Tag Archives: grow

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, […]

Speak The Truth

Years ago I wrote an article for Forbes called Speak The Truth Even If Your Voice Shakes which talked about the importance of giving people honest feedback in a respectful way, even at times it feels uncomfortable or  intimidating to do so.  In the article I shared seven lessons I’d learned about giving feedback and […]

Resolve What You Will Do While You Are Still In The Moment

This last Sunday I attended a meeting in which BYU President Kevin Worthen spoke. He covered several topics but there was one suggestion in particular that he gave that really struck me and I knew I had to share it with all of you: He shared that when you hear a speaker talk that inspires […]

The Worst Decision Is Indecision

Where do you want to go out to dinner tonight? Sounds like an easy question, yet when someone asks it to you it often feels like they’ve just presented you the most difficult question ever.  There are so many options you could choose, and what if you choose one and you would have liked the […]

We Are Stronger Than We Ever Knew

C.S. Lewis once said that “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.”  I’ll freely admit that sometimes it can take serious effort on our part to remember that our extraordinary destiny will someday come to fruition if we just hang in there and we don’t let the hardships stop us. These last few months it’s taken me more effort than […]

Never Underestimate What You Are Capable Of Accomplishing

I left home to come to college when I was 17 years old. One of the first things I had to do was setup my very first checking account at the bank. Up to that point I had never had my own checking account. I had always had jobs and worked throughout High School but […]

“We have not yet the slightest notion of the tremendous thing He means to make of us…”

Do you ever have times where you feel you have already been through so many hard trials in your life, and you’ve already overcome so many hard things, and worked to improve yourself in so many ways that surely you deserve to have a reprieve from life’s difficulties because you feel you’ve fought through hard […]

Take A Picture, It Will Last Longer

Given that the last few days have been crazy hectic with the birth of my grandson and with us having more family arriving in town to host today I was worried about having time to get everything done so I asked my 21 year old daughter Ashley if she could write a guest post for […]

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! […]

As I Began To Love Myself…

As I began to love myself I found that anguish and emotional suffering are only warning signs that I was living against my own truth. Today, I know, this is “AUTHENTICITY”. As I began to love myself I understood how much it can offend somebody As I try to force my desires on this person, […]

A Lickin’ Does A Fellow Good

Saturday when we got home from our Hawaii trip we opened a knock at the door to find my mother-in-law and father-in-law who had driven down from Idaho to surprise us with a visit as they wanted to be here for my husband’s birthday tomorrow (Tuesday).  One of our favorite activities when our in-laws come […]

Anything Can Happen, Anything Can Be

Listen to the mustn’ts child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts, Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN, CHILD. ANYTHING CAN BE. -Shel Silverstein First I have to say that I LOVE Shel Silverstein’s poetry!  He teaches so many incredible lessons through his […]

What To Do and What NOT To Do

Throughout my life I have been blessed with some incredible mentors and role models. They have taught me the “what to do” things in life, and the “how to be” qualities, that if we embrace will turn us into someone others will want hope to emulate someday as well. The more in life I would […]

There Is Something Better…Be Patient…Live Life…

Disappointments are just God’s way of saying “I’ve got something better”  Be patient…live life… I love that quote because all of us have had those moments of disappointment…those moments when we had things all planned out in our heads so perfectly as to how they should go and then something unexpected happens and our perfect […]

What Makes A Winner?

“Years back when we lived in Boise, Idaho, a man … Bill Bowman, who was the wrestling coach at Boise State College, did his doctorate work, his dissertation, on what makes a winner. After interviewing over a thousand athletes and feeding all the information into the computer, he got his answer. Do you know what […]

We can feel JOY regardless of what is happening, or not happening, in our lives

“We can feel joy even while having a bad day, a bad week, or even a bad year!   …We can feel joy regardless of what is happening—or not happening—in our lives.” – Russell M. Nelson I love that quote because it reminds me that it is absolutely possible to feel joy whenever we choose to, […]

Diversity Is Required To Make A Company Strong, But Unity Is Required To Make A Company Successful. (Forbes Article)

Diversity seems to be a goal that every company is out to achieve these days. Yet as companies begin to broaden their hiring practices in order to achieve diversity, they often find that in solving one problem they have also opened up an entirely new one – creating unity amongst diversity. As diversity enters into […]

Put Yourself Out There!

Tonight my husband and I attended a political fundraiser event that I was on the host committee for where politicians from both sides of the aisle participated in a talent show / variety show. There was everything from legislators performing a Riverdance celtic dance to Congresswomen singing Broadway tunes from Wicked and Hamilton to the […]

Learning the Hard Way

The older we get the more we realize how much better life is if we are just willing to learn things the easy way – like by listening to those who have been there and done it and who have the experience to give us advice on avoiding pitfalls we will face. In the early […]

How will you choose to live your one remarkable story?

We have only one life to live. That is why it is so important to decide how you will choose to live your one remarkable story! Do you want to try to accomplish incredible things, or do you want to sit on the sidelines too afraid of failure to ever take the risk of even […]

Have we forgotten how to stay sharp?

Once upon a time, a very strong woodcutter asked for a job in a timber merchant and he got it. The pay was really good and so was the work condition. For those reasons, the woodcutter was determined to do his best. His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he […]

Lessons on Surviving, Turning Trials into Trails, and Choosing Happiness (Part 5 of 5)

Today is the part 5 of a 5 part blog series I have been sharing all week this week. Throughout this week I have shared snippets of emails that my daughter Ashley sent home while she was serving her 18 month mission. For those who have followed along all week this week I am hoping […]

Lessons on Study, Selfishness, Repentance, and Never Looking Back (Part 4 of 5)

We have come to month fourteen of the eighteen months of lessons learned along the journey. I hope you are all enjoying reading these email snippets from Ashley’s emails. The life lessons she shares as she learns them was so valuable to me and I hope it proves to be valuable to all of you […]

Lessons on Love and Charity (Part 3 of 5)

Today was one of the happiest days of my life!!  My daughter Ashley is HOME!!!! Yep, after 18 months of doing service as a missionary she is finally back home with us and I am beyond words with happiness. This enitre week I have been sharing snippets of emails I received from my daughter Ashley while she was out serving her […]

Lessons on Character, Change, Hardships and Blessings (Part 2 of 5)

Today is a continuation of yesterday’s blog sharing some favorite snippets of my daughter Ashley’s emails she has sent home over the course of her 18 month mission with the valuable life lesons she was learning along the way – these lessons are such relevant lessons for all of our lives and I hope you […]

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 […]

Try And Keep On Trying

“Try and keep on trying until that which seems difficult becomes possible and that which seems only possible becomes habit and a real part of you.” -Dieter F. Uchtdorf The first step to fixing anything is to TRY. We have to try to believe we can do it, try to learn how to do it, […]

You’re Better Than You Think You Are (Forbes Article)

We’ve all experienced times where we’ve had a false sense of security, but we’ve also experienced times were we’ve had a false sense of insecurity…in ourselves. Too often we are our own worst critics. When circumstances of life don’t go the way we hoped for, we often allow them to make us think less of […]

Change is not a four letter word…

“Change is not a four letter word…but often your reaction to it is!” – Jeffrey Gitomer Change is scary..it’s trading the known for the unknown. It’s leaving something behind without knowing if what lies ahead. It’s wondering “Will I like it as much?” “Will it ever be as good as it was?” “What if it’s […]