Tag Archives: apologize

Stop Defending And Start Listening

In yesterday’s blog I shared points from a Forbes article I’d written years ago on the importance of giving people honest feedback. Today I thought it would be good to share points from a follow-on article I’d written for Forbes on the importance of receiving feedback (The article was titled, If You Want To Improve, […]

Steel Going Strong

For Christmas this year my husband made me THE coolest Wonder Woman sign that he made for me out of steel, which is also super fitting given that it’s our 11 year wedding anniversary tomorrow (December 31st) and the 11th anniversary just happens to be our steel anniversary!  Perfect right?! Then from the scraps of […]

The Growing Definition of Love

Today’s blog is brought to you by Ashley Anderson Hill, recent newlywed, and Amy Rees Anderson’s amazing daughter 🙂 After recently getting married back in May, I’ve learned that my definition of love changes and develops every single day.  When we were dating, love was when Alex would surprise me with flowers, or take me […]

Why The Countdown to Star Wars Has Trumped The Countdown To Christmas

For those who aren’t aware of it, I have a 24 year old son, Dalton, who is absolutely, unequivocally, obsessed with Star Wars and all things Star Wars. Not only has he spent years collecting Star Wars Lego sets, he has made it his life goal to own every Star Wars Lego Set so he […]

Taking accountability does far more to restore credibility than attempting to cover things up

Last week I spent the week hosting a group of fabulous people on our houseboat at Lake Powell. It is always a ton of work to host a big group for a week but its also incredibly rewarding to spend quality time really getting to know people on a closer level without any technology distractions […]

If parenthood came with a GPS it would mostly just say: RECALCULATING

The other day my son Dalton, whose wife is expecting their first child in August, called me sounding a little stressed and said something to the effect of, “Mom I just realized that I am going to have a kid here soon  that’s going to be with me forever and that I need to parent! […]

If we all took the summer off none of us would get behind on work

I love summertime. I love the sun and the water and everything about summertime. The only thing that is hard about summer is that for every week you take off and every trip you go on you have to carry the stress of coming back home and facing all the work that has piled up […]

Choose to be better because better equals HAPPY

“Happiness is the ability to move forward, knowing the future will be better than the past. Today I choose to be happy!” I think our ability to feel happy is substantially stronger when one has the ability to evaluate oneself in an honest way so as to recognize one’s own strengths and weaknesses, doing so […]

If you stand in the light you don’t have to worry about other people’s shade

I am a person who appreciates honesty more than anything, and I believe that one can always deliver that honesty in a respectful way.  I also believe that honesty is more than just being willing to speak words that are true, it is also recognizing that hidden truths are unspoken lies. If a person speaks […]

Incredible Life Lessons Along an 18 month journey (Part 1 of 5)

This week is one of my happiest weeks EVER as my daughter Ashley is coming home from her mission Tuesday! In last Thurssday’s email I explained just how much I have loved getting Ashley’s weekly emails she’s been sending home over the last 18 months because they share the cool life lessons she has been learning along the […]

Feeling Like A Little Kid On Christmas Morning!

Going into this weekend I feel just like a little kid on Christmas morning! I have waited 18 months for my daughter Ashley to finish serving her LDS Mission so she could come back home to me…and next week she is finally coming home!!!   YAYYYYYYY!!! I literally cannot describe how excited I am. It’s impossible to describe […]

Motherhood Is Not A Liability To A Woman’s Ability In Business, So Don’t Act Apologetic As If It Is (Forbes Article)

When I started my first technology company in my early 20’s it never even crossed my mind that I was a bit of an anomaly being a female CEO in a male dominated tech industry. Frankly, the first time I really even became aware of how few women executives there were in the tech industry […]

Don’t Forget To Laugh!

“Laughter is one of the most amazing things in life. It is more contagious that any disease and it brings people together very quickly. Not only does it spread like wildfire, it is proven that laughter can have a positive effect on your body as well as your mind.“ It is really easy to get […]

A Child Who Treats Their Parents With Respect Is An Employee Any Boss Would Be Thrilled To Hire (Forbes Article)

As a child I was taught the importance of respect – we were taught showing respect for other people, showing respect for other’s cultures, showing respect for people’s position of authority, showing respect for a venue, showing respect for an event, etc. This principle was emphasized greatly in my home and it is something I […]

Service Your Way? Say WHAT?!!!

Great Customer Service – we’ve all heard of it, but nowadays actually getting it is as rare as spotting a Yeti laying out on a beach getting a tan! #realtalk Today I was drowning in wedding planning and I had called ahead to some rental companies that rent wedding chairs and dance floors to see […]

One Year Older, But Hopefully Wiser Too!

Happy Birthday to me! Okay, let’s get real…at my age birthdays are no longer quite the same feeling of happy that they were when you were a kid trying to grow up too fast. The older we get the more they tend to turn into a reminder that your sexy is a little less sexier […]

All We Need To Do Is Apply What We Learned As A Child

We learn so many simple life lessons as a child, yet often times we overlook how those simple rules apply to us as adults. The fact is that those life lessons, if remembered, will help us all our lives, no matter how old we are.  I love the words of Robert Fulghum: All I Really […]

Love, True Love, and Advice for making it last

Last week my husband and I hosted his Mother’s family reunion for her siblings and their spouses (so Rollin and I’s Aunts and Uncles from his Mother’s side) at our home. From her 10 siblings, 6 were able to attend with their spouses. Each of these couples have been married for many, many years. One […]

Learn To Be Comfortable Saying ‘No’ Or You Won’t Be Available To Say ‘Yes’ When It Really Matters (Forbes Article)

“It’s only by saying “no” that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.” – Steve Jobs Saying “No” can be awkward, uncomfortable, and downright difficult. After all, it is human nature to want to be liked, and what better way to be liked then to make people happy by saying “Yes” when […]

A Pen and Paper Can Actually Be More Valuable Than Money

What I am about to say will seem completely foreign or even downright crazy to many people, but just hear me out before you throw up on this suggestion: The next time you sit down to send an email to thank someone, consider getting a pen and paper and writing a handwritten note instead. “Handwrite […]

Daily Words of Wisdom

“Do the things you used to talk about doing but ever did. Know when to leg go and when to hold on tight. Stop rushing. Don’t be intimidated to say it like it is. Stop apologizing all the time. Learn to say no, so your yes has some oomph. Spend time with the friends who […]

When You Go Into The World Hold Hands and Stick Together

Sometimes advice is so great you just have to share it with everyone.  Robert Fulghum wrote the book, All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten  (Villard Books: New York, 1990). The following excerpts are from pages 6-7 and they contain the most simple, yet powerful advice. I love that this advice applies to all of […]

People Who Do Bad Things

There are people in this world who do bad things. Many, if not all of us, have been on the receiving end or dealt with people who have done bad things that have hurt us. The hope is that over time, as we get older and wiser, that we are far more careful in our […]

Value Yourself and Others Will Follow Suit

Imagine you are at a car lot looking at a car for sale. You ask the salesperson to tell you about the car.  They respond, “Its okay I guess. It could be shinier, and it could go faster, and the color isn’t great, and it doesn’t have the best radio, and it’s not the cleanest, […]

Throwback Thursday – Forgive and Let Go

For some reason this week I thought it would be fun to go back in time to this very day two years ago to see what was on my mind back then when I wrote my blog that day.   When I finished reading my post from that day it hit me how important the […]

Four Things You Cannot Recover

I once heard a story called the Parable of the Cookie.  It’s a simple story with a surprising twist that teaches an incredibly valuable lesson. See for yourself: The Parable of the Cookie A young woman was waiting to catch a flight in the boarding area of the airport. Given that her wait was going […]

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

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 […]

Always Remember That Life Goes On

I came across a poem that has a great message and wanted to share it with all of you: What a great poem to read, especially at Christmas time?  It reminds us that life is short so why waste a moment of it being unhappy?  No matter what goes wrong, life is going to go […]

The Power of Words

Words are a powerful thing. Words can build and lift, comfort and calm, teach and inspire.  To the opposite, words can destroy and demolish, incite and enrage, berate and criticize, embarrass and demean.  It has been said that in an average day a person will speak somewhere between 10 and 20,000 words. Which means we […]

Sometimes You Just Need To Take a Time-Out in the “Happy Chair”

When my kids were little time-out at our house consisted of sending the kids to sit in the “happy chair” where they would have to stay until they were able to be happy again.  Our “happy chair” was a bright yellow chair with a sunshine and happy kids painted on it – all designed to […]