Blog
Assume the Good and Doubt the Bad
“Think the best of each other, especially of those you say you love. Assume the good and doubt the bad.” -Jeffrey R. Holland So many times in life we hear something, or read something, or receive bits and pieces of information that leave room for interpretation of a situation or another person. And the instant […]
Tagged accepting, assume the best, bad, benefit of the doubt, charitable, charity, doubt the bad, forgive, forgiveness, friendship, God, good, gossip, guilty, happiness, happy, harsh, hope, interpretation, jeffrey r. holland, joy, judge, judment, kind, kindness, lds, lessons, Marvin J. Ashton, misguided, misinterpreted, motivation, negative, offended, opinion, others, pass judgment, patience, person, positive, shortcomings, situation, weakness
You were given this life, so LIVE IT WELL!
“You were given this life because you are strong enough to live it.” That quote has helped me many times in my life. Especially during difficult or stressful times when I feel overwhelmed or incapable of handing a situation I am given. We have all heard the phrase that “God doesn’t give us more than […]
Tagged adversity, challenge, challenges, change, difficult times, endure, endure well, experience, future, God, good times, grow, happy happiness, hard times, Heavenly Father, improve, inspiration, inspirational, journey, learned, life, live, live it well, motivation, motivational, painful, past, plan, present, pride, prie, proud, sad, sadness, strong, teach, trust, ups and downs
If You Can…
If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being […]
Tagged aim, beginnings, blame, disaster, doub, doubt, dream, failure, fools, hated, heart, hold on, If, if you can, inspiration, integrity, lessons, lied, life, loss, master, motivation, poem, poetry, rudyard kipling, sinew, success, tired, triumph, truth, virtue, winnings, wise
If You Want to Achieve Your Goal, Share it!
“Research recently conducted by [Dr. Gail] Matthews shows that people who wrote down their goals, shared this information with a friend, and sent weekly updates to that friend were on average 33% more successful in accomplishing their stated goals than those who merely formulated goals.” Goal setting is one of the things I am the […]
Tagged accomplish, accountable, achieve, adventure, believe, crash diet, crystal light energy, diet, diet coke, eat right, fad diet, fail, failure, forbes, friend, get healthy, goal, goal poster, granted, habit, happy meal, health, healthy, in shape, junk food, lose weight, magic of the goal poster, McDonalds, nutritionist, organic, overeating, passionate, pounds, pressure, respect, share it, shared, starving, success, successful, summer, unhealthy, visual, write down
“What I do today is important, because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.”
I finished my day off today after going a million miles an hour non-stop from the moment I jumped out of bed (okay “jumped” might be a bit of an exaggeration, it was more of a begrudging stagger if I am totally truthful). I was trying to respond to a hundred emails, answer a constant […]
Tagged accomplish, accomplishment, adversity, anxiety, appreciate, appreciation, attitude, balance, bulding a house, busy, BYU, calls, chaos, crazy, Dalton, do your best, emails, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, exhausted, experience, failure, gain, good, home, loss, magic, mission, new day, organized, overloaded, overwhelmed, questions, regret, stress, success, tasks, time, time consuming, time management, to do list, today, tomorrow, work, workload
Do We Make Our Own Luck?
Let me start by saying Happy St. Patrick’s Day! And what better day to talk about the subject of Good Luck and Good Fortune? Back to the question I posed in the title of today’s blog – Do we make our own luck? I am a firm believer that we do! The times I have […]
Tagged action, assume the worst, believe, chance, courage, dream, end of the rainbow, enjoy, excitement, expectations, eyes wide open, fear, good, good fortune, good luck, green, happiness, happy, holiday, hope, joy, limitations, luck, lucky, no fear, opportunities, opportunity, pot of gold, rainbow, risk, serendipity, shy, St. Patrick's Day, st. patty's day, state of mind, try
Getting There is Half the Fun
Every summer when I was a kid, my family would make the long drive from Washington State where we lived at the time out to Utah to visit our grandparents who lived here. That drive was a brutal 14 hour drive if you didn’t add on all the time for every potty stop we had […]
Tagged along the way, anxiety, appreciate, appreciation, arrive, attitdue, balance, destination, difficult, drive, enjoy, enjoy the journey, experience, family, friends, fun, getting there, gratitude, journey, meaningful, memories, memory, miserable, moments, positive, process, self-improvement, stress, trek, Utah, vacation, washington, worry
Two Words: “Stop It”
A few days ago I posted a blog about a young girl who was being bullied. Then today my son sent me the link to a video and he asked me to watch it – he said it is a video that would change people’s lives because it hits the viewer in such a powerful […]
Tagged backbiting, bully, bullying, caring, considerate, destructive, encourage, family, friends, helpful, judging, kind, lift, lifting positive, loving, make a difference, making fun, mean, negative, nice, petty, sarcasm, stop it, support, supportive, teasing, video
“That’s the way the cookie crumbles”
Growing up in a family of ten kids led to some awesome memories. One memory in particular that I thought about today was the following story: We were sitting around our massive dinner table (it took a huge table to hold all 12 of us!). We were preparing to sing Happy Birthday to one of the […]
Tagged anxiety, appreciation, attitude, birthday banana, blessings, childhood, cookie, crumbles, culture, disappointment, down, endure, experience, happiness, happy, Happy Birthday, joy, kids, laugh, lesson, memory, motivation, move forward, negative, outlook, overcoming trials, positive, rees family, sadness, self-improvement, smile, stress, trial, up, uplifting
Making Money While Making The World A Better Place (Forbes Article)
Making money while making the world a better place – what could possibly be better than that? That is exactly the goal of impact investors. James Lee Sorenson, successful entrepreneur and philanthropist, calls it the “double bottom line,” and achieving that double bottom line is something he is incredibly passionate about. Impact investing is “doing […]
Tagged agriculture, Amy Rees Anderson, benefit, billion, bottom line, calvert foundation, college, david Eccles school of business, deal sourcing, debt, debt instrument, deloitte, due diligence, economy, education, engage, entrepreneur, equity, fish, forbes, future, generation x, generations, gift, give, healthcare, housing, hurdles, impact, Impact investing, impact investor, institutional investor, investing, investor, james lee Sorenson, Jim Sorenson, lifetime, livelihood, market size, Millennial Generation, millennium, million, money, monitor institute, outcome, passion, pension fund, philanthropist, potential, private equity, program, quality of life, serve, service, Sorenson, students, sustainable energy, talent, time, training, university, university of utah, Utah, worldwide, young people, youth
Finding Out Who You Are By Learning Where You Came From
Figuring out who your ancestors are is one of the coolest things in the world. I was lucky to have Grandparents who were big into doing genealogy research when they were still alive and they provided me life history books for their own lives as well as providing me life histories written by my great-grandparents […]
Tagged about yourself, amazing, ancestors, database, deceased, england, excited, exciting, family, familysearch.org, father, friend, friends, fun, future, genealogy, generation, Grandma, grandpa, grandparents, Ireland, journal, King, learn, legacy, life history, link, love, mother, obsessed, past, pedigree, people, Photos, princess, Queen, research, royalty, Sweden, wales, who you are, www.familysearch.org, you
Striving to follow the examples of great people
Tonight I attended a dinner following my board meeting for the University of Utah National Advisory Board. A man I know and respect greatly, Mike Murray, gave the keynote address during our dinner. Mike Murray has had an amazing career. He went to school at Stanford, then went to work directly reporting to Steve Jobs […]
Tagged apple, authentic, better, bill gates, blessed, Board, bob gay, charitable, charity, example, financial success, humble, legacy, loans, lucky, macintosh, micro credit, microsoft, mike murray, money, national advisory board, resources, rich, self-reliance, sincere, stanford, steve ballmer, steve jobs, success, talent, time, unitus, university of utah
“Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”
“Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” -Ronald Daw I believe in magic…I believe we actually make our own magic by the way we think, the dreams we dream, […]
Tagged adversity, amazement, appreciation, attitude, awesome, balance, beautiful, believe, blessed, blessings, culture, encouters, excel, experience, friends, future, gift, glittering eyes, goal, goals, gratitude, happiness, happy, improve, life, love, luck, lucky, magic, opportunities, opportunity, positive thinking, self-improvement, success, think, thoughts, weekend
“If You Don’t Have Time To Do It Right the First Time…”
“If you don’t have time to do it right the first time, how will you ever have time to do it over.” That has always been one of my favorite quotes because it makes such a good point! Seriously, if you can’t take the time to do it right you sure as heck don’t have […]
Tagged accuracy, accurately, anxiety, blame, choice, confidence, correct, count on, courage, deliver, do it, do it right the first time, excuses, fi, first time, frustrated, frustration, gold, just do it, quick, redo, reliable, reputation, rush, rushed, sloppy, stress, stressed, take time, trust, whine
“If People Are Trying to Bring You Down…”
“If people are trying to bring you down it only means that you are above them.” I spent time tonight talking to a close friend who has a teenager daughter who is being horribly bullied in school. Her daughter, like many teenage girls, suffers from low self-esteem. She thinks her body isn’t thin enough, she […]
Tagged abuse, abusive, adversity, amazing, anxiety, attitude, beautiful, beauty, bully, bullying, define, destructive, friend, friends, happiness, happy, insecure, lash out, lif, mean, pretty, school, self worth, self-confidence, self-esteem, self-improvement, thin, unkind, victim
At All Times, In All Places…Live By Example
Today I was able to see a video someone had taken of my 20 year old son who is out serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (The LDS Church). It did my heart good to see his amazing smile as he was talking to families throughout the Jackson, […]
Tagged act, all places, all times, amazing, Belief, beliefs, believe, Dalton Anderson, desire, example, exemplify, God, higher power, Jesus Christ, latter-day saints, lds, lds church, louisiana, mission, mission tag, missionary, mississippi, Mormon, mother, nameta, nametag, pressure, proud, represent, representative, responsibility, responsible, son, the mormons, universe, values
What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger, Except For…
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, except for bears. Bears will kill you.” Some days you need a good quote like that to make you laugh. Today was one of those days for me and it’s amazing what a good quote, that you can relate to, can do to lift your spirits. I thought […]
Tagged argument, awesome, cellulite gorgeous, chocolate, clean, funny, husband, inspiration, inspire, kids, kills you, last word, laugh, man, men, mother, motivate, motivation, organize, organizing, pick me up, pinterest, quote, skinny, smile, spiders, stronger, today, tomorrow, what doesn't kill you, wife, women
Keeping It Simple Doesn’t Mean You’re Stupid (Forbes Article)
“Genius is the ability to reduce the complicated to the simple.” C. W. Ceran I consider myself to be a somewhat intelligent person, but when someone explains a new concept to me in terms that are overly complex and unfamiliar, I struggle to easily grasp it. To learn a new concept, I need things described […]
Tagged ability, Albert Einstein, Amy Rees Anderson, apple, benefit, business, c.w. ceran, company, complex, complexity, confidence, cpu, customer, description, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, forbes, genius, gigabytes, hard drive, humility, intelligent, ipod, IT, k.i.s.s., keep it simple stupid, kiss, leader, leadership, learn, library, manager, memory, overcomplicate, problems, product, ram, relate, related, sales, service, simple, simplicity, solution, solutions, student, stupid, teach, teacher, technical, understand
Needing a Vacation From Your Vacation
Anytime you come home from vacation it feels like you pay a major price for having been away. For me that is one of the things that causes conflicting feelings about getting excited to go on vacation in the first place. It’s knowing that you will have to face the punishment for having been away […]
Tagged anxiety, attitude, chores, clean, clean house, clean sheets, coming home, email, food, fridge, future, goal, goals, home, ideas, jet lag, laundry, mail, organize, organized, phone calls, punishment, return, self-improvement, stress, stressing, task, tips, unread email, vacation, work
Our Brazilian Adventure
Every year the BYU Founders Board gathers together from different parts of the country to meet in a location for a week-long adventure. Last year we went to the Dominican Republic. This year we went to Brazil to embark on a cruise that left from Sao Paulo, Brazil. For the last week my husband and […]
Tagged 7 wonders, 7 wonders of the world, accomplish, accomplishment, adventure, appreciate, appreciation, attitude, blessings, brazil, bucket list, BYU, BYU Founders Board, Christ, christ redeemer, courage, cruise, cruise ship, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, family, founders, friends, gift, goal, goal poster, God, gratitude, group, happiness, intestinal, love, norovirus, sea sick, seven wonder of the world, Sheffield, sick, success, throw up, time, time management, travel, traveling, trek, vacation, vacay
To have a friend, be a friend.
How does one go about being a good friend? We all have friends, and we all are a friend to someone else. But how often do we stop and take note of whether we ourselves are being a good friend to those we love? I would admit that I don’t do it often enough. And […]
Tagged anniversaries, appreciation, aware, beautiful, birthdays, build-up, card, compare, compete, compliment, example, focus, friend, friendship, good listener, happy, ideas, important events, life events, listen, love, note, notice, pay attention, pray, remember, reminders, self-improvement, serve, success, support, time, worry
The “I’ll be happy when” trap
I’ll be happy when ____ happens. I’ll be happy when I have ______. I’ll be happy when _____ loves me. I’ll be happy when I look like _____. The “I’ll be happy when” trap is one of the easiest to fall into. I know because I have fallen into myself far too many times. For […]
Tagged adversity, appreciate, appreciation, attitude, balance, be happy, blessings, choice, choices, decide, decision, don't wait, dress size, earth, excuse, external, fulfill, fulfilled, future, gift, goals, halfway mark, happiness, happy, i'll be happy when, If, internal, job, joseph b wirthlin, joy, life, love, now, old age, ridiculous, salary, self-confidence, stop, then, tomorrow, trap, waiting, weight loss, when
Things Work Out
Things Work Out -By Edgar A. Guest Because it rains when we wish it wouldn’t, Because men do what they often shouldn’t, Because crops fail, and plans go wrong Some of us grumble all day long. But somehow, in spite of the care and doubt, It seems at last that things work out. […]
Tagged adversity, all right, amazing, appreciation, attitude, better, blessings, care, courage, doubt, edgar a. guest, everything will be okay, fail, gain, God, gratitude, grumble, happiness, imagined, joy, long, lose, love, motivation, okay, outlook, pain, perspective, play, poem, positive, rain, self-improvement, smile, suffer, the end, things work out, trust, trust god, work, wrong
Be Yourself
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson We live in a world full of peer pressure to look like this or act like that. There is a constant bombardment of pressure to join the crowd or do what everyone […]
Tagged act, acting, anxiety, authentic, be yourself, Belief, circumsances, confidence, core, courage, crowd, everyone else, fail, fear, genuine, integrity, needs, peace, peer pressure, psychologists, ralph waldo emerson, self, self worth, self-confidence, self-determination, self-esteem, self-respect, strong, succeed, success, trait, true, true to yourself, value, values
My name is (fill in blank), and I am a workaholic
My name is Amy and without a doubt, I am a workaholic. There, I said it. I admit it fully. I have a problem and I am taking the first step toward recovery, which they say is to admit it. Step one down, only eleven more steps to go :)…. I finally discovered I had […]
Tagged 12 steps, admit it, anxiety, appreciate, appreciation, attitude, balance, beautiful, blessing, breathe, busy, children, delegate, difficulty, emotionally available, enjoy, entrepreneur, family, gift, happy, lists, love, peace, perfectionist, perspective, preoccupied, problem, Psychology Today, recovery, rejuvinate, relax, self-improvement, spouse, time off, to do, vacation, work, workaholic, working
Mirror, Mirror on the wall…You’re GORGEOUS!
On the wall of my friends office hung a princess mirror. It wasn’t just any princess mirror, it was a Disney princess mirror that talked to you when you looked into the mirror, stating things like “that color looks lovely on you” and “you are so pretty”. It had to be my FAVORITE mirror ever! […]
Tagged attitude, bad day, best, build-up, cheerleader, compliment, difference, encouragement, flattery, friendship, gift, gifts, God, good day, gorgeous, greatness, inspire, love, mirror, moral support, motivate, motivation, needed, ourselves, pretty, princess, talents, valentine, value, valued, wonderful, worthwhile
Creative Group Date Ideas
With Valentines Day almost upon us I decided to search for creative Group Date Ideas that would help spurn my creativity as I attempt to plan a fun Valentine weekend. I came across multiple websites such as www.niftydateideas.com and several others that had great date ideas. I pulled my favorites from several of the sites to share in today’s blog. Hopefully these will […]
Tagged appreciate, appreciation, attitude, beautiful, crative, date, dating, encourage, family, flowers, friends, friendship, future, gift, gratitude, group date, happiness, happy, holiday, imagine, joy, life, love, lovers, present, rainbow, rich, service, share, valentine, valentine's day
You can either regret or rejoice
Choices. We make them almost every second of every day. Some matter, some don’t. Some have lasting consequences, some have next to no impact on our life. The most important choices we make are the choices between right and wrong. I also think those are the easiest ones to make if you know your values. […]
Tagged anxiety, attitude, choice, choices, cons, consequences, control, decision, decisions, equal, gain, gained, guess, happiness, happy, impact, joy, lose, loss, lost, options, outlook, perspective, pick, pros, pursue, regret, rejoice, right, service, stress, success, two good things, value, values, wrong
Valentine Date Ideas To Help You Plan Ahead (hint hint)
Here are some fun date ideas to help you plan ahead for the holiday weekend of LOVE! And a yummy recipe for a super easy dessert you can make. Valentine’s Date Night Ideas The Cozy Concert: Check out local venues and find what up-and-coming concerts or bands are playing. Nothing sends love waves out like […]
Tagged aha, american heart association, angel food cake, appreciate, appreciation, beautiful, berry orange sauce, concert, cooking, date, date ideas, dessert, expression, friendship, fun, gift, heart, husband, love, married, prepare, recipe, romantic, single, single awareness day, spa, sugar, thoughtful, v-day, valentine, valentine's day, wife, women, yummy
An Ending and a New Beginning
For the last four years I have had the privilege of teaching an amazing group of young women every Sunday at church and then attending weekly fun activity nights with them on Wednesday evenings. Four years ago I was assigned to teach the 14 and 15 year old girls in a class and then after […]
Tagged begin, beginning, church, cried, dating, daughters, ending, endings, eternity, family, forever, friends, friendship, future, gospel, grow, happiness, happy, laughed, laurel, lds, lds church, lessons, let go, letting go, lifetime, love, marriage, mature, miamaid, modesty, past, reason, refined, sad, sadness, scriptures, season, spiritual, student, sunday school, teach, teacher, temporal, young women, young women's
