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Stand Up To Your Full Stature, For That Is The Way Of The Strong
“The real tragedy is the tragedy of a man who never in his life braces himself for his one supreme effort, who never stretches to his full capacity, never stands up to his full stature. To lie down and moan and whine about limited opportunities is the part of weaklings. To grasp the opportunities at […]
Tagged Amy Rees Anderson, be strong, don’t try fail learn nothing, duh, entrepreneurship, failure, gain experience, go beyond, grasp opportunities, guaranteed failure, irony, learn nothing, learn something, opportunity, outside your comfort zone, risk taking, smarter, stand up to our full stature, stretch yourself, strong, success, take a risk, try fail learn, weakling, wiser, you fail if you don’t try
You’ll never get the same moment twice
“Life becomes more meaningful when you realize the simple fact that you’ll never get the same moment twice.” When my daughter-in-law came to drop off my adorable grandbaby this morning so I could babysit him for her while she went to work and I saw her lugging in the car seat and diaper back and […]
Tagged alexis, Amy Rees Anderson, appreciating each moment, appreciation, babysitting, bad memories, been there done that, calmness, diaper bag, diapers, empty nest, exhausted, feed the baby, flashback, Flynn, focus, frazzled, fulfillment, good memories, grandbaby, gray hair, lack of sleep, late, life experience, life lessons, looking back, love, meaningful, motherhood, never live the same moment twice, new mother, new parent, parenting, phase of life, running late, sleep deprivation, spit up, take time to smell the babies, time management, treasure each moment, understanding, what I wish I knew back then, wisdom
A gift to be treasured
As I shared in yesterday’s post, I was honored to be inducted in the Utah Technology Council (UTC) Hall of Fame last Friday. As part of that the UTC hired a company called Avalanche Studios to go and interview a few of the important people from my life as well as interviewing me and to […]
Tagged Amy Rees Anderson, appreciation, appreiate, avalanche, avalanche studios, award, beyond a price tag, christmas, christmas presents, dear friends, digitizing photos, do what is right let the consequence follow, gift buying, gift giving, gifts from the heart, grateful, hall of fame, holidays, honored, honorees, important people, meaningful gift, meaningful present, mentors, precious memories, preparing for chirstmas, preparing for parenthood, preparing for the holidays, priceless, special meaning, the best gift, thoughtful gift, treasure, utah technology council, utc, utc hall of fame, utchof, video montage, VIP
An inspiring message on the importance of empathy from Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft
Friday evening it was my honor to be able to meet Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. He had come to Utah to be the keynote speaker for the UTC Hall of Fame that I was being inducted into and I had the privilege of getting to meet and talk with him before the event. Here’s a […]
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You are more than enough. You. Are. Amazing.
The following article was written about Mom’s but the truth is that we have all been there before, both Moms and Dads. We’ve all had those moments when we feel we aren’t good enough to handle everything life is throwing at us as parents. But this article reminds us that we actually are: “To the […]
Tagged all you can do, alone, Amy Rees Anderson, being a good parent, challenges, challenging, childhood, conquer the world, crazy hard, crying, dad, do your best, doing your best, everyone struggles, feel good, feeling down, for now it's hard, growing up, guilty, honesty, inspiration, it will all be worth it, it's hard for everyone, it's worth it, little hearts, love of a parent, mom, motivation, parent, perfect, phase of life, positive thinking, raising children, remember who you are, rest, support, talk about it, through the eyes of a child, tired, to the mom, too much to handle, unworthy, yelling, you are amazing, you are enough, you can do it, young children
Don’t ruin a good today by thinking about a bad yesterday.
How often do you find yourself thinking about something bad that happened yesterday and it ends up ruining the way you feel today? I have to admit I have let myself do that at times, but I can also say that doing it has never once helped me nor made me feel better about anything…it’s […]
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It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful
“Ordinary happiness depends on happenstance. Joy is that extraordinary happiness that is independent of what happens to us. Good luck can make us happy, but it cannot give us lasting joy. The root of joy is gratefulness. We tend to misunderstand the link between joy and gratefulness. We notice that joyful people are grateful and […]
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Only 48 Days Until Christmas – Let The Countdown Begin!
Can you believe there are only 48 days until Christmas??!! It’s just so exciting! So because it takes so much work to decorate the house for Christmas and put op our 13 foot tall Christmas tree we decided that from now on we are going to enjoy those decorations as long as possible, which is […]
Tagged alexis, Amy Rees Anderson, appreciate, appreciation, ashley, bonding, candy cane, cheesy, Christmas decorations, christmas movies, Dalton, decorate the tree, excitement, family, family affair, family bonding, family togetherness, favorite, feel good, hallmark channel, hallmark channel Christmas movie, hallmark Christmas movie, happiness, holiday, hot chocolate, hot cocoa, inspiration, joy, love, movies, predictable, Rollin, sappy, sappy movie, whipped cream
Have you cheated the man in the glass?
When you get what you want in your struggle for self And the world makes you king for a day, Just go to the mirror and look at yourself And see what “the man” has to say. For it isn’t your father or mother or wife Whose judgment upon you must pass. The fellow whose […]
Tagged accountability, accountable, admit mistakes, agency, all they have done, Amy Rees Anderson, appreciation, attitude, change, choice and accountability, con man, deceit, disrespect, family, happiness, heartache, humble, implement real change, joy, karma, lasting change, liar, lying, master of deceit, masterful at deceiving others, masterful liar, mistakes, pain, pretend, reward, self-confidence, self-improvement, take responsibility, talk a big game, tears, the father of lies, the man in the glass, true reflection, weaknesses
It Only Takes A Little Effort to Make Someone Feel Special In A Big Way
Today you guys are in for a treat because the post you are about to read was written by my 24 year old son Dalton Anderson about an amazing interaction he had with McDonald’s that was so awesome it just had to be shared: “A month ago I received some of the greatest news the […]
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We can learn it the easy way or we can learn it the hard way and only we can decide which it will be
“Don’t touch that, it’s hot” my mom said as she pulled out a fresh tray of cookies from the oven – yet immediately I started thinking “I wonder how hot it really is? It’s probably not that hot. I think I’ll just see for myself just how hot it is.” You would think that nursing […]
Tagged agency, Amy Rees Anderson, beyond our ability to see, child, choice and accountability, choices, conscious decision, consequence, defiant, free agency, God, growing up, hate, humility, hurt, hurting those you love, hurting yourself, kick against the pricks, learn the easy way, learn the hard way, life lessons, love, mistake, mistakes, older and wiser, painful, parent, parenting, patience, pride, recognition, self-reflection, strong willed, stubborn, the easy way or the hard way, the need for humility, trust, trustworthy, wisdom, wise
Try and inject a little more of that childhood attitude of wonder into our adult lives
Watching all the cute little kids in their trick-or-treating costumes, running around ecstatic about all the free candy they were collecting, I couldn’t help but think how great it was to be a little kid. So oblivious to the problems in the world, wide-eyed with excitement about even the littlest things, believing in fairy tales […]
Tagged a child’s laugh, absorbed, adulthood, Amy Rees Anderson, bedtime stories, bedtime story, believe in fairy tales, big wheel, candy, childhood, childhood attitude, childlike, childlike laughter, child’s play, color crayons, coloring book, come for dinner, dinner is ready, driveway chalk, ecstatic, fearless, free candy, great to be a kid, great to be a little kid, growing up, halloween, happiness, happy, hide and go seek, job, joy, kick the can, kiss and hug, laugh out loud, memories, moment’s notice, money, parenthood, pjs, play, responsibility, santa claus, saturdan morning cartoons, sidewalk chalk, spontaneous, swinging, swingset, the easter bunny, tooth fairy, trick-or-treat, tucked into bed, what the future will hold, worry
Never jump into a pile of leaves with a wet sucker
You gotta love Halloween. Free candy and fun costumes…what could be better? Growing up as a kid at Halloween time we used to always look forward to watching “It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.” One of the best lines from that movie is: “Never jump into a pile of leaves with a wet sucker.” – […]
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There Is No Such Thing As A Selfless Lie
There have been numerous scientific experiments which have proven that people lie for selfish reasons. Yet how often do we hear people say they lied to be selfless in order to protect the other person, or to avoid hurting the other person, or because they didn’t want the other person to think less of them, […]
Tagged a lie is always selfish, acceptance, Amy Rees Anderson, better to know the truth, courage, courageous, dishonest, dishonesty, disrespect, doing someone a favor, fidelity, gain, honesty, hurt, integrity, knowledge, knowledge of the truth, loyalty, motivations, never lie, paint in a better light, personal gain, protective, respect, satan is the father of lies, selfish, selfish motivation, selfless, speak the truth even if your voice shakes, tell the truth, telling a lie, the father of lies, the truth hurts, the truth may hurt for a little but a lie hurts forever, there is no such thing as a selfless lie, trust, unkind, you deserve to make your own choice
Creating A Day Worth Living
Life can sometimes seem ridiculously complicated. And trying to find peace amidst the chaos day to day often feels a bit impossible. So what makes for a peaceful day? If the only way to have a peaceful day is to have a day where everything goes perfectly then the chance of us ever having a […]
Tagged Amy Rees Anderson, compliment someone, control the chaos, creating a day worth living, do something for someone else, do something fun, do something productive, exercise, express gratitude, express gratitude for someone, finding peace, forgetting to do the thing you weren't supposed to forget, get some sunlight, get up early, happiness, heavy traffic, hurt, injury, joy, late for work, learn something new, nothing is perfect, pain, peace, put a smile on someone’s face, sadness, sick, sleeping in, stay grounded, that is life, things don't go perfect, things go wrong, too much to do
Protect that what you value most
When my two children were young they started calling me “Mama Bear” because they knew their Mama would fight fiercely to protect her two little cubs. That’s because we protect what we value most, and my kids have always been what I value most. Becoming a parent is one of the most surreal experiences in […]
Tagged a mother’s love, alexis, alexis anderson, Amy Rees Anderson, ashley, Ashley Lewis, baby, baby bear, blessed, cheer you on, Dalton, Dalton Anderson, die for you, don’t mess with a mother, eternal love, families are forever, family first, Flynn, Flynn anderson, happiness, have your back, hibernation, hurt, little cub, love, lucky, mama bear, man cub, motherhood, parenthood, protect what you love, protect what you value most, right from wrong, Rollin, Rollin Anderson, sacrifice, the world, unconditional love, walking with you, you are never alone, you're having a baby, your universe
Don’t let your emotions overpower your intelligence
“Never let what you feel make you forget what’s real. Facts over feelings. Don’t let your emotions overpower your intelligence.” -unknown Learning the lesson shared in that quote is something that took me making a few really bad personal life choices in my early adult life and going through the horrible pain that resulted from […]
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Making Your Day Proactive Rather Than Reactive
I grew up with a father who would start every day with a 3×5 index card in his shirt pocket that held a list of everything he planned to get done that day, and throughout his day he would cross off each item from that 3×5 card as he completed it. My Dad was absolutely […]
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Accept things as they are, not as you wish they were, then focus on your wishes for the future
“When you struggle against this moment, you are actually struggling against the entire universe. Instead, you can make the decision that today you will not struggle against the whole universe by struggling against this moment. This means that your acceptance of this moment is total and complete. You accept things as they are, not as […]
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There is no such thing as a perfect parent
“There is no such thing as a perfect parent so just be a real one.” – Sue Atkins Without a doubt the hardest job on the planet is that of being a parent. The stakes are so high because every mistake you make as a parent affects your children and you realize that so you […]
Tagged adults, ashley, balance, balancing, biggest fear in life, Dalton, do your best, don't have all the answers, don’t beat yourself up, evil, failing, failing my children, failure, focus attention, gorw and improve, guidance, helping versus enabling, honest, keep it real, lead, leaders, leadership, mentor, open communication, parenthood, perfect answers, perfect parenting, raising children, raising teens, self worth, self-esteem, self-improvement, selfimprovement, sharing advice, struggles, the perfect thing to say, the perfect way to handle it, what makes a good leader, your greatest contribution
The Power Of Encouragement
“Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you.” –William Arthur Ward Today I was reminded of the powerful impact my mentors have had on me. I have had the privilege of […]
Tagged Amy Rees Anderson, business, encourage, encouragement, encourages you to see it, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, example, goals, grateful, gratitude, impact, impactful, inspiration, lift you up, mentor, optimistic, positive, powerful, seek out, sees your best, self-improvement, success, tear you down, the best in you, william arthur ward
Moments That Matter Most
Rather than writing much tonight I wanted to share a really short 3 minute video that has a message that is sure to inspire you today: And that says it all….perfectly…. Have a great day everyone! ~Amy Rees Anderson
Tagged adversity, Amy Rees Anderson, appreciate, appreciation, attitude, balance, blessings, children, depression, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, families are forever, family, finding joy, focus, friends, happiness, helping others, inspiring message, joy in the journey, lds, lifting others, look to god, love, moments that matter most, mormon.org, overcoming depression, parents, priorities, self-improvement, service, success, time, time management, what matters most
Take A Walk Down Happy Memory Lane
“Don’t wait until your life is almost over to realize how great it has been!” Today I had to pull a bunch of old photos from years past together for a project and as I was sorting through years and years worth of photos I couldn’t help but be pulled into a walk down memory […]
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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 […]
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Finding Balance is the Eternal Struggle… The Day Will Never Be Longer Than 24 Hours So We Best Schedule Those Hours Wisely!
Autumn is one of my favorite seasons because I love seeing the amazing Fall colors as the leaves on the trees scattered up the mountain behind my home turn beautiful shades of red and yellow. I love apple cider and pumpkin flavored everything. The difficult thing about Autumn is that it also tends to be […]
Tagged 24 hours in a day, agenda, Amy Rees Anderson, appointments, autumn, balance, booking your calendar, calendar, daily calendar, determination, don't give up, email overload, endless guilt, eternal struggle, fall, focus, guilt, improve, its about time, keep trying, learn to say no, make time for family, optimize your time, overloaded, overwhelmed, prioritize, procrastination, respond to emails, schedule, schedule family time, season, self-improvement, the things that matter most, time management, to do list, work life balance
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 […]
Tagged accomplishing accomplishment, Amy Rees Anderson, anxiety, anything is possible, appreciate, assumption, balancing a checkbook, bank, bank president, bank statements, banking, bounced checks, canceled check, career, checkbook, clueless, confidence, courage, entrepreneur, failures, father, grow, high school, hope, humiliating, jerry, job, leadership, learn, mistakes, never make the same mistake twice, never underestimate yourself, no matter where you are starting from, possible, self-improvement, self-reliant, share mistakes, success, successful entrepreneur, there is hope, writing bad checks, you are capable
Lessons On Branding Shared By Advertising Expert Gordon Bowen of McGarryBowen (Forbes Article)
Last night I had the opportunity to go to the home of Gordon Bowen, Founder and Chairman of McGarryBowen, esteemed international Advertising Agency, representing such clients as Disney, American Express, Intel, Marriott, Verizon, Crayola, Chase, and many other iconic brands. As for Gordon, Time Magazine dubbed him the creator of “emotional blockbusters” for his creation […]
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The things you can think up if only you try
“Think left and think right, think low and think high, oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try.” – Dr. Seuss Idea generation and problem solving go hand in hand. They both require us to think and tap into our creativity to identify new and better ways and new and better solutions. […]
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Treasure Every Precious Moment
Today was the baby blessing of my grandson Flynn Dalton Anderson. When I saw him in his little white outfit I was amazed at how much he looked exactly like his father, my son Dalton. I remember my son Dalton’s blessing day as if it was just yesterday. I remember getting him into his cute […]
Tagged alexis, alexis anderson, Amy Rees Anderson, ashley, ay lotion, baby blessing, baby pictures, Boyd, change my heart, Dalton, Dalton Rollin Anderson, eternity, families are forever, family, glam-ma, Grandma, grandpa, happiness, heaven on earth, holding a baby, jerry, joy, lds, leslie, lessons learned, loa, meaningful, my child, my grandchild, name and a blessing, perspective, priesthood ordinance, priorities, quiet moments, REES, regret, rocking a baby, Rollin, spend time, surreal, syrett, tebbs, the circle of life, they grow up so fast, treasure every moment
If your future self could speak to you…
I have been out in Washington DC for the last few days and I was reminded of how beautiful Virginia is. I lived in Vienna, Virginia when I was a teenager in High School and during this visit I was able to drive past the house I used to live in while I was there […]
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