Tag Archives: self-improvement

Each New Sign Along The Highway Of Life Reads, “It Only Gets Better From Here”

“Fear is an idea crippling, experience-crushing, success-stalling inhibitor inflicted only by yourself.” – Stephanie Melish We are the ones who create our own fears. We decide what we are afraid of by the thoughts we allow into our minds. We think our fears into existence and then we allow them to exist and grow in […]

Great Advice Is Actionable Advice

Tonight I spoke at Brigham Young University’s student Women in Business’s Opening Social. Knowing I would have a late night visiting with students, I asked my son Dalton if he would be able to do a guest blog for me tonight so I could stay late with the students after my presentation and visit with […]

To Win Someone Over Your Reasoning’s Gonna Have To Trump Theirs

When my husband and I were building our home years ago we got into a debate (some may even think of it as an argument, but debate sounds less negative 🙂 ) while picking out which doorknobs  to have on all the doors – he wanted the heavy duty expensive ones and I was thinking […]

Make Your Comebacks Stronger Than Your Setbacks

This week has been absolutely insane as I’ve been getting everything ready for the big Utah Valley University Woodbury School of Business Fall National Advisory Board Conference this Thursday and Friday. As the Chair of the board I can attest that putting a board conference together is SO much more work than you’d ever imagine. It’s a lot like having […]

If It Feels Like Work You Are Doing It Wrong

“If it feels like work you are doing it wrong.” – unknown Today I must be doing it wrong because it has definitely felt like work. Those feelings reminded me of an article I once read that was written by Jenna Goudreau for Forbes called Seven Steps To Happiness At Work, she shares seven tips from a […]

Attributes Of Empathy

“Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” – Plato This video clip below is awesome! It is a perfect illustration of why we ought to have a little more empathy for other people. We shouldn’t assume we know what someone is feeling or what they might be dealing with. We can’t […]

You’re Not Going To Master The Rest Of Your Life In One Day

“You’re not going to master the rest of your life in one day. Relax. Master the day. Then just keep doing that every day.” – unknown I needed that quote today. I actually need that quote pretty much every day. I have a hard time feeling like I’ve ever gotten enough done in a day […]

Ethics, Turbulence, Leadership and Integrity

Last week I flew to Driggs Idaho where we held our BYU Wheatley Ethics Advisory Council retreat. I’d never been to Driggs or Jackson Hole so I was really excited to get to see both places for the first time. But we had a bit of a harrowing experience on the trip when the Pilatus […]

The Torch Bearer

Each of us have been born with special talents that God gave us so we might use them to benefit the lives of others. As we do, our own lives will be blessed as well. I love the following poem because its a great reminder to stay humble and recognize that our gifts are just […]

Tell The Negative Committee That Meets Inside Your Head To Sit Down And Shut Up

“Tell the negative committee that meets inside your head to sit down and shut up!” – Ann Bradford I still remember as a child seeing my mother standing in the kitchen talking to herself. No joke. She would literally have entire conversations with herself. At the time I just assumed my Mom must be a […]

Another Look Unlimited Day

The day after a holiday is always a little rough. But guess what?! I just found out that the day after Labor Day is actually yet another holiday! Apparently its “Another Look Unlimited Day”, which frankly I’d never heard of before until today, but yeah…apparently it’s really a thing… What is it you ask? Okay, […]

#TheMeaningOfLifeIn4Words

When my twitter feed revealed #TheMeaningOfLifeIn4Words  as the top trend hashtag of the moment it totally killed my focus tonight. The truth is I don’t usually pay attention to things that are trending but for some reason this one caught my eye. Perhaps that’s because I’ve spent days on end doing nothing but writing word […]

Nothing Is Troublesome That We Do Willingly

Yesterday I posted a blog that shared 10 Rules For The Good. After posting it I couldn’t seem to get one of the ten rules out of my head. It was rule number seven on the list which states that “Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.” It struck me because too often I find […]

You Can Only Be Young Once. But You Can Always Be Immature

“You can only be young once. But you can always be immature.” -Dave Berry My sister Jen and my niece Rachel came into town this week to visit from California. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to spend time with the two of them but 17 years ago my niece Rachel actually lived with […]

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 […]

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 […]

“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes an orchestra to play it“

“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes an orchestra to play it.”  – H.E. Lucckock The last few days my husband and I have been meeting with people who have all dedicated their time, talents and resources to helping to lift the lives of others.  Seeing the power that comes from having a group […]

Traveling For Business Is Not Exactly The Glamorous Lifestyle You Envisioned

I remember a time when I was growing up and I would hear about someone who traveled for business and I would think to myself, “they are so lucky to have such a glamorous job that they get to travel.” Oh, how little I understood back then. I could not have been more wrong about […]

Promise Yourself

“Promise Yourself To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet. To make all your friends feel that there is something in them To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. To think only the […]

Love Is A Daily Decision

The more life experience you gain the more you come to understand that love isn’t quite like what’s portrayed in your typical Nicholas Sparks movie. This last week my husband and I spent the week hosting a group of 28 people on our houseboat down at Lake Powell. During the trip one night we sat […]

Keep On Keepin’ On

The weekend is just around the corner, which in and of itself is something to get excited about.  Some days things go fantastic and other days can be a struggle just to make it through. When times are tough the best thing to do is remind yourself to just keep on keepin’ on: Keep on Keepin’ […]

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 […]

External Expectations, Pride, Fear Of Embarrassment Or Failure – They All Fall Away In The Face Of Death

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.”  […]

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 […]

Your Time Is Your Investment. What Are You Investing Your Time Into?

“Your time is your investment. What are you investing your time into?  Are you spending your time on something that will pay off in the future?”   -unknown My little brother Andy is an amazing songwriter, singer, and guitar player. In the lyrics to one of his songs he wrote many years ago he states, “Our […]

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 […]

My First Fortnite Experience

Fortnite. I had heard there was a lot of hype about the video game, but I had never actually seen or played this game…until this weekend… My family traveled down in our RV to Bryce Canyon Utah (where our daughter-in-law is from) to support her family as they welcomed back her brother who was returning […]

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 […]

Success Comes From Doing The Little Things Over A Long Period Of Time

Today I heard “The Stonecutter’s Creedo” for the first time. It was written by Jacob Riis: “When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will […]

Nothing Motivates Us Better Than Progress

We have dreams…we set goals…then we begin working on our goals…the more we progress toward those goals the better we feel about ourselves and the more motivated we get… Teresa Arnabile of Harvard published research on a phenomenon that she refers to it as the progress principle:  “Of all the positive events that influence inner […]