Amy Rees Anderson's Blog

If At First You Don’t Succeed…

Mar

“If at first you don’t succeed, do it like your mother told you.” We all remember the famous mom advice we got as kids: Wear a coat, brush your teeth, look both ways before you cross the street, put on sunscreen, don’t take candy from strangers….. We would roll our eyes and grumble under our […]

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Tagged adult, advice, board meeting, brush your teeth, burned, candy from strangers, cavities, child, college, Dalton, deer valley, disneyland, do it, doctor, grown up, grumble, hospital, jenney craig, kids, listen, look both ways, mother, mothers, parent, parenthood, remember, roll our eyes, sick, son, succeed, surgery, university of utah, warm, wear a coat, wear sunscreen, weight, weightloss, worry

One of the greatest things about being an adult…

Mar

“One of the greatest things about being an adult is the feeling of euphoria when you get to change into pajamas.” SO TRUE!!!! Today was possibly one of the longest days I have had in a very, very long time. It actually started just after midnight last night when I found myself still awake, working […]

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Tagged adult, bed, BYU, BYU Founders Board, byu hawaii, comfy, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, exhausted, hard day, Hawaii, heaven, honolulu, hug, husband, jet lag, jumpin jammerz, long day, love, pajamas, pjs, pray, prayer, presentation, public speaking, sexy, sleep, sleepy, tired, true, wisdom, words of wisdom, worn out, youth group

Remember Who You Are And What You Stand For (Forbes Article)

Mar

“All through my growing up years as I would run out the door of our home, my mother would yell the phrase “Remember who you are and what you stand for”. I would guess I have heard that phrase literally thousands of times as a child. Most days she said it I would roll my […]

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Tagged Amy Rees Anderson, article, blog, business associates, character, cheating, coworkers, cutting corners, dirty tactics, discouraging, dishonesty, Employees, employers, ethics, evil, extra mile, failure, forbes, friends, frivolous lawsuits, get ahead, good, high performance, honesty, integrity, integrity is forever, knowledge, liars, life, lose, lying, morals, mother, peace, quest, respect, reward, rewards, right, sell their soul, succeed, success, success will come and go, values, win, won, wrong

The Rules We Learned At Recess

Mar

I loved recess as a little kid. I loved being out on the field running around with the sun shining. Now that I am an adult I can look back and see that not only was recess a time for fun, it was also a teaching ground full of life lessons that would apply to […]

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Tagged actions, adults, anger, attitude, be sensitive, care, childhood, children, enjoy, experience, feelings, four square, fun, good times, grownup, have fun, help, hurt, include, inclusive, joy, kick the can, kids, kind, kindness, laugh, life lessons, love, memories, monkey bars, play, playground, Recess, regrets, rules, sad, self-improvement, share, smile, sunshine, take turns, takebacks, wall ball, will you go with me, words

The Characteristics Of A True Leader (Forbes Article)

Mar

Every one of us is a leader in our own right. Whether we lead an entire company, or a team of people, or a group of friends, or our families, or just ourselves…we are all leaders in some form or fashion. Whatever size our circle of influence may be today, if we work to improve […]

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Tagged abilities, ability, Amy Rees Anderson, approach, atmosphere, bad, behavior, care, certainty, change, communicate, communication, connections, correct, culture, delegate, demand, demands, desire, empower, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, error, exalt, example, follow, forbes, fun, future, gentle, good, grow, honest, improve, influence, inspire, integrity, judgment, kindness, lead, leader, leadership, learn, leisure, lessons, lift others, love, mistakes, motivate, often, open, past, perspective, potential, relationships, reprimand, respect, self-improvement, serve, sherry dew, stretch, tasks, teach, teaching, time, time management, trial, trust, uncertainty, values

Shaking Things Up

Feb

Boredom…there is little worse…That is why every now and again you just need to shake things up a little in life. It’s so easy to get in the same old rut day after day, doing the same old things. Life becomes mundane and you start to lose that excitement and drive. You find yourself having […]

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Tagged alive, ambition, attitude, awesome, boredom, crazy, dance, different, drive, excitement, exciting, feel stuck, free, fun, get yolo, grateful, gratitude, happiness, happy, hard to wake up, inspiration, joy, leadership, less energy, life, list of things, live, motivation, play, positive, run, rut, Shake it up, sing, small things, smile, spontaneous, thankful, yolo

Only Dead Fish Go With The Flow

Feb

“It takes nothing to join the crowd. It takes everything to stand alone.” Most everyone will have times in their life when they have to make a choice to stand alone. For most it comes during childhood when a group of kids is doing something you know you shouldn’t do and you have two choices…you […]

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Tagged associate, bad behavior, bad people, brave, business, choices, common values, courage, courageous, dead fish, direction, do the right thing, do what is right, friends, friendship, go with the flow, goals, good people, high school, honesty, influence, influences, integrity, lesson, memory, personal, rationalize, relationships, righteous, senior year, stand alone, stand out, stand up, teenager, values, walk away

Stop Waiting For Friday

Feb

“Stop waiting for Friday, for summer, for someone to fall in love with you, for life. Happiness is achieved when you stop waiting for it and make the most of the moment you are in now.” What an awesome reminder, right!?! I admit that I have often found myself waiting for Friday to be excited […]

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Tagged attitude, aware, be happy now, don't wait, enjoy, excitement, focus, Friday, fun, happiness, happy, joy, life, look forward, look forward to, make the most, memories, moments, Monday, negative attitude, optimistic, overlooked, peace, positive attitude, Saturday, smile, sunday, Thursday, traditions, Tuesday, waiting, waste time, Wednesday

Everyone Has To Start Somewhere

Feb

Even the most successful people in this world had to start somewhere. Often times I hear people express that they just don’t know where to start. My answer to that is simple – Just Start Somewhere. The truth is that it doesn’t really matter WHERE you start…what matters is that you DO START. People can […]

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Tagged accomplish, accomplishment, achievement, analogy, anxiety, attitude, car, change, direction, Do, do anything, do something, drive, effort, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, failure, faith, freeway, future, goal, goal setting. Achieve, goals, God, GPS, happy, in motion, interstate, make a start, map, move, move ahead, parked car, pick a direction, plan, plan for the future, signs ahead, start, start doing, start somewhere, stop talking, stress, study, success, take action, worry

Charity Is Expecting The Best Of Each Other

Feb

“Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down or resisting the impulse […]

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Tagged accept differences, anger, attitude, believe, benefit of the doubt, bitterness, business, charity, children, employee, expect the best of each other, expectation, expectations, faith, forgive, friendship, frustration, great job, hurt feelings, husband, impact, implment, inspiration, kind, love, make a difference, marriage, Marvin J. Ashton, misinterpret, misunderstood, motivating, motivation, offend, offended, patience, patient, relationships, rift, spouse, strenghts, take advantage, weakness

Don’t Be Ashamed of Your Story, It Will Inspire Others

Feb

Everyone has a story…a history…a series of failures and mistakes that have shaped them into the person they are today. I, for one, believe we shouldn’t be ashamed of our story. Our story is what helped us become the person we are. That story is what taught us great life lessons that we might not […]

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Tagged addiction, ashamed, better, better person, brave, bully, bullying, business, courage, decisions, drug addict, embarrass, embarrassed, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, fail, failure, forgive, future, get back up, improve, inspiration, inspire, learn, learn something, let go, mishap, mistakes, motivate, motivation, move forward, progress, proud, repent, share, share your story, story, success, suicide, teasing, tell your story, try, wiser, words

Live Life To The Fullest

Feb

We all have a limited time here on this earth, and none of us really know exactly when that time will come to an end. We all hope to live to an old age and then pass peacefully in our sleep, hopefully with our spouse right next to us going at the same time just […]

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Tagged adventure, adversity, anticipation, anxiety, appreciation, attitude, baggage, balance, be happy, beautiful, blessings, come to an end, death, die, embracee, end, excited, family, forgive, friends, fullest, fun, granted, happiness, happy, health, inspiration, joy, knowledge, laugh, leadership, learn, life, live, live life to the fullest, love, negative influences, romantic, self-improvement, service, success, the notebook, time, travel, work

“Life always offers you a second chance. It’s called tomorrow.”

Feb

Isn’t it great to know that when you wake up each morning you start your day with a fresh new chance to make of it whatever you will? I think it’s fantastic!!! I love the quote in today’s title: “Life always offers you a second chance. It’s called tomorrow.” Because it reminds us that it’s […]

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Tagged attitude, begin, chances, change, courage, culture, do over, entrepreneur, experience, forget, forgive, fresh start, happy, improve, learn, let go, move forward, move on, new beginning, new day, repent, replay, rewind, second chance, self-improvement, start over, success, today, tomorrow

The Ultimate Goal Is To Be Better Today Than Yesterday With A Plan To Become Even Better Tomorrow (Forbes Article)

Feb

How do we stack up? It’s a question we seem to constantly ask ourselves. Our brains want to know how we are measuring up compared to everyone else. Do we matter more than other people matter? Is our position more valuable than another person’s position? People can spend their entire lives trying to determine where […]

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Tagged accurate, alike, Amy Rees Anderson, best, better, bill gates, capable, character, compare, comparison, compete, competition, different, excellence, experience, fair, forbes, future, gift, goal, goal setting, importance, important, improve, inferior, measure, measure up, measurement, measuring stick, past, potential, qualities, ranking, recognize, self-improvement, stack up, stat, strength, superior, talent, task, tomorrow, totem pole, weakness, wisdom

Love Isn’t Love Til You Give It Away

Feb

Do you remember how fun Valentine’s Day was when you were a kid? You would spend hours making your cute little cardboard mailbox out of the empty Quaker Oats container or an old shoe box. You would cover it with colored construction paper and then put cute heart stickers on it, and don’t forget the […]

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Tagged american heart association, angel food cake, appreciate, appreciation, berry orange sauce, care, caring, cookbook, desk, dessert, family, flag, friends, gift, give it away, grateful, gratitude, happiness, happy, heart, heart healthy, holiday, i care, i love you, joy, kids, love, love isn't love, loving, mailbox, memories, oscar hammerstein, President's Day, recipe, romance, romantic, school, self-improvement, service, single awareness day, smile, thanks, valentine, valentine's day

“If we aren´t laughing and having fun everyday…we´re doing it wrong!”

Feb

As those of you who follow my blog know, once a week I get an email from my daughter who is serving her mission. This week she shared that her group set a goal this week to see if they could follow all the mission rules with “exact obedience”. Now I don’t know about all […]

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Tagged abuse, ashley, Ashley Lewis, attitude, charity, covet, doing it wrong, drugs, effort, fun, go the extra mile, goal, God, harmful substances, have fun, Heavenly Father, honesty, integrity, joy, judging, kind, kindness, knowledge, laugh, lds mission, letter, lie, love, meditation, mission, missionary, nice, obedience, perfect love, perfectly, plan of happiness, pornography, prayer, respect, serve, steal, work hard

Be Fearlessly Authentic!

Feb

I LOVE authentic people. People who are genuine and real and ‘what you see is what you get’. People who are open about their fears and insecurities are endearing because they are people you can relate to. Whereas people that act like they have never made mistakes or that they know everything make the rest […]

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Tagged abilities, attitude, authentic, boss, CEO, confidence, contribute, courage, courageou, culture, doubt, engaged, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, experience, failure, fearlessly authentic, fears, insecure, insecurities, judge, leaders, leadership, manager, mistake, needed, open, peace, Real, relate, self-improvement, sincere, success, successes, support, supportive, talents, uncomforable

Why Did This Have To Happen?!?!

Feb

I was working hard on preparing a Powerpoint presentation for a talk I will be giving at a University tomorrow evening when my computer crashed, and of course it crashed before I had saved my work. After hours of hard work I yelled out “Why did this have to happen?!?!” Arggghhhh!!! So frustrating, right!?! At […]

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Tagged adversity, anxiety, attitude, best good, best laid plans, BYU, confidence, courage, cry, culture, difficult, easy, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, experience, frustrating, frustration, get over it, God, happiness, hard, Heavenly Father, learn, lesson, mope, move forward, perfect, perfection, powerpoint, presentation, public speaking, self-improvement, step up, stress, success, trials, trust, university, whine, why did this happen, why me

Love Is In The Air!

Feb

Only five more day’s until Valentine’s Day! Have you figured out what to give your significant other yet? Well today’s blog is my little reminder to all of you to figure that out now rather than becoming that sorry person at the grocery store Friday night trying to find any Hallmark Card left on the […]

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Tagged appreciate, appreciation, baby, beautiful, bond, book, care, caring, clean, courtship, dating, express, family, favorite, gift ideas, goals, happiness, honey, husband, inspiration, love, love is in the air, loving, magazine, magic, magic happens, marriage, motivation, puzzle, relationship, service, significant other, success, sweetheart, sweetie, think ahead, thought, time, together, valentine, valentine's day, wife

You too? Thought I was the only one.

Feb

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: “What! You, too? Thought I was the only one.” – C.S. Lewis So true! One would think that it becomes easier to make new friends as you become an adult because at that stage in life you are more comfortable in your own […]

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Tagged adult, alcoholic, attitude, blessings, Brigham Young University, C.S. Lewis, caring, children, church, cigarettes, comfortable, community, confidence, connections, damaging, exercise, family, friends, friendship, impact, life, listen, love, lunch, marriage, meaning, negative, obesity, odds, people, positive, purpose, relate, responsibility, save your life, self-improvement, service, serving, smoking, social, social connections, survival, talk, the only one, time, working, you too

Some People, Good People, And Extraordinary People

Feb

“Some people see the glass half empty. Good people see the glass half full. But extraordinary people are just grateful for the glass!” That quote came today in the weekly email letter I get from my daughter Ashley on her mission and I loved it so much I had to share it with everyone. What […]

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Tagged 19 years, adversity, appreciate, appreciation, ashley, Ashley Lewis, attitude, barefoot man, birthday, Celebrate, chin up, daughter, extraordinary, family, feet, gift, God, grateful, gratitude, grow, half empty, half full, happiness, happy, Happy Birthday, hardship, Heavenly Father, help, joy, learn, love, measure your life, patience, positive, self-improvement, shoes, smile, spirits, stress, success, sunshine, trial, wisdom

Our Own Worst Critic

Feb

Most all of us are our own worst critic. We pick ourselves apart, we put ourselves down, we stress over every flaw and imperfection. And heaven knows we women are far worse than the men when it comes to vocally putting ourselves down, although I happen to believe that men are just as hard on […]

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Tagged abilities, attempt, bake bread, celestial kingdom, children, critic, critical, do well, don't do, dr. laura, eternity, fail, failure, fat, father, fatherhood, fret, God, heaven, homemaker, imperfect, imperfections, improve, inspiration, inspire, judge, judgment, mistakes, money, mother, motherhood, motivate, own worst critic, parent, perfect, perfection, progress, sin, single mom, skinny, stay at home mom, stop, store bought bread, stress, talent, title, try, what really matters, working woman, wrinkles

Groundhog Day Says We’re Going to Have To Make Our Own Sunshine

Feb

With all of the amazing technology we employ today it’s amazing the credibility we attribute to the shadow of a little brown rodent each Groundhog Day. But every year I admit that, I along with everyone else, wait to hear whether Phil saw his shadow or not. It never fails to bum me out when […]

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Tagged adversity, advice, alarm, alyssa bonagura, appreciation, ashley, Ashley Lewis, attitude, beautiful, blessings, christmas, cold, credibility, example, flowers, fun, good, grateful, gratitude, Groundhog Day, happiness, happy, inspiration, iphone, joy, laughter, leadership, lesson, love, lyrics, make my own sunshine, optimistic, peace, perspective, positive, self-improvement, shadow, smile, snow, spring, sun, sunshine, technology, warm, winter, worth it

An Entrepreneurs Perspective On Advice From Iconic Filmmakers Robert Redford And George Lucas (Forbes Article)

Feb

Last Thursday iconic independent filmmakers Robert Redford and George Lucas sat down to be interviewed by renowned film critic Leonard Martin at the Sundance Film Festival Power of Stories panel. I was fortunate enough to be present for this discussion which was titled, “The Visions of Independence.” It was clear from the conversation that these […]

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Tagged #sundance2015, advice, aggressive, Amy Rees Anderson, angel investor, brand, business, characters, circus, control, creativity, critic, driven, emotion, entrepreneur, executive team, far away, filmmaker, forbes, future, galaxy, genuine, george lucas, girl power, goals, hiring, iconic, independence, Indiana Jones, ingenuity, innovation, inspire, leonard martin, lucasfilms, motivated, name, need, Olympic, once upon a time, outside the box, perspective, picture, possibilities, possibility, power of stories, product, relentless, Robert Redford, service, shock, sincere, ski, skywalker sound, solve problems, spectacle, star wars, story, success, Sundance, Sundance Film Festival, technology, vision, visions of independence, women, young people, youth

Don’t let yourself take any of it for granted

Jan

This last week has been an absolute whirlwind! It has been back to back events for the Sundance Film Festival. I wish I could sit and write every amazing experience I have had this week but it would result in far too long of a blog for anyone to want to read. I will tell […]

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Tagged amazing, appreciate, appreciation, appreciative, art, blessed, busy, crazy, demanding, desire, excited, experiences, for granted, forget, george lucas, grateful, gratitude, incredible, italy, lucky, overwhelmed, power of story, prayer, praying, recognize, remember, Robert Redford, rome, schedule, snap out of it, statue, Sundance, Sundance Film Festival, take for granted, tgif, too much, too much of a good thing, tour, vatican, want, what a week, whirlwind

Being a good person does not guarantee a trouble free life

Jan

“Expecting a trouble-free life because you are a good person is like expecting the bull not to charge you because you are a vegetarian.” It’s so easy in life to think that because you are trying to live your life right and do good things that therefore nothing bad should happen to you. I mean […]

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Tagged ailment, assume, babies, baby, bad things, beliefs, benefit of the doubt, cancer, cereal, children, choices, circumstances, complain, death, deserve it, drunk driver, dying, endure, example, faith, God, good people, grandma pearson, Grandmother, hardship, honest, injury, integrity, judge, judgment, kind, legacy, loss, milk, naomi, optimistic, patience, patient, perfect, positive, posterity, right, saint, smile, surgery, test, tested, trial, tried, trouble free, values, wrong

PUT ON YOUR CAPE!

Jan

“There is a superhero inside all of us. We just need the courage to put on a cape.” Today I saw a documentary at Sundance that showed the story of normal man who had the courage to put on his cape and become a superhero to many children who were being abused and taken advantage […]

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Tagged abuse, amazing, better, brave, cape, change, channel, child abuse, children, choice, circumstance, courage, dificult, do it anyway, documentary, duty, extraordinary, fear, good, hero, heroes, impact, inner superhero, love, nelson mandela, ordinary, put on a cape, put on your cape, quest, service, speak out, stand alone, stand out, stand up, stand up for what is right, Sundance Film Festival, superhero, superheros, support, wonder woman

Your life is your message to the world. Make sure it’s inspiring.

Jan

What impact do you want to have? How do you want to influence your world? In each of our lives, at some point we will find ourselves in a position of influence. It may be influence that comes as a result of a talent in filmmaking, or acting, or music, or writing, or speaking, or […]

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Tagged acting, actor, actress, dance, educate, fame, filmmaker, fortune, gifts, grateful, gratitude, hope, impact, influence, inspiration, inspire, inspired, inspiring, jim rohn, lift, message, moment in the sun, motivating, music, opportunity, park city, peace, platform, position of influence, power, serve, speaking, spearker, stars, stories, Sundance Film Festival, talents, use our influence, Utah, value, waste, wealth, world, writer, writing

If the world was blind how many people would you impress?

Jan

If the world was blind how many people would you impress? What a great question to consider. We live in a world that applauds beauty. After all, beauty attracts the eye. When there is a thing of beauty we stop and take notice. We are drawn to a person of beauty…at least momentarily. So we spend […]

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Tagged age, appreciate, appreciation, ashley, attitude, attractive, attracts, beautiful, beauty, blind, character, cosmetics, effort, exterior, fade, forever, generous, goals, grateful, happiness, happy, impress, impression, inside out, integrity, irony, kind, lift others, looks, loving, meaningful, money, motivation, notice, optimistic, products, radiates, radiates from within, self-improvement, service, shallow, skin care, smile, soul, sparkle, success, talents, time, timeless, wrinkle, younger

The Power of Film – Sundance Film Festival 2015 Has Begun!

Jan

Tonight was opening night for Sundance Film Festival! The next ten days will be action packed with amazing movies, movie stars everywhere, speaker panels, and of course incredible parties. The streets of Park City, Utah will be packed with over 45,000 people who come to Sundance to enjoy the festivities each year. I serve on […]

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Tagged american authors, Anna Kendrick, Artist at the Table, Brittney Snow, ceos, chris pine, companies, cry, documentaries, documentary, education, Emma Roberts, entertain, escape, Ethan Hawke, experience, Felicity Jones, film, iheartradio, imagine dragons, James Franco, Jennifer Connelly, Jennifer Lopez, Jim Gaffigan, Johan Hill, Johnny Knoxville, Julia Garner, laugh, lil kim, Lily Tomlin, love, Marcia Gay Harding, Michael Fassbender, movies, Nicole Kidman, opening night, Orlando Bloom, park city, park city utah, park ciy, perspective, Regina Hall, Robert Redford, ryan reynolds, Sam Eliot, Sam Rockwell, seinfeld, storytelling, Sundance, Sundance Film Festival, tell a story, Tom Hanks, tonny bennett, tradition, Utah, venture capitalist

Amy Rees Anderson

Amy Rees Anderson

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