Tag Archives: attitude

12 Ways to Lighten Up

We all need help lightening up once in awhile. Here are 12 great steps to help you lighten up: “Approaching your life with a non-serious attitude gives you a clearheaded view of difficulties and the energy to deal with them. Problems are easier to solve, people are more cooperative and you feel more relaxed. You […]

If I Had My Life To Live Over Again

Yesterday I blogged about a talk Steve Jobs gave in which he discussed keeping perspective on life and death in the context of making decisions and not letting fear hold you back. After I’d finished that blog I couldn’t help but think a bit more about that subject of life and death, but my thoughts […]

What True Love Looks Like

Here is a beautiful story about what true love looks like: “It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his 80’s arrived at the hospital to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am. The nurse took his […]

Am I The Only One Who Finds It Hard To Focus The Day Before A Holiday?

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE HOLIDAYS?! I love everything about them. Great food, fun, friends, family….how could I not love holidays??  In fact, I get so excited about holidays that I start celebrating them in my mind the day before they even arrive…the closer we get to the actual holiday the more antsy […]

If You Want To Change The World, Change Yourself

“When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t change the town and as an older man, I tried […]

If You Want To Be Happy, You Have To Be Happy On Purpose

“If you want to be happy, you have to be happy on purpose. When you wake up, you can’t just wait to see what kind of day you’ll have. You have to decide what kind of day you will have.” –Joel Osteen I’ve learned a lot about this concept of being happy on purpose over […]

One Man Asks Why Women Speak in “Woman Code”

“Men say that women should come with instructions…What’s the point of that? Have you actually ever seen a man read the instructions?” I walked into our kitchen today to find my husband, my son, and my father all laughing out loud and knowingly shaking their heads as they listened to this short little video clip […]

Looking Back, What Are You Going To Remember Doing?

Thus far, 2018 has been completely insane with activity.  I started off my year jumping feet first into planning my daughter’s wedding reception for the small group of 1,200 people being invited to her May event.  Along with those months of planning I gave several keynote presentations at conferences, was a judge for several business […]

What Separates Winners From Losers Isn’t Talent, It’s Attitude

Seth Godin has said, “It’s not really a search for talent. It’s a search for attitude. There are a few jobs where straight up skills are all we ask for. Perhaps in the first violinist in a string quartet. But in fact, even there, what actually separates winners from losers isn’t talent, it’s attitude…An organization filled with […]

To-Do Lists Don’t Work – Scheduling Everything Does

Whenever I have a big to-do list I find myself sitting and staring at it like I’m a deer in the headlights wondering “where do I even begin?”… Overwhelmed by the question of where to begin the list almost always leads to procrastinating on starting anything on the list…and procrastinating inevitably leads to feeling down […]

If You’re Gonna Do It, You Gotta Own It!

“If you’re gonna do it, you gotta own it!” That’s what my daughter yelled out to her now husband as he and her brother were talking about whether he should do a funny dance number at her wedding reception a week ago.  She pointed out that anytime you are going to do something public like […]

Plan Out Every Detail, then Take A Deep Breath…And DANCE!

Well I’m about as prepared as I know how to be for this weeks wedding festivities. I’ve planned every detail, I’ve done Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint galore showing each vendor exactly what to do and how things should look when it comes together. I’ve done timelines and checklists that map out every minute of the […]

Work as if everything depends on you, Pray as if everything depends on God

I must have been out of my mind to think it was going to be possible for me to be gone for a week to London and then come home for a few days and go right back out of country again to Prague, Cesky Krumlov, Vienna, and Budapest for another full week and then […]

Because Of Your Example

80 years 29,219 days 701,265 hours 42,076,800 minutes 10 amazing children 37 beautiful grandchildren 11 sweet great-grandchildren 1 BLESSED LIFE HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! Today my father, Gerald Rees, turned 80 years old.  80 years old!  WOW!  That is really, really old 😉 The best way I can think of to honor my Dad today is […]

Can Our Words Make A Difference?

Can our words make a difference? Consider this little story: The Group of Frogs As a group of frogs were traveling through the woods, two of them fell into a deep pit. When the other frogs crowded around the pit and when they saw how deep it was, they told the two frogs that fell in […]

Traveling 5,000 Miles To Appreciate What’s Less Than 50 Miles Away

Last week my husband and I flew to London with a group of 108 of our friends from Utah who serve on the Hale Centre Theater Board with us.  It was a whirlwind of a trip packed with back to back events from the moment our plane took off last Tuesday until we touched back […]

Life’s Little Instructions

“Life’s Little Instructions -Every so often you push your luck. -Never underestimate the power of a kind word or deed. -Never give up on anybody — miracles happen every day. -Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know. -Learn to listen. -Think big thoughts, but relish small pleasures. -Don’t expect others to listen to […]

Give people the benefit of the doubt

“A lovely little girl was holding two apples with both hands. Her mom came in and softly asked her little daughter with a smile: my sweetie, could you give your mom one of your two apples? The girl looked up at her mom for some seconds, then she suddenly took a quick bite on one […]

The Person Who Says Something Is Impossible Should Not Interrupt The Person Who Is Doing It

“The person who says something is impossible should not interrupt the person who is doing it.”  -unknown This weekend I was heads down working my guts out on my daughter Ashley’s upcoming wedding. I’ve been working on planning her wedding for months but it’s getting down to the wire with only a few weeks left […]

It’s Nothing To Be Ashamed Of

“Don’t be ashamed of a scar. It simply means you were stronger than whatever tried to hurt you.” –Unknown Every one has physical and/or emotional scars of some kind. Perhaps those scars resulted from an accident you were involved in, or perhaps they resulted from being the victim of some sort of abuse…whatever caused them, […]

After The Game The King And The Pawn Go Into The Same Box

Last week I had a crazy schedule – My week started with a podcast interview, then I judged a business competition,  I flew from Utah out to Burbank California for an investment meeting and then I flew from California out to Chicago for a business conference and then I had to hustle to get back […]

Stuck In A Jam

Traffic jams are so frustrating! It is so painful to be stuck on the freeway when there is a traffic jam of bumper to bumper cars and there is literally no way to get yourself out of it. All you can do is sit there and wait for the traffic to start moving again. You […]

Things Will Straighten Out When You Stand Steady And Face Them

Sundays have always been a special day of the week for me. It’s the one day I set aside work and outside activities and as much technology as I can and I use it as a day to refill my spiritual tank. I always attend church for three hours each Sunday (…yes, you heard me […]

“Don’t let someone’s words blind you from their behavior.”

If we want to know who another person is all we need to do is watch what they do.  Strip away their words completely and just focus on their actions…observe just their actions over a period of time. As you do this you will begin to know their true character because their actions will be […]

We Have The Meats? A Tale Of Customer Service

Today I drove up to Utah State University to speak on a panel to the MBA students and then to be a judge for USUs annual Shark Tank business competition.  This is an event I look forward to every year because I absolutely love the students up at USU! They are awesome students who are […]

Friendship Is Built In The Present, But We Can Deepen Its Roots By Sharing Stories From Our Pasts

Dalton here, Amy’s one month shy of turning 25 year old son (feel free to mark that in your calendars so you’ll remember to send birthday wishes my way 🙂 ) filling in for my Mom tonight so she can have a little alone time with my Dad…and frankly, I prefer to not know what […]

“You’re allowed five emotional minutes in the day, then you gotta be a Gangsta.”

“You’re allowed five emotional minutes in the day, then you gotta be a Gangsta.” I love it when I come across the absolutely perfect quote at just the perfect moment when you need it the most. This quote seriously made my day today so I had to share it in case any of you needed […]

Try Writing Your Own Eulogy

A eulogy is those words that will be spoken at your funeral someday reflecting back on the person you were, the things you accomplished, the things you did for others, and the example your life set and the legacy it has left behind. Have you ever sat and thought about writing your own eulogy?  Taking a […]

Choices And Consequences

Life is full of choices. Some are easy choices and some are hard, but the upside of choices is they are always ours to make and no one can ever take that away from us. However, the downside to choices is that while we get to make them, we don’t get to choose what consequences […]

“Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out.”

Tonight was the opening event of our Spring Board Conference at UVU where I serve as Chairman of the National Advisory Board for the business school. We have our board conferences twice a year, once in the Fall and once in the Spring, and it takes a lot of work to get ready for them […]