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With one month to go to the appearance of the world’s best athletes competing to reach their dreams of winning a 2014 Winter Olympic medal, there is no time like the present to set our sights on ...

Taking a Page from Olympic Achievements: 8 Motivational Tips towards Success

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Through my experience in interviews from local radio stations all the way up to nationally televised interviews on shows like Late Night with David Letterman and international Olympic coverage, ...

10 Practice Tips and Activities to Improve Your Interview Skills

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Just the other day, I was playing a game with my 5-year-old daughter that asked a number of philosophical questions. The purpose of the game was to get young children to think a little more ...

A Handshake to Be Proud Of

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When I was applying to colleges, I didn’t have the grade point average or SAT scores of my scholarly sister, Laura. My high school guidance counselor asked me why I wasn’t applying to more ...

Don't Be Afraid to Fail

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A few years ago, I had a friend approach me about having awful nerves before an upcoming speech. She had been asked to speak for a charitable cause she was closely connected with. My friend was ...

Standing Up to One of the World’s Greatest Fears

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If you are anything like me, you have high hopes of achieving a lofty New Year’s resolution but as the days and weeks pass by, your resolve starts to dissolve. Typically, these resolutions are ...

Making Your Resolutions Last

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I am terrified of heights, something few people would imagine of an aerial skier who launches herself high in the air at every competition. I would literally go in the woods and lose my lunch ...

Is It Worth Risking My Life Today?

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In light of all the catastrophic issues so many are dealing with after Hurricane Sandy, I thought it was a good time to reflect and give ourselves some perspective on what’s most important. I ...

How Full Is Your Jar?

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Many people think that because I took part in an individual—versus team—sport, there wasn’t a teamwork element. I absolutely guarantee that I wouldn’t have my Olympic medal if I didn’t know how ...

Losing Control

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The year before my second Olympics, my coach put together a training log for me that included a lot of aerobic work such as step classes, running and biking. I was an aerial skier, so coming from ...

Why the 'Why'?

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As the athletes head to the Olympic Games in London in a short few weeks, most of them realize they have one shot at success. Some Olympians have a few hours to pull off the feat of bringing home ...

Make Every Day Your Olympics

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With just over three months to the Summer Olympics in London, many people are picking their favorites to win bronze, silver and gold. As I recall my own experiences leading into my second Olympic ...

Banking on the Underdog

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Experienced athletes often like to say that we are so confident, we could execute a maneuver or skill with our eyes closed. Aerialists have to perform each new trick hundreds of times into a pool ...

Crazy or Confident: An Olympian’s Bravado

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I dedicate my post this week to a lady who lived her life in a way that many can only dream of. Sarah Burke, you are an icon, a hero, an inspiration, and a class act. When my flame is ...

Living like a Champion

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Through some of my volunteer work, I had an opportunity to speak at a United Nations Development Program meeting in Dakar, Senegal, several years ago. While there, I met a young woman from Mali ...

This Winter Season, Wear Shorts

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After my second Olympic Games, I was invited to visit several children’s hospitals. I still remember my first tour of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital just outside Boston. As an ...

Gaining a Child's Perspective

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When I qualified for the Freestyle Skiing World Cup tour, I began competing with athletes from all over the world. As an unknown skier my first year on the tour, I had no sponsors so my parents ...

Focus: A Lesson Learned in Front of the World

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When I started college, I had just broken onto the World Cup skiing scene, so I decided to pursue both ventures at the same time. The prospect of trying to find success in both skiing and ...

The First Step to Climbing Your Mountain

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With so many people starting college or new jobs and positions, I thought it an appropriate time to share a story about my first year on the Freestyle Skiing World Cup tour. No matter how much ...

I Belonged

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It’s been a long and heartbreaking week with the tragic passing of a friend and ex-teammate. The hardest part is seeing how challenging this has been to his family, best friends, and supportive ...

A Little Birdie Told Me

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In the past I’ve talked about the pride of being an American walking into the Opening Ceremonies at an Olympic Games. I explained how I was caught up in the hype of the cameras and fanfare until ...

Earning Our Stars and Stripes

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A couple weeks ago I attended a fundraising event for a charity called Right To Play. I immediately fell in love with the organization after hearing about how their programs impacted children ...

Leading a Fulfilled Life

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I hate failing. Obviously, no one likes to fail, but one event made me see that I actually feared failing so much that I missed key opportunities. When I first made it onto the U.S. Ski Team, ...

If I Knew I Couldn't Fail

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Because I won my Olympic gold medal in Nagano, Japan in 1998, the country has always held a powerful and touching place in my heart. Like many, I was really shaken by the scary sights of the ...

A Touch of Hope

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How often are you driven by how much you can or will make? How many times are you encouraged by how many zeros precede a decimal point? How often is your eye drawn to the big dollar sign listed ...

Remember Your Childhood Dreams when Choosing Your Adult Goals

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There is a saying by John Burroughs: “Leap and the net will appear.” I put that concept to the test during my second World Cup competition overseas. The fog moved in and we could barely see ...

Leap and the Net Will Appear--My Real Life Experience with this Expression

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To kick off the New Year, I wanted to share a story about a man who everyone should resolve to be like. Shortly after my retirement from aerial skiing, I was elected to the U.S. Olympic ...

An Olympic Hero Everyone Should Resolve to Be Like

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My impressions of the Olympic spirit were forever changed on August 5, 1984, at the very first women’s Olympic marathon. I had long ago become an Olympic junkie, and my admiration of world-class ...

True Olympic Character

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As we’re quickly approaching Thanksgiving, I thought I should share my thoughts on giving thanks in a way you might never have thought of. Let the season inspire you to show your appreciation to ...

Acknowledge Your Front Row

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It was at a World Cup in Madaro, Japan, that I first learned how important a positive attitude can be. The day was warm and the conditions on the aerial hill were deteriorating. The sunny ...

The True Powers of Positive Thinking

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Several years ago I was invited to a charitable conference called the Glocal Forum. The forum was a nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion of international intercity relations in ...

A Man Named Tim: A Special Olympic Experience

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Through my work with Right To Play, I met an amazing gentleman named Safari. Safari lived through the Rwandan genocide of 1994, where nearly a million people were killed, including many of his ...

Sports and Society: A Lesson from Safari

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Things didn’t go exactly as I planned in the 1994 Olympics. But I can say that I truly cherish the memories and the friendships I forged with my fellow Olympians. I’m still honored that Prince ...

Even Country Leaders Have to Learn to Take a Risk: Prince Albert’s Most Moving Experience

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Several years ago, I served as a board member of a program with the United States Olympic Committee, where eight Olympic medalists helped mentor future potential medalists. We would play ...

The Landmine Game: Learn What Kind of Team Player You Are

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Most of us don’t know the best way to really win an argument. My husband once pointed out to me that I wasn’t really listening to his point of view when we were having an argument. I realized he ...

How to Help You Win an Argument

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ERIK WEIHENMAYER & JEFF EVANS First Blind Climber and his Climbing Guide to Summit Everest (Story from When Turtles Fly: Secrets of Successful People Who Know How to Stick Their Necks Out by ...

Climbing Blind: An Unbelievable Trek Up Everest

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Because I was afraid of injuries, doing triple flips fifty feet in the air was no easy feat for me. I’d be a fool not to have fears. I think that most people would be fearful of the prospect of ...

Standing Up to Fear

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After my second Olympic Games, I was invited to visit several children’s hospitals. I still remember my first tour of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital just outside Boston. As an Olympian, I ...

Organ Transplant That Led to Olympic Dreams

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Not long after seeing my first hero Nadia Comaneci win the Olympics, I enrolled in a gymnastics class myself. I made great progress, and eventually my babysitter invited me to join her high ...

Nadia Comaneci’s Olympic Journey and How She Found Her Focus

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For all those fighting the good fight let me share my story of overcoming one of the greatest adversities I’ve ever endured: coming back from a spinal injury that very nearly ended my skiing ...

Fighting the Good Fight to Win Olympic Gold—The Rest of the Story

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For all those fighting the good fight, let me share my story of overcoming one of the greatest adversities I’ve ever endured: coming back from a spinal injury that very nearly ended my skiing ...

Fighting the Fight to Win Olympic Gold

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This past weekend I was invited to an event for a charity that has been near and dear to my heart for a long time, Right To Play. Many of you may have heard about Right To Play as it was also the ...

Look After Yourself, Look After One Another: A Lesson Learned from Charity

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I remember thinking that sports celebrities had it made. They somehow didn't fail like the rest of us. I, on the other hand, had a slew of failures. My parents would remind me that it wasn't a ...

Even Legendary NFL Quarterback Steve Young Has to Try, Try Again

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I have a friend who’s always been afraid of fully committing to a relationship. I would tease him that he wasn’t a risk-taker like I was. I risked flipping and twisting 50 feet through the air ...

The Self-Proclaimed Risk-Taker Who Confronted Her Fears

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Continued from last week’s blog entitled "How Does a Girl Who Is Afraid of Heights Start a Risky Sport Like Aerial Skiing? Part I" *********************************** …I should have known by ...

How Does a Girl Who is Afraid of Heights Start a Risky Sport Like Aerial Skiing? Part II

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It didn’t matter if it was Monopoly, minigolf, gym class, or the gymnastics state championship, competition was always filling my soft inside. It got my heart pumping and made me feel really ...

Fearful of Heights: Aerial Skiing, Part I

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Do to the overwhelming response from my last blog, I wanted to share another activity that I’ve used with the regional Biggest Loser contestants in the motivational weekly session that I run with ...

Biggest Losers Build Confidence the Olympian Way

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We all know the show The Biggest Loser, but did you know that a pilot program is taking the show regional? America is slowly realizing that fad diets just aren't cutting it and even if they work ...

Inspiring the Biggest Loser

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Knowing how our country really needs some strong inspiration right now, I wanted to share one of my favorite contributor’s story from my new book, When Turtles Fly: Secrets of Successful People ...

I Now Know That Anything Is Possible…Because of an Amazing Eight-Year-Old Boy

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Who would think an Olympic Gold medal aerial skier would be afraid of flying? Let me share my post-9/11 experience and the risk I learned to take. To be successful, you need to... Be ...

How a Cancer Patient Helped an Olympic Gold Medal Aerial Skier Take More Risks