Amy Rees Anderson's Blog

Striving to follow the examples of great people

Mar

Tonight I attended a dinner following my board meeting for the University of Utah National Advisory Board. A man I know and respect greatly, Mike Murray, gave the keynote address during our dinner. Mike Murray has had an amazing career. He went to school at Stanford, then went to work directly reporting to Steve Jobs [...]

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Tagged apple, authentic, better, bill gates, blessed, Board, bob gay, charitable, charity, example, financial success, humble, legacy, loans, lucky, macintosh, micro credit, microsoft, mike murray, money, national advisory board, resources, rich, self-reliance, sincere, stanford, steve ballmer, steve jobs, success, talent, time, unitus, university of utah

“Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”

Mar

“Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” -Ronald Daw I believe in magic…I believe we actually make our own magic by the way we think, the dreams we dream, [...]

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Tagged adversity, amazement, appreciation, attitude, awesome, balance, beautiful, believe, blessed, blessings, culture, encouters, excel, experience, friends, future, gift, glittering eyes, goal, goals, gratitude, happiness, happy, improve, life, love, luck, lucky, magic, opportunities, opportunity, positive thinking, self-improvement, success, think, thoughts, weekend

“If You Don’t Have Time To Do It Right the First Time…”

Mar

“If you don’t have time to do it right the first time, how will you ever have time to do it over.” That has always been one of my favorite quotes because it makes such a good point! Seriously, if you can’t take the time to do it right you sure as heck don’t have [...]

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Tagged accuracy, accurately, anxiety, blame, choice, confidence, correct, count on, courage, deliver, do it, do it right the first time, excuses, fi, first time, frustrated, frustration, gold, just do it, quick, redo, reliable, reputation, rush, rushed, sloppy, stress, stressed, take time, trust, whine

“If People Are Trying to Bring You Down…”

Mar

“If people are trying to bring you down it only means that you are above them.” I spent time tonight talking to a close friend who has a teenager daughter who is being horribly bullied in school. Her daughter, like many teenage girls, suffers from low self-esteem. She thinks her body isn’t thin enough, she [...]

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Tagged abuse, abusive, adversity, amazing, anxiety, attitude, beautiful, beauty, bully, bullying, define, destructive, friend, friends, happiness, happy, insecure, lash out, lif, mean, pretty, school, self worth, self-confidence, self-esteem, self-improvement, thin, unkind, victim

At All Times, In All Places…Live By Example

Mar

Today I was able to see a video someone had taken of my 20 year old son who is out serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (The LDS Church). It did my heart good to see his amazing smile as he was talking to families throughout the Jackson, [...]

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Tagged act, all places, all times, amazing, Belief, beliefs, believe, Dalton Anderson, desire, example, exemplify, God, higher power, Jesus Christ, latter-day saints, lds, lds church, louisiana, mission, mission tag, missionary, mississippi, Mormon, mother, nameta, nametag, pressure, proud, represent, representative, responsibility, responsible, son, the mormons, universe, values

What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger, Except For…

Feb

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, except for bears. Bears will kill you.” Some days you need a good quote like that to make you laugh. Today was one of those days for me and it’s amazing what a good quote, that you can relate to, can do to lift your spirits. I thought [...]

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Tagged argument, awesome, cellulite gorgeous, chocolate, clean, funny, husband, inspiration, inspire, kids, kills you, last word, laugh, man, men, mother, motivate, motivation, organize, organizing, pick me up, pinterest, quote, skinny, smile, spiders, stronger, today, tomorrow, what doesn't kill you, wife, women

Keeping It Simple Doesn’t Mean You’re Stupid (Forbes Article)

Feb

“Genius is the ability to reduce the complicated to the simple.” C. W. Ceran I consider myself to be a somewhat intelligent person, but when someone explains a new concept to me in terms that are overly complex and unfamiliar, I struggle to easily grasp it. To learn a new concept, I need things described [...]

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Tagged ability, Albert Einstein, Amy Rees Anderson, apple, benefit, business, c.w. ceran, company, complex, complexity, confidence, cpu, customer, description, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, forbes, genius, gigabytes, hard drive, humility, intelligent, ipod, IT, k.i.s.s., keep it simple stupid, kiss, leader, leadership, learn, library, manager, memory, overcomplicate, problems, product, ram, relate, related, sales, service, simple, simplicity, solution, solutions, student, stupid, teach, teacher, technical, understand

Needing a Vacation From Your Vacation

Feb

Anytime you come home from vacation it feels like you pay a major price for having been away. For me that is one of the things that causes conflicting feelings about getting excited to go on vacation in the first place. It’s knowing that you will have to face the punishment for having been away [...]

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Tagged anxiety, attitude, chores, clean, clean house, clean sheets, coming home, email, food, fridge, future, goal, goals, home, ideas, jet lag, laundry, mail, organize, organized, phone calls, punishment, return, self-improvement, stress, stressing, task, tips, unread email, vacation, work

Our Brazilian Adventure

Feb

Every year the BYU Founders Board gathers together from different parts of the country to meet in a location for a week-long adventure. Last year we went to the Dominican Republic. This year we went to Brazil to embark on a cruise that left from Sao Paulo, Brazil. For the last week my husband and [...]

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Tagged 7 wonders, 7 wonders of the world, accomplish, accomplishment, adventure, appreciate, appreciation, attitude, blessings, brazil, bucket list, BYU, BYU Founders Board, Christ, christ redeemer, courage, cruise, cruise ship, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, family, founders, friends, gift, goal, goal poster, God, gratitude, group, happiness, intestinal, love, norovirus, sea sick, seven wonder of the world, Sheffield, sick, success, throw up, time, time management, travel, traveling, trek, vacation, vacay

To have a friend, be a friend.

Feb

How does one go about being a good friend? We all have friends, and we all are a friend to someone else. But how often do we stop and take note of whether we ourselves are being a good friend to those we love? I would admit that I don’t do it often enough. And [...]

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Tagged anniversaries, appreciation, aware, beautiful, birthdays, build-up, card, compare, compete, compliment, example, focus, friend, friendship, good listener, happy, ideas, important events, life events, listen, love, note, notice, pay attention, pray, remember, reminders, self-improvement, serve, success, support, time, worry

The “I’ll be happy when” trap

Feb

I’ll be happy when ____ happens. I’ll be happy when I have ______. I’ll be happy when _____ loves me. I’ll be happy when I look like _____. The “I’ll be happy when” trap is one of the easiest to fall into. I know because I have fallen into myself far too many times. For [...]

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Tagged adversity, appreciate, appreciation, attitude, balance, be happy, blessings, choice, choices, decide, decision, don't wait, dress size, earth, excuse, external, fulfill, fulfilled, future, gift, goals, halfway mark, happiness, happy, i'll be happy when, If, internal, job, joseph b wirthlin, joy, life, love, now, old age, ridiculous, salary, self-confidence, stop, then, tomorrow, trap, waiting, weight loss, when

Things Work Out

Feb

Things Work Out -By Edgar A. Guest Because it rains when we wish it wouldn’t, Because men do what they often shouldn’t, Because crops fail, and plans go wrong Some of us grumble all day long. But somehow, in spite of the care and doubt, It seems at last that things work out. [...]

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Tagged adversity, all right, amazing, appreciation, attitude, better, blessings, care, courage, doubt, edgar a. guest, everything will be okay, fail, gain, God, gratitude, grumble, happiness, imagined, joy, long, lose, love, motivation, okay, outlook, pain, perspective, play, poem, positive, rain, self-improvement, smile, suffer, the end, things work out, trust, trust god, work, wrong

Be Yourself

Feb

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson We live in a world full of peer pressure to look like this or act like that. There is a constant bombardment of pressure to join the crowd or do what everyone [...]

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Tagged act, acting, anxiety, authentic, be yourself, Belief, circumsances, confidence, core, courage, crowd, everyone else, fail, fear, genuine, integrity, needs, peace, peer pressure, psychologists, ralph waldo emerson, self, self worth, self-confidence, self-determination, self-esteem, self-respect, strong, succeed, success, trait, true, true to yourself, value, values

My name is (fill in blank), and I am a workaholic

Feb

My name is Amy and without a doubt, I am a workaholic. There, I said it. I admit it fully. I have a problem and I am taking the first step toward recovery, which they say is to admit it. Step one down, only eleven more steps to go :)…. I finally discovered I had [...]

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Tagged 12 steps, admit it, anxiety, appreciate, appreciation, attitude, balance, beautiful, blessing, breathe, busy, children, delegate, difficulty, emotionally available, enjoy, entrepreneur, family, gift, happy, lists, love, peace, perfectionist, perspective, preoccupied, problem, Psychology Today, recovery, rejuvinate, relax, self-improvement, spouse, time off, to do, vacation, work, workaholic, working

Mirror, Mirror on the wall…You’re GORGEOUS!

Feb

On the wall of my friends office hung a princess mirror. It wasn’t just any princess mirror, it was a Disney princess mirror that talked to you when you looked into the mirror, stating things like “that color looks lovely on you” and “you are so pretty”. It had to be my FAVORITE mirror ever! [...]

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Tagged attitude, bad day, best, build-up, cheerleader, compliment, difference, encouragement, flattery, friendship, gift, gifts, God, good day, gorgeous, greatness, inspire, love, mirror, moral support, motivate, motivation, needed, ourselves, pretty, princess, talents, valentine, value, valued, wonderful, worthwhile

Creative Group Date Ideas

Feb

With Valentines Day almost upon us I decided to search for creative Group Date Ideas that would help spurn my creativity as I attempt to plan a fun Valentine weekend. I came across multiple websites such as www.niftydateideas.com and several others that had great date ideas. I pulled my favorites from several of the sites to share in today’s blog. Hopefully these will [...]

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Tagged appreciate, appreciation, attitude, beautiful, crative, date, dating, encourage, family, flowers, friends, friendship, future, gift, gratitude, group date, happiness, happy, holiday, imagine, joy, life, love, lovers, present, rainbow, rich, service, share, valentine, valentine's day

You can either regret or rejoice

Feb

Choices. We make them almost every second of every day. Some matter, some don’t. Some have lasting consequences, some have next to no impact on our life. The most important choices we make are the choices between right and wrong. I also think those are the easiest ones to make if you know your values. [...]

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Tagged anxiety, attitude, choice, choices, cons, consequences, control, decision, decisions, equal, gain, gained, guess, happiness, happy, impact, joy, lose, loss, lost, options, outlook, perspective, pick, pros, pursue, regret, rejoice, right, service, stress, success, two good things, value, values, wrong

Valentine Date Ideas To Help You Plan Ahead (hint hint)

Feb

Here are some fun date ideas to help you plan ahead for the holiday weekend of LOVE! And a yummy recipe for a super easy dessert you can make. Valentine’s Date Night Ideas The Cozy Concert: Check out local venues and find what up-and-coming concerts or bands are playing. Nothing sends love waves out like [...]

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Tagged aha, american heart association, angel food cake, appreciate, appreciation, beautiful, berry orange sauce, concert, cooking, date, date ideas, dessert, expression, friendship, fun, gift, heart, husband, love, married, prepare, recipe, romantic, single, single awareness day, spa, sugar, thoughtful, v-day, valentine, valentine's day, wife, women, yummy

An Ending and a New Beginning

Feb

For the last four years I have had the privilege of teaching an amazing group of young women every Sunday at church and then attending weekly fun activity nights with them on Wednesday evenings. Four years ago I was assigned to teach the 14 and 15 year old girls in a class and then after [...]

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Tagged begin, beginning, church, cried, dating, daughters, ending, endings, eternity, family, forever, friends, friendship, future, gospel, grow, happiness, happy, laughed, laurel, lds, lds church, lessons, let go, letting go, lifetime, love, marriage, mature, miamaid, modesty, past, reason, refined, sad, sadness, scriptures, season, spiritual, student, sunday school, teach, teacher, temporal, young women, young women's

If You Want To Improve, Stop Defending And Start Listening (Forbes Article)

Feb

To grow and improve is a desire that most all of us share. Yet, in order to grow and improve we must first be willing to acknowledge our areas of weakness; we must accept who we are in order to become something better. So how can we best recognize our weaknesses? We can stop defending [...]

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Tagged acknowledge, apologize, attack explain, avoid, blame, challenge, champions, confidence, confident, constructive, criticism, defense, defense mode, defensive, deny, desire, destructive, diversity, example, excuse, feedback, fight or flight, forbes, grievances, grow, illustrate, improve, improvement, justify, ken Blanchard, learn, listen, listening, manipulate, perspectives, point of view, ponder, rationalize, self-aware, self-confidence, self-esteem, sensitive, specific, superior, tone, truth, understand, weakness, withdraw

“To my children, their children, their children, and theirs’…”

Feb

That is the inscription on the back cover of my Grandmother’s life history book. My grandmother passed away back in November of 2007. She was one of my dearest friends. And I am forever grateful that she left behind her written life history for me and for my children, and their children, and so on. [...]

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Tagged blessings, children, experience, family, friends, future, gift, God, gospel, grandchildren, grandfather, Grandmother, gratitude, great grandchildren, heritage, history, Jesus Christ, journal, joy, knowledge, leave behind, legacy, life, life history, life lessons, love, mortality, name, Naomi Eliza Dalton Pearson, posterity, progenitors, record, self-improvement, sorrow, spouse, story, testimony, written record

“Why fit in when you were born to STAND OUT!” -Dr Seuss

Feb

Too much time and energy in life gets spent trying to fit in…trying to be seen as “normal”. I personally think that normal is pretty boring. After all, why be normal when you can be exceptional?! When something simply “fits in” it is too easy to blend in, to go completely unnoticed. But when something [...]

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Tagged 18, adult, appearance, ashley, Ashley Lewis, attention, baby, baby girl, birthday, character, charitable, compassionate, example, exceptional, extra mile, family, fit in, integrity, kind, kindness, lead, leder, lift, love, normal, ordinary, physical, proud, raise, spectacular, stand out, sweet

Promote, Educate, and Perpetuate Entrepreneurship With Me!

Feb

Starting the IPOP Foundation was a dream I had for many years. IPOP is an acronym for “In Pursuit of Perfection” which has been a personal mantra of mine for a very long time. Long ago I came to realize that living a successful life isn’t about achieving perfection; rather it was about living life [...]

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Tagged achieve, business plan, career, change the world, competition, donate, educate, encourage, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, give back, goal, goals, high school, ideas, impact, IPOP, IPOP Foundation, journey, lessons, opportunities, opportunity, perfect, perfection, perpetuate, pitch, prizes, promote, scholarship, self-confidence, self-reliance, self-reliant, sharing, single mother, single parent, students, success, support, value

“A blink is like a teeny, tiny clap for your face. So even if no one else is cheering you on today, your eyelids are.”

Feb

Somedays you have to be your own cheerleader. Some days you have to look in the mirror just like the little girl in this AWESOME video clip and say out loud, ”I like myself, I like my hair, I can do anything!” Watch this short little video clip and see exactly what I am talking about [...]

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Tagged adversity, appreciate, appreciation, attitude, beautiful, blessings, build-up, can do, cheer, cheerleader, clap, confidence, criticize, destructive, happier, happiness, happy, i can do anything, inspiration, joy, motivate, motivation, optomistic, positive, regret, regrets, self talk, self worth, self-confidence, self-esteem, success, video, weakness, you tube

Don’t Panic, Just Focus!

Jan

I woke up today with a feeling of panic. My list of priorities to get done had once again grown completely out of control, and what made it worse was the fact that the vast majority of items had deadlines attached to them that if missed would have negative consequences. For example, year-end tax items [...]

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Tagged amazing, anxiety, consequence, cosequences, deadline, diagnostic, distractions, dsm, fabulous, focus, focused, hard, panic, panic attack, pat on the back, productive, projects, proud, self talk, settle down, stress, stressed, tasks, tax, tax return, thoughts, time management, to do, walk through it, work, work hard

A light that radiates from within

Jan

Today I went to Utah State University in Logan, Utah to speak to the students at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. The students were lively and engaged and incredibly sweet. I love spending time with them because their energy and optimism is truly contagious. And I have to give huge props to USU [...]

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Tagged aggies, ashley, beauty, campus, college, countenance, daughter, dean, douglas anderson, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, example, face, germany, good, grandfather, heart, integrity, jon m. huntsman, lds mission, light, logan, magnet, mission president, position, power, pride, radiate, school of business, selflessly, serve, small world, smile, stanley d. rees, stanley rees, students, university, usu, Utah, utah state university

Feeling Old? You might when you hear this…

Jan

Today I was talking with one of my dearest friends and he said “Some days I look in the mirror and don’t recognize the aging man staring back at me because he looks nothing like my young spirit on the inside.” I knew EXACTLY what he meant because I feel that very same way every [...]

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Tagged age, ages, aging, awesome, body, bryan adams, challenges, confidence, discount, friends, google, gray hair, health, home improvement, lion king, little mermaid, looks, mirror, nintendo, old, physical, pirates of the caribbean, reflection, senior citizen, simpsons, spirit, summer of 69, toy story, vanilla ice, wisdom, wrinkles, young, youth

A Simple Way to Change Someone’s Life For the Better

Jan

When we think of doing an act of service for someone we often think of it as having to be some major time consuming event that even the thought of doing stresses us out because we already feel that we have so much to handle on our plates that we can’t take on even one [...]

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Tagged act of kindness, anxiety, ashley, blanket, caring, change, change someone's life, charitable, daughter, deodorant, difference, example, excited, experiences, family, food, friends, gift card, God, gratitude, heart, Heavenly Father, help, homeless person, hungry, hygiene, impact, kind, McDonalds, meal, moment, old man, prayer, service, stress, subway, thank you, thankful, time, toothbrush, try, warm blanket

Make Eye Contact, Smile, and Say Hello! (Forbes Article)

Jan

Have you ever been in a situation where you feel like you don’t know anyone in the room, or you are the new person, or you feel like the odd person out in a situation? I know I have. As a child our family moved a lot – and I mean a lot! Growing up [...]

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Tagged acceptance, accepted, acknowledged, alone, attention matters, awesome, awkward, belong, business, california, career, colleg, connected, connections, disconnected, eric d. wesselmann, exclusion, eye contact, forbes, fundamental, grateful, health, hello, included, inclusion, intimidated, intimidating, lonely, michigan, moved, moving, new, odd man out, oregon, physical health, psychological, psychological science, purdue university, scary, social attachments, stranger, survival, tennessee, texas, to be looked at, uncomfortable, Utah, virginia, washington, willing

Breaking Stereotypes and Reducing our Sugar Intake

Jan

Today was focused on two topics – breaking stereotypes of women in media and reducing our sugar intake to fight obesity. First was a luncheon with actress Geena Davis. Geena is an incredibly tall, beautiful woman, who is clearly incredibly intelligent. She founded the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, a charity that is [...]

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Tagged advertising, cdc, Congress, daughter, diabetes, documentary, educate, education, fast food, fed up, film, food label, geena davis, geena davis institue on gender in media, gender balance, leader, media, medical, model, obese, obesity, politics, role model, school lunch, science, soda, soft drink, stereotypes, success, successful, sugar, Sundance, Sundance Film Festival, television, type 2 diabetes, weight, woman, women

Amy Rees Anderson

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