Using the skills we covered in class, write a one paragraph – 4-5 sentence summary of the following essay in your own words. The first sentence must include the title, the author’s name, and the main idea. Please remember to ask yourself the following three questions before you write this summary: (1) What is the topic? (2) What is the writer’s purpose?, and (3) What is the writer’s point about the topic.
Keep Your Goals Golden by Amy Alexander
The world takes notice of Olympic athletes when they’re standing at the top of the slope or on the edge of the ice. Yet the shining moments that’ll take place in Turn, Italy, this February began, for many athletes as goals they set out years ago to achieve. You don’t have to be an athlete to put Olympic wisdom to work for you as you pursue your true dreams and goals. Here’s a sampling of dream-chasing principles that’ve worked for some of the best cold-weathered athletes.
Visualize the details of your success. This year, bronze and silver medalist Michelle Kwan will again be part of the U.S. figure skating team at the Olympics. When Kwan was just 7 years old, she began to imagine herself gliding for gold. “I vowed that I would go to the Olympics,” she said in her autobiography, Michelle Kwan: Heart of a Champion. “It wasn’t just a one-time wish. I could see it happening . . . I’ve always had a vivid imagination. As you whittle away at this year’s resolutions, try to capture an exact image of your triumph, from what you’ll be wearing when you win, to the smell of the celebration, to the sound of the congratulations. Seeing the fruits of your hard work can be powerful, even if it’s just in your head.
Think about the ingredients of excellence. Zeroing in on what you need to do well helps stave off jitters and builds you up, says downhill skier Picabo Street, who landed gold at the 1998 Winter Games. “If something made me hesitate – usually it had to do with going airborne – I talked myself through it: keep breathing, lift your heels, pull back your toes, breathe at the takeoff,” she said in her autobiography, Picabo: Nothing to Hide. I kept everything flowing and visualized myself doing it successfully. I crowded my brain with so much information that fear got elbowed to the back of the room. You don’t have to be a daredevil skier to try Street’s technique. The next time you’re getting ready to take a risk in pursuit of a dream, try focusing on what you know you can do right and let that override any fears that might stand in your way.
Have fun. It was 1950. Though she’d been a star on the slopes, downhill skier Andrea Mead was having a horrible season. Looking toward the 1952 Winter Games, Mead doubted that she could win. Though she long dreamed of becoming an Olympic champ, she dreaded practice and competition. Mead’s solution was a radical one. She decided not to compete for a year. “During her time off, Mead rediscovered the sheer pleasure of skiing,” wrote Nate Aaseng in Great Winter Olympic Moments. “From then on, she was determined that she would not get caught up in the pressure of winning and losing.”
Mead’s new motto? No matter what, make sure you enjoy pursuing your goal. That tactic helped her grab a pair of gold medals at the 1952 Olympics.
