah, for sure. So do you mentally talk to yourself at the time of that run of you can do this or what are you thinking?
22:37Noelle Pikus Pace:So I have something called the daily three. Every single night before bed, I write down three questions. And this has been like game changing for my competition and game changing for my life. But three questions to ask yourself. The first one each night before bed, and this kind of goes into what we're talking about here. First one before bed is what went well today? Like give yourself some credit. I think especially as women, we beat ourselves up. We say I didn't do any good today. Like I didn't do anything. I'm running ragged. I'm taking care. I'm putting out fires, you know and we kind of beat ourselves up over it.
23:05Noelle Pikus Pace:So first give yourself credit like what went well today. Write it down. I'm a firm believer of like putting my digital aside and having a notepad and just writing it down like what went well today. The second question to ask is what didn't go so well today. Like maybe I lost my patience with my kids. Maybe I didn't eat as well as I wanted to during the lunch hour. Maybe I don't know what it might be. Maybe there's a conversation that I maybe I said some things I shouldn't have. I don't know. But what didn't go so well today. Be vulnerable and be open about it. And number three, this is where the magic happens.
23:35Noelle Pikus Pace:This is where change comes. But what will I choose to improve tomorrow? Like, how will I choose to be a better person tomorrow? Whether that's with nutrition, whether that's with my mindset, whether that's with my spirituality or my physical being, however that is. But what's one thing intentionally that I'm going to do tomorrow? So now you're waking up a little more energized, knowing who you want to become because you've prepared the night before saying, all right I have a plan today I know who I want to be and it just helps guide our day. I love that so you've been doing this for years and years?
24:05Noelle Pikus Pace:Yeah it was something I implemented it back in it's been a long time it was back in like 2004 was when I first started doing it so I have like journal books like just like what went well today what didn't go so well today how will I choose to improve tomorrow just time after time.
24:18Kristin J. H. P. A.:I love that well I've tried things like that and oh a week in two weeks in, I'm like, oh, well, I'm tired tonight. I won't do it tonight. I'll try again tomorrow. Oh, then something happens. So consistency is a huge part of this. Absolutely.
24:32Noelle Pikus Pace:Yeah, absolutely. And having just a simple, small notebook on the side of your bed. And even after you make your bed, set it on your pillow so you know you've already made the decision in the morning that I'm going to follow up with myself. I'm going to hold myself accountable tonight. So now before you go get in bed, your notebook is sitting there and you're like, I want to be this person. You're just choosing who that person is that you want to become before the temptations, before the doubts, before the justifications, before the excuses get in the way. And so is
24:59Kristin J. H. P. A.:that part of your book is make something you want to do every day a little bit better and don't have the excuse to do it? 1%, 1 % better. Yeah, 1%, 60 seconds, just little bits here and there. Do you see people that just can't get rid of their excuses?
25:13Noelle Pikus Pace:Yeah, and it is, it is. And sometimes we just find people that are in a very negative mindset and it has to be a choice. I mean, that's, we're here on earth and we're, we're, we're filled with choices around us every single day. And if someone just really doesn't want to change, then we can't force someone to do that. But if there's a glimpse, if there's a glimmer of that desire to want to change, then there's hope, then there's good, then, then you can like anything is possible if you just give a little bit of effort.
25:44Kristin J. H. P. A.:So did Did you learn this no excuse mentality on the racing team? Like, I feel like you'd have to be like, OK, I can't have an excuse because if you do, I feel like you'd have all these excuses to just quit or give up. Yeah.
25:56Noelle Pikus Pace:And I think I saw it more and more as I went through my journey of competition. Being a mom of two kids, there were definitely opportunities for me to fill my bucket with excuses. like there were so many excuses why I shouldn't be able to why I couldn't compete why competing in skeleton is just off the you know off the charts for a mom of two kids and so I think I heard other people trying to give me excuses oh you're fine like you don't need to do that oh that's okay you don't need to worry about that and I realized I'm like no like I can do this and I and I will like I'm gonna find a way and so I think once I started getting more excuses that came into my life.
26:36Noelle Pikus Pace:I'm like, okay, I just know that that's a choice. It's a choice.
26:39Kristin J. H. P. A.:Well, I feel like you're really good at not giving excuses because I feel like excuses come because of our past, right? Like a lot of people are like, oh, because of this, I can't do that. So you had every excuse in the world with a shattered leg to be done. Yeah.
26:54Noelle Pikus Pace:Yeah. And our pasts can haunt us. They really do. Many of us go back and see things and experiences in our past that have held us back and confined us. But another lesson that I feel like I've learned very deeply and it has really helped me is to start where you are. And it's always easier said than done. Very much easier said than done. I just remember sitting in my hospital room, seeing my leg. It was all stapled. My doctor came in and she really gave me this pointed finger and said, listen, like you have a choice to make. You either sit here and cry. Like I was crying. I was crying. I was crying.
27:26Noelle Pikus Pace:Right. I mean, who wouldn't like, right. Well, it's devastating. My hips shattered. And she's like, look, why are you crying? And she was just so brunt and so blunt and so brutal about this. And I was just like caught off guard. And I'm like, oh my gosh, like she just told me like not to cry about this, that I have to move forward or stay in this hospital bed. And it made me realize like, yeah, I can either make excuses and never go back to doing the thing that I love and this dream that I have, or if it matters to you, you will find a way. Like it doesn't matter what it is. If it matters to you, you will find a way, you know, whether that's like, man, my sleep isn't working out very well, then maybe you need to have a better bedtime routine if you're not able to wake up in the morning and have a good morning routine.
28:12Noelle Pikus Pace:Like there's always a way, but it's just comes down to choices, comes down to preparation and planning.
28:17Kristin J. H. P. A.:And then I want to say and mindset and mindset because it is the mindset.
28:22Noelle Pikus Pace:Absolutely.
28:22Kristin J. H. P. A.:I'm not going to make an excuse. I'm just going to do it. Absolutely. Not going to be afraid. Yeah. Let's take a quick break to hear from our show sponsor. If your child snores, sleeps with their mouth open, grinds their teeth, has dark circles, restless sleep, trouble focusing, or always seems tired no matter how much sleep they get, those symptoms could all be connected. And they may point to something that's often overlooked, their airway. Many providers don't routinely screen for airway issues, even though organizations like the ADA, AAPD, and AAP all recommend screening children for sleep-disordered breathing.
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29:39Kristin J. H. P. A.:Now back to the show. Okay, so I feel like, though, a lot of people's excuses are like, oh, when this season of my life is over, or when this week is over, or when this busy thing is over, then I'll be happier. Then I'll be able to do this. Then I'll be able to accomplish this. Yeah. Do you find that that's a common excuse?
30:00Noelle Pikus Pace:Oh, it's a common excuse. It's a very common excuse. Like, oh, when the kids move out, I'll have more time for me. This moment right now is the only moment that we are guaranteed. Right. So making the most of our day right now is really all that is in our control. We can't control what's going to happen tomorrow or next week or next month, but we can control what choices we make in this moment right now. And yeah, I've heard that so many times like, oh, I'll put it off till tomorrow. Just like the paint on the wall. I'll get to it. That'll be tomorrow. And tomorrow turned into seven years, right?
30:30Noelle Pikus Pace:And I mean, we've done it with so many different things in our home and in our family and in our relationship even. But knowing that right now is the moment to take action. And this is really the only one that will change your future.
30:41Kristin J. H. P. A.:That changes everything. Oh, I love that. Okay. Being Just Ingredients as our company, I'm always fascinated by nutrition and health. And so has nutrition been part of this whole journey with the skeleton and being an athlete or was it not a big concern?
30:57Noelle Pikus Pace:No, it always is. I mean, as an athlete, nutrition and exercise, they go hand in hand. We have to fuel our bodies. I remember hearing another Olympian saying that their body was basically a machine, and they are. They're machines, and what we fuel it with determines the output that we'll get out of it. And so nutrition has always gone hand in hand with what we do.
31:16Kristin J. H. P. A.:I love hearing that because I have interviewed some athletes and they'll say, oh, back in like college, I just ate whatever I wanted to eat. Like it was never a priority. And they're so laughing for that, right? But there's still some professional athletes that are not on board with the.
31:31Noelle Pikus Pace:And every metabolism is different. So maybe some are OK doing that. But for me, for sure, I have to go with moderation and watch what I put into my body. OK, so do you see the excuses come with nutrition?
31:43Kristin J. H. P. A.:Absolutely.
31:44Noelle Pikus Pace:Oh, absolutely. Oh, my gosh. And again, it's like, what's easiest? What can I grab in my fridge? What's on my counter? What's in my cabinet? And you're going to reach for those things. So when you're prepared, when you have those things that are good for your body and healthy and clean and put into your body, you're going to get a better output from it.
32:00Kristin J. H. P. A.:I love that because it goes back to you being prepared. And I think that's all about nutrition. I mean, if you've got the junk food in your house, that's what you're going to eat when you're hungry. If you prepare your house with the good, healthy things, you're going to grab the good, healthy things. Absolutely. Okay, so talking about health, if someone is trying to improve their health and just has started over and over and over, what advice would you give to them?
32:23Noelle Pikus Pace:I would say that that is a very, very common trend. And a lot of times the reason we fail with our nutrition goals is, well, there's a handful of reasons. So one, we've talked about preparation, lack of preparing. Like if you don't have it accessible, you're not going to grab it. Number two is setting our expectations way too high. like feeling like we need to change everything overnight and then we're like oh going gung-ho for one two three days maybe a week and then all of a sudden we're like this is too exhausting like maybe you're trying to cut gluten or cut dairy or cut something or this or that and you're like i just don't even know how to do this my suggestion is to start where you are first but also keep it simple one percent what is one percent don't try to change your whole life overnight but what's one percent that you can do a little bit differently maybe instead of grabbing those soda pop in the fridge, maybe now you have some bottled water, just a simple change.
33:12Noelle Pikus Pace:And then you start going to like something different or whatever. Or maybe instead of having snacks on the counter that aren't super great, you start putting fruit in there. Just start with 1%, just something so small. But I do think that oftentimes we get stuck because we're trying to do too much too quickly. And it's just overwhelming for our brains and our bodies. Too much change all at once.
33:33Kristin J. H. P. A.:I love your skeleton analogy for this because just the other day, a relative said to me, I could never live a healthy lifestyle like you do. And I was like, well, I didn't start at the top of the race, like you were saying, like it was turn 16 and then turn 15, 14, 13, right? Like it was needed one little step at a time. Exactly. And it gets a little bit easier, a little bit
33:54Noelle Pikus Pace:easier and it becomes habit. And it's just the choices we start making. And then we're like, no, that's just those habits become who we are. And we're like, oh yeah, now I know who I am. And it's easy for me to make those decisions. It's not even a temptation anymore. Whereas if I was grabbing for that Snickers bar, now I've set these goals and I've moved up the track and said, okay, well, now I don't grab Snickers bars. Now I'm going to go grab something different. Now by the time you put this into action over days, it becomes habit.
34:19Kristin J. H. P. A.:That is great advice. Okay. So I'm curious now being a mother, does success look different to you as a mother versus an Olympian?
34:27Noelle Pikus Pace:Yes and no. I would say my whole outlook on life has shifted because of my priorities. My priorities have shifted. I really truly believe that having my kids at the Olympics was actually the best thing that I could have had because it took the weight off of the actual competition, off of the podium, off of the distractions, the people, the fans, the cameras. And it just made me realize that there's so much more in life. And so I started training for them. I started training so that I could help them to recognize that they're going to have goals and dreams and it's worth fighting for, you know for those that say oh wait until after the kids are grown set your goals now show your kids who you are show your kids that you're setting goals and moving forward and improving as well so that they're going to want to do those same things they're going to say i want to have goals and and and obtain my things too and have to work hard for it i think there's some so many blessings that have come from combining the two but also i now like with this next chapter in my life after not doing skeleton anymore.
35:25Noelle Pikus Pace:My focus is my kids. And I still have my business. I still write and things like that, which I love doing. But I want to make sure that they are goal-driven, that they are good people, that they are service-oriented and just living a healthy and strong life, the best that I can teach them.
35:42Kristin J. H. P. A.:Because when they leave, which my daughter just loved us,
35:45Noelle Pikus Pace:it's a good thing.
35:46Kristin J. H. P. A.:I want to be a bird launcher. She's your oldest that left. Yeah, she's our oldest. Although it's always the hardest when the oldest leaves.
35:51Noelle Pikus Pace:It's never the same. Yeah, I never seen the dinner table. I bought movie tickets yesterday and I bought him for like our whole family. And then I'm like, purchase. And I'm like, oh, one too many.
36:00Kristin J. H. P. A.:I bought an extra one. Oh, I know. It's so hard. It's definitely a new chapter. Yeah, it is. When the oldest moves out. It is. Okay. So I'm curious, are your kids interested in the skeleton or bobsled or any of that? No. And I'm totally fine with that because I'm like, um, it was really cold.
36:16Noelle Pikus Pace:It's freezing cold. And to be a supporter in that atmosphere. Oh my gosh. I think I would freeze my poor mom. But if they asked to do it, we would try to open doors and make that possible. But fortunately, they're going down different paths, and I'm so happy for them and for them to each find their own thing. It's just, it's really cool to see.
36:33Kristin J. H. P. A.:And are they going a different path because they heard how hard the skeleton was? They're like, I don't want to get hurt like that. You broke your leg. Oh my gosh, no. They don't want to get, they've heard about the cold races and things. Yeah. Okay, so I'm curious, looking back, what did the Olympics teach you then that you didn't know until now?
36:51Noelle Pikus Pace:I think it probably just taught me that it was all worth it. Because when you're in the moment, you're like grinding day after day and it's tedious. And a lot of the days were boring and hard. And it's like, is this ever going to be worth it? Like, is this even going to matter? Is, you know, me doing one more set, is anybody going to know? Or can I just skip it? You know, and I would try to continue to push myself. But looking back, I'm just, I'm so proud of the decisions that I made then that were hard, that were long, that were grinding so that now I can look back and say, that was a job well done.
37:28Noelle Pikus Pace:Like I gave my best, I gave my absolute best and I left nothing on the table. And now my kids can look back and say, man, I've got a cool mom, you know, like that was awesome that she did that and hopefully motivate them to do the same in their life, to just give their best, give their best, whatever that is.
37:43Kristin J. H. P. A.:Well, and then I'm thinking that even applies to just anyone. I mean, even a stay-at-home mom, I'm thinking, oh, I remember those toddler years thinking, is this even worth it? Like, what is going to come from this? These days are so hard. It matters. It matters. It matters. Grown and out of the house. And they remember those years.
38:02Noelle Pikus Pace:What you're doing, it matters and it's good. And we're shaping lives as moms. We're shaping lives. And to see as they grow and they, and you don't always feel like it. You feel burnt out. You feel tired. You're making meals and changing diapers. and then as they grow, you're like, oh man, like being a mom for me is the best. The best is better than any Olympic medal. I've, you know, any medal I've ever received. I just, I absolutely love being
38:26Kristin J. H. P. A.:a mom. Oh, that's amazing. Okay. So I'm curious, you could write a book on any topic you want, any subject out there. Why no excuses?
38:35Noelle Pikus Pace:I hope that it inspires people. I hope it inspires people to become the person they truly want to become, that person that they keep delaying, they keep putting off, they keep saying, I don't have time to be who I want to be. I hope I can make a change. I hope I can make a difference in this world and inspire others, not just with inspiration, but with systems, with tools to put in their daily use to say, wow, now I know how to get through my problems. Now I know what my purpose is. Now I know that mercy has to be in the middle because I beat myself up all the time. And in chapter seven, it talks about mercy in the middle.
39:09Noelle Pikus Pace:When we make a mistake, it's not if we do, but when we do, we need to have mercy for ourselves, pick ourselves back up and just start where we are and keep moving forward. So I just want to help people to become their best selves. No excuses.
39:24Kristin J. H. P. A.:So in the book, does it give like systems and practical things they can do?
39:28Noelle Pikus Pace:It does. Yeah. I have tools in every single chapter, 60 second challenges, little things, little bite-sized pieces. If I don't want to read it, I don't want to write it. And if it's not entertaining to me, I love using stories and morals and principles, using different life scenarios, bringing it into these chapters so it's engaging and entertaining. And hopefully that's what the reader is finding. But most of all, I hope that they walk away with tools that they implement in their lives that they're going to say, this is who I've wanted to become. No excuses. I have a neighbor who read it and she just recently told me she's Latin.
40:02Noelle Pikus Pace:And she said, I've been wanting to teach my kids Spanish. She has a husband who doesn't speak Spanish. And she's like, I've been wanting to teach my husband to speak Spanish or my kids to speak Spanish for so long. And I just keep saying tomorrow. I'll start tomorrow. And it's just so daunting to me. They're young. They're like, you know, in their preschool and young elementary. She's like, I just keep putting it off. She wrote to me like a month later. She's like, oh, my gosh, I've been speaking to them just like 30 minutes every day. Just something simple. And now we're up to about two hours a day.
40:27Noelle Pikus Pace:And they're starting to respond to me in Spanish. I've just seen the changes. And this has been so amazing. Thank you so much. And that's what I hope for is the things that are nagging you, that are weighing on you and to say, I finally did the thing that's been nagging me.
40:39Kristin J. H. P. A.:OK, so tell me one of your absolute favorite parts of the book or favorite stories of the book or favorite tool, whatever.
40:46Noelle Pikus Pace:OK, OK. One of my favorite stories was when I was so scared to go to my first Olympic Games and I was feeling so overwhelmed. The goal was so big ahead of me and I didn't know how to obtain it. And I remember just having like an anxiety breakdown at a hotel in St. Maritz, Switzerland, when the team was named. And I remember looking across the foyer and I saw one of the bobsled coaches. He's a five-time Olympian. And I said, coach, like I'm having a meltdown. Like this should be the most exciting day of my life. I'm an Olympian. I've been named to the team. And all I feel is overwhelmed. I see the cameras and the interviews and my parents have tickets and expectations.
41:26Noelle Pikus Pace:And how do I give my very best with all this pressure? And he's like, oh, let me tell you a story. And long story short, he he told me this story about placing one foot in front of the other to get to the other side. He told me this story about having this this wooden board and you'll have to go and read it in my book. But to sum it up, he just talks about how simple it is to put one foot in front of the other and to focus on where you want to go rather than where you don't want to fall or crash. If you keep focusing on what's in your control, what you can do and take the tiny steps that you're capable of doing, you'll eventually get to where you want to go.
42:00Noelle Pikus Pace:And that just shifted how I saw the stress in my life, really, to maintain or to like kind of sort through what was causing anxiety and what was causing stress and to say, OK, what can I do right now? What is one tiny little thing? And I can keep focusing on the direction that I want to head in rather than the fear around me.
42:20Kristin J. H. P. A.:I love that because I think so many women don't do what they want to do in life because they look at the fear around them. They look at the crashes. They look at the negative around them. The losses. What will I lose because of this? How, you know, what if this happens? What if that? Yes. Amen.
42:35Noelle Pikus Pace:And comparisons. Oh, my goodness. We could talk for hours about the comparison games, but seeing that someone else has something or in their different place or, you know, in social media is really, really tough as well. And that takes us away from focusing on where we want to go. And those are some of those distractions that we talk about.
42:50Kristin J. H. P. A.:I love that because I remember seeing like a little quote on a wall because before I started Just Ingredients, I was like, yeah, but what if this happened? And what if people thought that was dumb? And what if this was stupid? And, you know, maybe it's embarrassing and all these things. And then I saw a little thing and I can't remember the first part of it, but the girl says at the end, but what if I fly? See, what if I fell?
43:11Noelle Pikus Pace:Yes. Like, what if I fall? What if my wings don't spread? What if I can't do this? What if, what if, but what if you fly? What if you take off? What if this is a huge success?
43:19Kristin J. H. P. A.:Yeah. Hold to that. So I remember thinking, okay, I'm just going to think like, what if I fly? Let's just think about that. And look at you. All the stairs. You have soared.
43:27Noelle Pikus Pace:You have soared and it's amazing to see all that you've done. It's so incredible.
43:31Kristin J. H. P. A.:Well, thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. Okay. So besides being a mom, well, that is a full-time job. I know. What else are you doing these days? What are you focusing on?
43:39Noelle Pikus Pace:So I'm focusing on leadership training, workshops, keynote speaking. I really love going into a place, especially like a place with teams, not necessarily sports teams, but like business teams, sales kickoffs, and being able to go in and teach them and follow them month after month and go in and help them to live the no excuses life, help them to gain their goals, reach their goals and give them strategies to do so. Also in corporations. Yeah, I love it. It's fun.
44:06Kristin J. H. P. A.:That is a great idea. So you're like teaching the employees, don't have excuses, do your best, live in the moment now, be prepared, start where you're at, all the things that you're teaching. Yes. In a work setting.
44:18Noelle Pikus Pace:Yeah. And I try to focus on whatever the goals are of the management of the leadership of the executives and then we say okay so what are the goals for the company now let's come in and i'm going to help your employees get on board with this and be able to obtain this and it's not just getting them on board it's actually helping them to have that buy-in and to find that purpose and their own individual purpose because if an individual has a purpose outside of work if they're having goals that are physical and fitness related and with their families and their relationships they're going to be more invested in their career and their jobs and their work so it's just really helping people to live their best life and it helps the company in return.
44:55Noelle Pikus Pace:So in your book, No Excuses, are you teaching about like physical goals and family goals and
45:00Kristin J. H. P. A.:life goals? Yeah, there's a little bit of all of it.
45:03Noelle Pikus Pace:Yeah. And it depends on the chapter, but there's a little bit of all of it. There's definitely a chapter focused on purpose and it talks about life purpose. So we have a life purpose, which is this big broad when I die, this is who I want to be and leaving a legacy. And then we have a day to day purpose. Like what what is my purpose for this week? Like, and I'm not just talking about goals, but like, I want to be an intentional mom this week and helping us to find that purpose. So how can I do that on Monday? How will I do that on Wednesday? How will I do that on Friday? And maybe it's just sitting down at the dinner table and having a discussion with a kid or laying down at night and reading a book with my 10-year-old.
45:36Noelle Pikus Pace:I don't know. Or I want to be an employee that people want to work with. Want to work with, want to be around, an employee that's trustworthy. How can I implement this in here? Or be maybe punctual. Maybe you haven't been on time to work and things like that. So getting these goals all in one place, in one direction, just like going down a skeleton track, the fastest way to get from start to finish is to be in a straight line. And if we can take these goals and put them into one system, it actually comes out way faster and way better at the other end. Okay, tell people where they can find your book.
46:06Noelle Pikus Pace:So they can find my book on Amazon, No Excuses by Noelle Pikes Pace.
46:10Kristin J. H. P. A.:And the one thing that you hope people learn from the book, the one takeaway.
46:14Noelle Pikus Pace:The one takeaway would be to live the life you want to live. Live it. It's time.
46:22Kristin J. H. P. A.:Not tomorrow, but today. Oh, I hope people just read this and understand that. And it's so important. We don't know if we have tomorrow. Yeah. So live it today. Amen. I love that so much. Thank you. Well, thank you so much for being here. It's been so fun just listening to your journey. And you are an incredible person. I remember watching you back in the Olympics and just knowing like your story. And I always thought you're incredible because when that accident happened, I was like, oh, my gosh. Like, it was wild. It was crazy on TV. And but you were incredible. I've always looked up to you as like she endured.
46:58Kristin J. H. P. A.:She really persevered.
47:00Noelle Pikus Pace:You are an inspiration to so many of us. So thank you for all that you're doing. You're so nice. Well, thank you.
47:05Kristin J. H. P. A.:So I always end the podcast by asking the last few questions. So the first one is what emerging health topic excites you most?
47:13Noelle Pikus Pace:What emerging health topic excites me the most? I would say exercise snacking. I don't know if you know what that is. It's just taking the minutes of your day that you have to get up and run up the stairs and come back. Take the exercise, like do 60 seconds of abs and then get back to your cooking. If you're waiting for something to bake, waiting to preheat the oven, you have time to do some lunges in the kitchen. just doing little bits of exercise whenever you have those gaps in time and that actually helps our metabolism it helps our heart rate it helps everything about like our overall physical well being i have never heard it called exercise snacking did you just come up with that term i said i can't i can't claim i've heard it once or twice but i do love it and i want to claim it
47:55Kristin J. H. P. A.:oh my gosh i am going to start saying that because i've never heard it like that but do you work out every day. I'm more of a snacker.
48:02Noelle Pikus Pace:I try to exercise like intensely, like three times a week, and I don't have a set program. It's more of right now, at this stage in my life, at least right now, I just want to be active three times a week, whether that means going out mountain biking, whether that means hiking, whether it means getting in a pool and doing some laps. It sounds like I'm doing a triathlon and I've never done it. But whatever it is, playing pickleball or a pickup game of soccer, I don't know. I just love staying active and just getting out and moving my body at least three times a week. And then in between, it's the exercise, snacking, just moving my body, getting in as many steps or lunges or plyometrics that I can in between the minutes of the day.
48:37Kristin J. H. P. A.:I am going to implement that at work because... Shop, you know, Costco with a car. You can be doing... People, come on. We've got child. Well, a lot of people are working. A lot of people are moms with busy kids and you can definitely do it with busy kids, but I'm going to do it at work because they sit all day and I'm like, get up, go walk, go... You can do something. There's always something you can do. I love that. Okay, number two, what is a piece of advice you give to your younger self?
49:02Noelle Pikus Pace:A piece of advice would be just don't stress the future.
49:05Kristin J. H. P. A.:Just give your best today and it's all going to work out. Number three, what's the one health practice you'll never compromise on no matter how busy life gets?
49:13Noelle Pikus Pace:Carry my water bottle everywhere I go. Like hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Just stay hydrated throughout the day. You know, like our phones or like our lifeline. And if I don't have my water bottle, I always have something in both hands. It's like my phone and my water bottle and without my water bottle, I'm at a loss. So I'm drinking water constantly throughout the day.
49:30Kristin J. H. P. A.:You know what is crazy is over 70 % of Americans are chronically dehydrated.
49:34Noelle Pikus Pace:That's baffling. Just carry a water bottle. Carry a water bottle.
49:37Kristin J. H. P. A.:I know. I know. It's crazy to me because people's migraines, people's headaches, people's fatigue, people's muscle cramps. I mean, the list goes on and on and I'm like, drink, hydrate, hydrate. Okay. So last one, what have you found to be the best ingredient in life?
49:53Noelle Pikus Pace:Oh, the best ingredient in life. I would say the best ingredient is to see the good, see the good in people, see the good in whatever situation you're in, no matter where you're at, just look for the good. There's always good around you. And when we look for the good, when we see the good, our mindset shifts and then good things happen. Good things are possible.
50:13Kristin J. H. P. A.:Now that you say this, a previous guest had recently been on and said sort of the same thing. And I was going to make that my goal to do every day. And now that you said that, I'm like, whoops, a reminder. I forgot to do that. I am going to start trying to see the good in everybody. Love it. Okay. Well, thank you so much for being here. But tell everybody if they want to follow you, where do they find you?
50:32Noelle Pikus Pace:Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, on Noelle
50:35Kristin J. H. P. A.:Pikespace. Awesome. Well, again, thank you so much for being here. It truly has been an honor. Thank you. Likewise. Thanks so much. thank you for being here and being part of this community don't forget to subscribe to the just ingredients podcast we've got so much more to share with you and if you're not already come join us daily on all social media platforms at just.ingredients until next time keep choosing what nourishes you
From the publisher
Noelle Pikus Pace was ranked #1 in the world in skeleton when a freak accident shattered her leg and her Olympic dream in an instant. Most people would have walked away right there. Noelle came back the very next season and won the World Championship by the largest margin in the sport's history, and years later stood on an Olympic podium with a silver medal around her neck, her husband and kids by her side. We talked through what that whole journey taught her about consistency, mindset, and taking ownership of your very next decision. If you've ever felt "stuck," waiting for the right moment to start showing up for yourself, this conversation is a must listen for you! In this episode:
From #1 in the world to a shattered leg. Noelle walks through the freak accident that ended her Olympic dream in 2005 — and the season that followed, when she came back to win the World Championship by the largest margin in the sport's history.
Why "stuck" is usually a waiting problem. Noelle unpacks her central belief that we stay stuck because we're waiting for life to calm down, for confidence to show up, or for someone else to change and why progress actually starts with your very next decision.
What consistency is really built on. Noelle and Karalynne dig into why motivation runs out and what actually holds up when life gets busy plus where most people go wrong when they're chasing better health or bigger goals.
The Daily 3 and the 60-second rule. Two simple tools Noelle uses to turn tiny daily decisions into lasting identity change and why she believes small moments shape us more than big goals do.
Mindset on the track and at home. Noelle shares how the way she chooses to see hard situations has shaped outcomes in both her sport and her family life. Noelle also opens up about how becoming a mom changed her definition of winning.
About Noelle Pikus Pace
Noelle Pikus Pace is an Olympic silver medalist, two-time World Champion, and 26-time World Cup medalist in the sport of skeleton. In 2005, ranked #1 in the world, she was struck by a runaway bobsled in a freak accident that shattered her leg and her Olympic dreams — only to come back the next season and become the first American woman to win the Skeleton World Championships, by the largest margin in the sport's history. At the 2010 Vancouver Games she competed on a sled built by her husband, finishing just shy of the podium, before returning one final time in 2014 to win Olympic silver with her husband and two children by her side; her celebration leap into the stands was named the USOPC's "Moment of the Games." Outside of sport, Noelle is a best-selling author (Focused and No Excuses), holds an MBA, and is a mother of four. She now speaks to corporate audiences around the world, helping teams and leaders turn setbacks into comebacks through focus, resilience, and intention.
Connect with Noelle:
Website: noellepikuspace.com
Instagram: @noellepikuspace
This episode is brought to you by Toothpillow. Visit toothpillow.com and use code JUSTINGREDIENTS to get a free video assessment plus $200 off.
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