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AS A Y O U N G G IRL,

Lolo Jones moved often

with her impoverished family, once even living in a

church basement. In high school, she balked when

her mother announced yet another move.

“That was when I decided to pursue my dream,”

Lolo says. “I gave myself the gift of pushing to

overcome life’s hurdles.” It wasn’t just a figurative

statement to Lolo: She stayed with three different

families in order to attend the same school and train

as a hurdler. It paid off when she graduated from high

school with a college track scholarship in hand. Since

then, she’s faced other obstacles with sim ilar

determination, including when she went from first

place to seventh in a matter of milliseconds after

hitting a hurdle at the Beijing Olympics last year.

“I want to see what I can learn even if I can’t get

over the hurdle,” she says. “What I take away is a lesson

that will help me achieve victory another time.”

In fact, her first attempt to make the Olympic team

failed. “I could have given up. But I picked myself up

again and worked harder.” That meant training while

working part-time at a restaurant and at Home Depot.

“Friends wanted to know why I was taking out trash

in a restaurant when I had a college degree,” Lolo

says. “It was a really difficult time. There were times

when I doubted my ability. What drove me was that

goal. I love running. I love the atmosphere and the

challenge of it all. That’s the important thing when you

set a goal—you have to love it.”

The ability to endure through

adversity is eonsistently related to

better long-term measures of

well-being and overall health.

*

AS A Y O U N G M O T H E R ,

Alexandra Stoddard rose at

5

a.m. every day so she

could write for two hours before getting her children ready for school.

“I was sleep deprived for 10 years,” jokes the renowned interior decorator and author

of

27

books, including her newest,

Things Good M others K now .

“What I ’ve always been

able to do is give myself time, but I ’ve found you can’t do that if you’re unwilling to set th<

alarm clock.”

Making herself a priority benefited not only her career, but her family, she says. “You

can’t give somethingto someone else if you’re hollow inside. I ’m a huge believer that no

one can take care of me but me. I’d be very needy if I had to rely on others to do that. The

most important thing I ’ve learned from my intensely demanding career as a designer is to

give myself time.” Even if it means getting up really early.

—ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JEANNE AMBROSE

AND GARDENS

P H O TO S : (JO N E S ) G E T T Y IM AGES; (S TO D D A R D ) RICK TAYLOR