Amy Rees Anderson's Blog

In Memory of Those Who Have Given All

May

This weekend we celebrate Memorial Day in the U.S. It’s the day we remember those men and women who died serving in the military. It’s also become a day to honor all of those who were near and dear to our hearts that have passed on. People place flowers on graves and flags on graves [...]

Choose What Kind of Day You Will Have

May

“I’ve learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances.” -Martha Washington I very much believe that statement to be true. Our attitude about things is such a major determination of our happiness level in life. And we control our attitude by controlling [...]

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Tagged adversity, appreciation, attention, attitude, balance, blessings, choice, choose, circumstance, cognitive, cognitive therapy, disposition, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, experience, family, fear, focus, friends, future, gift, gifts, God, grateful, gratitude, happiness, happy, martha washington, negative, positive, self-confidence, self-improvement, success, thoughts, today

Take Opportunities to Put Yourself Out There!

May

For those of you have followed my blogs the last few years you know that every now and then, when we are really lucky, my teenage daughter Ashley will write a guest blog for us, which tend to be everyone’s favorite blogs (especially mine). Today I had to give the keynote speech at an early morning [...]

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Tagged adventure, ashley, attitude, confidence, courage, courageous, cray cray, entrepreneur, fun loving, gas station guy, happiness, jay leno, joy, karaoke, laugh, life, motivation, opportunities, opportunity, positive, self-confidence, self-improvement, smile, spontaneous, the tonight show, tonight show, Utah Valley University, UVU, youtube

It’s Not What Others Think, It’s What God Knows

May

I learned long ago that if we try to judge ourselves by what others think, we will inevitably find ourselves constantly disappointed and sad, because it is literally impossible to please everyone. Not only that, but you have to realize that other people will never have all the facts of every detail of your life [...]

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Tagged adversity, attitude, blessings, confidence, courage, disappointed, empower, empowering, energy, expectations, fabulous, fair, fairly, family, flaws, friends, God, gossip, higher power, joy, judge, judgement, justly, negativity, others, passing judgement, please, please others, self worth, self-confidence, self-esteem, self-improvement, standard, standards, trust, ulterior motives, universe, walk in your shoes

Love It While You Live It

May

So it is not very often that I would write about a quote from a sitcom as being a great life lesson, but this particular quote was so good that I haven’t been able to get it off my mind, so I figured I had better write about it today. It was a quote from [...]

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Tagged andy bernard, appreciate, appreciation, attitude, beautiful, blessed, blessing, blessings, courage, culture, enjoy, friend, friends, friendship, future, gift, goals, God, gone, good, good old days, grateful, gratitude, great, happiness, happy, if only, joy, life, live, live the moment, love, love life, lucky, moment, positive, realize, recognize, self-confidence, self-improvement, success, the office

“You Are More Than What You Have Become”

May

Yesterday I wrote my Forbes article on moving past your mistakes in life and I used a quote from the movie the Lion King. There is another quote from that movie that I can’t help but share today because I think it is so powerful. There is a part of the movie where we hear [...]

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Tagged affect, appreciation, attitude, beautiful, become, blessings, confidence, courage, effect, experience, forbes, friends, future, gift, goals, God, grateful, gratitude, happiness, integrity, joy, leadership, lion king, motivation, mufasa, others, plans, potential, self-confidence, self-improvement, simba, success, thoughtful, you are more than what you have become

People CAN Change Their Past – Put Mistakes Behind You. (Forbes Article)

May

People often think they can’t change their past, but I disagree. Perhaps we can’t change every mistake in our past, but we have to remember that the past is a moving target. Every day that goes by us becomes a part of our past history. Whatever we do today will become a part of our [...]

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Tagged adversity, apologize, apologizing, apology, attitude, confidence, courage, Employees, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, experience, failure, forbes, future, goals, growth, history, Huffington Post, joy, leaders, leadership, learn, mistakes, motivation, move forward, move on, past, self worth, self-confidence, self-esteem, self-improvement

The Importance of Paying Attention to our “Todays”

May

Living in the moment is not always easy to do. It seems that we all have a tendency to focus our thoughts on our past mistakes and feel discouraged about them, or we focus our thoughts on a future that we wait to someday have. It seems that we rarely focus on our todays, our [...]

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Tagged 24 hours, accomplish, adversity, agency, attention, attitude, blessings, challenging, choice, courage, culture, discouraged, discouragement, entrepreneur, expecttions, family, focus, friends, God, gratitude, great, greatness, integrity, joy, leadership, living for the moment, love, moment, motivation, now, overcome, positive, self-confidence, self-improvement, success, time, today, yolo

“A good definition of family”

May

As I mentioned yesterday we were able to Skype with our son Dalton and it was the happiest day ever. Today Dalton sent an email to our family and his friends and in that letter he shared something that was worth sharing – in fact he even mentions in his email that someone should quote [...]

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Tagged adversity, allies, amazing, apart, blessing, challenges, companions, Dalton, definition of family, distance, Dr. Phil, families, family, friend, friends, happiness, happy, hardship, heart, heavenly, journey, joy, life worth living, love, loved, reunite, time, together, trust

To Have a Mom and To Be a Mom or To Play a Mom

May

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers, future mothers, grandmothers, mothers-in-law, nannies who play second mother, mothers who don’t or can’t have children of their own but who love children and provide mothering in one way or another, and single fathers who have to play the role of mother and father – so basically [...]

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Tagged accomplish, accomplishment, babysitter, babysitting, blessed, blessing, blessings, child, children, example, father, goal, goals, God, Grandmother, happy, Heavenly Father, i love you, lord, love, love you, mom, mother, mother's day, mother-in-law, mothers, nannies, nanny, single dad, single father, single mom, single parent, talent, thank you and i love you, thanks

There is No Such Thing as a Dumb Idea (Forbes Article)

May

I often come across people who have a deep desire to be an entrepreneur and start their own business, but who haven’t done so yet because they “can’t come up with a good idea.” Too often I hear: “All of my ideas are dumb.” And in those moments, I cannot help but say: “Define a [...]

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Tagged amazon, Amy Rees Anderson, attitude, bestseller, blessings, confidence, courage, doggles, dumb, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, everyone poops, experience, fear, forbes, future, goals, happiness, idea, innovation, judging, life, Marshmallow Fun, motivation, Pillow Pet, restricting, self-confidence, self-improvement, slanket, snuggie, success, the gas we pass, two men and a truck, work

Passion Comes From Having a Purpose

May

Today I want to talk to you about passion. I am not talking about passion in the romantic sense; I am talking about passion in the “I am so excited to get up this morning and conquer the world today” kind of passion. There are very few things more powerful than a person who is [...]

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Tagged achieve, achievement, adversity, ambition, appreciation, attitude, awesome, blessings, challenge, confidence, courage, drive, energy, excitement, execute, exhausted, fear, friends, girl power, goal setting, goals, gratitude, happy, influence, leadership, motivation, passion, power, purpose, self-improvement, zeal

Remember the Mothers!

May

This Sunday will be Mother’s Day, so I wanted to give everyone a reminder a few days early so you can start now picking out a special gift for the Mothers in your life. This is especially a friendly hint to all the husbands out there whose wives are raising your children . Everyone has [...]

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Tagged appreciate, appreciation, beautiful, blessings, children, family, friends, gift, God, gratitude, lds, love, mission, mother, mothers, Mothers's day, special, woman, women

Ubuntu – I Am Because We Are

May

“One day, a western anthropologist went to Africa to study the social behavior of an indigenous tribe. He proposed a game to the children and they willingly agreed to be part of it. He put a basket filled with fruits underneath a tree and told the children that whoever would reach the basket first would [...]

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Tagged affirm, affirming, africa, attitude, children, connected, culture, desmond tutu, family, generosity, God, group, human, impact, linked, network, networked, self-assurance, self-confidence, teamwork, tribe, trust, ubuntu, whole

It’s Not About Having Time, It’s About Making Time

May

Ah, yes, time. The one thing we never seem to have enough of. Days pass by so quickly that it feels impossible to get it all done. And yet some days we go at a million miles an hour only to come to the end of the day and wonder what the heck we actually [...]

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Tagged balance, Christ, Cinco de mayo, control, days, effort, family, focus, hours, prioritize, priority, self-improvement, service, time, to do, work

The “Gratitude Effect”

May

I woke up this morning to the most amazing surprise. An email from a total stranger sharing a heartfelt, sincere, yet simple thank you for the positive impact my blog was having on his life. I was blown away at the impact this man’s simple, kind words had on me. I was genuinely choked up [...]

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Tagged appreciate, appreciated, appreciation, attitude, beautiful, blessings, compliment, confidence, courage, culture, endorphins, energize, fear, friends, God, gratitude, harvard, harvard university, impact, positive, self-confidence, self-improvement, smile, stress, stressed, thank you, uplift, value

Dare to Take Command

May

Our agency is an amazing gift, and a scary gift all at the same time. Having the ability to make your own choices in life is so empowering and exciting. At the same time, it opens you up to make dumb choices, bad decisions, and even gives you the ability to hurt others by [...]

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Tagged ability, agency, boundaries, brave, bravery, command, control, courage, dare, deeds, free agency, God, Heavenly Father, kingdom, lie, louissa may alcott, passion, rule, temptation, tempts

Admitting You Were Wrong Doesn’t Make You Weak – It Makes You Awesome! (Forbes Article)

Apr

It takes tremendous fortitude to utter the words “I was wrong, and I am sorry”. I love that word: fortitude. I could list the dictionary definition of fortitude, but let’s be honest, why go to that trouble when Bill Gates blessed us with Microsoft Word’s single click to see its synonyms, which are: strength, courage, [...]

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Tagged adversity, Amy Rees Anderson, apologize, apology, attitude, bill gates, CEO, confidence, courage, culture, employee, Employees, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, forbes, fortitude, good emplyees, great employees, I was wrong, integrity, lead, leader, leaders, leadership, life, microsoft, mistakes, motivation, self-confidence, self-improvement, success

Always Share What You Believe In!

Apr

For so many years we have had it pounded into us that sharing our religious beliefs is considered “off-limits” or “taboo” especially in the workplace. For years I myself was afraid to say anything about my own religious beliefs at work because I certainly didn’t want to ever do anything inappropriate or offensive to anyone [...]

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Tagged amazon, amazon.com, Belief, beliefs, believe, china, christianity, england, God, india, israel, japan, lds, Leslie Pearson Rees, Mormon, religion, share, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, tribes of israel, voice, Ye Have Been Hid

Overwhelmed

Apr

Last week I was traveling out of town and then I returned home and ended up sick in bed for the remainder of the week. I am not a person who is sick very often, and I am not a person who can handle slowing down very well, but this last week I didn’t have [...]

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Tagged acceptance, adversity, anxiety, breath, cognitive, illness, mindset, multitasking, overwhelm, overwhelmed, psychology, stress, thoughts, time management, trial, work

Tips for Being a Good Communicator

Apr

A while back I was able to attend a seminar by Dr. John Lund on communication. He gave some amazing advice on how to communicate better with others and I absolutely loved learning from him. I thought I would share some tips he gave that you can incorporate into your communication with others. The best [...]

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Tagged avoid, body language, communication, communicator, facial expression, listen, long, men, misunderstood, painful, talk, tone, understand, understood, vauable, women, words

Make Every Day a Special Occasion

Apr

Isn`t it funny how in life we have that room in the house we keep everyone out of in order to save it for that “special occasion”, or the china plates that we only eat from on a “special occasion”, or the towels in the bathroom that can only be used on a “special occasion”. [...]

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Tagged appreciation, attitude, balance, blessings, every day, experience, family, friends, future, gift, God, grateful, gratitude, happiness, happy, joy, laugh, life, live, love, motivation, occasion, self-improvement, special, uplifting

Employees Who Stand Out Stay Standing – The Secret to Job Security (Forbes Article)

Apr

Employees who stand out in a company are the employees who stay standing through downturns, layoffs, and corporate restructurings. Standing out is the secret to gaining peace of mind that your job is secure. Whether you stay employed with the same company you are with today, or whether another company picks you up, your future [...]

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Tagged Amy Rees Anderson, attitude, confidence, courage, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, experience, fear, forbes, future, goals, job security, leadership, motivation, self-confidence, self-improvement, stand out, standing out, success, talent, top performer

Too Many Choices?

Apr

Is there such a thing as too many choices? Are too many choices a bad thing? Are 31 flavors of ice cream better than 3? Do you want paper, or plastic, or the green reusable shopping bag? Do we want kiddie sized, regular sized, medium sized, or super-sized meals? There are a million options every [...]

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Tagged anxiety, Barry Schwartz, choice, choices, decision, decision making, decisions, options, stress, too many choices

The Wisdom of Years

Apr

A man, whom I have tremendous respect for, shared a poem he wrote himself over the course of many years of his life, starting when he was 68 years old and finishing it at the age of 88. It tells a fantastic message of why we should embrace the process of growing older, as growing [...]

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Tagged adversity, appreciation, attitude, balance, beautiful, blessings, boyd k. packer, cherish, exercise faith, experience, family, future, God, grateful, gratitude, growing older, happiness, lessons, life lessons, love, older, time, time management, wisdom

A “Not-So-Coincidence” Day

Apr

As those of you who follow my blog know, I try to write each day about the lessons I am learning in my life. Those who know me well know that I also don’t believe in coincidences in life. Rather, I firmly believe that things happen for a reason. So the events of today led [...]

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Tagged adversity, appreciation, attitude, blessings, breast cancer, breast exam, cancer, cancer foundation, courage, early detection, family, future, gift, God, huntsman, huntsmancancer.org, jon huntsman, jon hutsman sr, lesson, life lesson, love, research, treatment, women

“Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.”

Apr

Tonight I had a really fun evening. After enjoying a great dinner with my sister-in-law who is in town for a conference, I brought a group of 16 and 17 year old young women from my church group that I teach, to my office so we could sit down and go through tips on how [...]

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Tagged angels, fly, happiness, happy, HCG, huor, immune, joy, laughing, laughter, relax, serotonin, stress

Good Employees Make Mistakes. Great Leaders Allow Them To. (Forbes Article)

Apr

As a business leader I found that one of the scariest things to do was to give your people the freedom to make mistakes which will allow them to learn and grow, for the obvious reason that mistakes in any company can be costly. Scared as I was, I knew that truly great leaders found [...]

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Tagged abstain, acknowledge, admit, Amy Rees Anderson, apologize, assure, attest, business, communicate, courage, Employees, fear, forbes, good, great, jeopardy, leaders, meg cabot, mistakes, policy, scared

The Master of the Art of Living

Apr

“The master of the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which; he simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others [...]

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Tagged art of living, be the master, body, brian tracy, buddha, champion, education, excellence, happiness, joy, labor, leisure, Loretta Laroche, love, make it happen, master, mind, motivation, Pink, play, Queen, recreation, religion, start, Tao, universe, wayne dyer, what a feeling, work

How to Overcome the Doom and Gloom of Tax Day

Apr

So it’s tax day April 15th. Oh my gosh there is just no way to say that without bringing everyone’s mood down into the dumpster. So for my blog today I thought I would put together a list of suggestions of things you can do to help get over the sadness and gloom that comes [...]

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Amy Rees Anderson

Amy Rees Anderson

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