Tag Archives: confidence

When we don’t know what lies ahead

At different points in our lives, especially during times of trial, we might find ourselves feeling anxiety over the uncertainty of what lies in store for us in our future years. I have faced that myself at times, especially when one phase of life has come to an end and another one begins, such as […]

Laughter is always the very best medicine

Years ago when my daughter Ashley was in high school she tore her ACL playing basketball and had to have surgery. We rented a hospital bed for her recovery so she could be out in the family room where everyone hung out and watched TV together. One day my husband and I came in the […]

“All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.”

“All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.”-Edmund Burke I have been thinking about that quote a lot as of late. I think we sometimes let ourselves think that if we aren’t doing anything bad, that we are therefore, good enough. But in this world where so many […]

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 […]

Things happen around us, but it’s what happens within us that matters most

My daughter-in-law came across a story I hadn’t heard before. When I first saw the title of the story I almost didn’t read it because I couldn’t imagine how a story with that title would be interesting, but I am really glad I decided to keep reading because the message it conveys is just plain […]

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 […]

The Core of Intelligence

“The ability to speak does not make you intelligent.”- Master Qui-Gon Jin I remember growing up thinking that all adults were so intelligent. After all, they used really big words and they talked with such confidence on so many topics. But then I grew up and started figuring out that just because someone knew a […]

Integrity Isn’t Situational

I recently have been dealing with a situation where I became aware that someone has been doing things under false pretenses in an attempt to get personal gain. When I brought these activities to light to those in authority to rectify the situation the person in charge seemed resistant to confront it. He agreed that […]

The Parable of the Elephant Rope

As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at any time, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they […]

Let’s Start A Smile Epidemic

Have you smiled yet today?  We don’t have to have a perfect life to have a reason to smile. Smiling is just a way to show God that we appreciate all He has given us. And each of us reading this has at least one thing to be appreciative of because the very fact we […]

How To Get Your Swagger Back

Do you ever have days where you wake up feeling blah? Where every outfit looks terrible, and your hair just won’t go right, and you can’t find your keys, and you are late for work…we’ve all been through days like that. Sometimes we endure them and pray they will quickly be over. Other times we […]

The fruits of today are the seeds of yesterday

“The fruits of today are always the seeds of yesterday. Each day of your life you are sowing seeds that one-day you must harvest.” –U.S. Anderson The choices we are making today and the actions we are taking are all helping dictate what our lives will be in the future. My little brother wrote a […]

There Is Only Black and White, Not Any Shades Of Grey

When I was young I used to get frustrated that my Father always saw everything as black and white – there was never any grey as far as he was concerned. As a little kid I would always try to explain to him why the grey sometimes existed and without fail I would end up […]

You are the architect of your life

For years and years I worked on drawing a floor plan for my dream home and then a few years ago I was able to build that house and see those drawings become a reality.  It was really exciting to see something you had worked so hard on come to fruition. We are the architects […]

Some days you just need to go to the “Pooh Tent”

I’m sure everyone reading the title of today’s blog has to be wondering what the heck I could possibly mean when I say that some days you just need to go to the Pooh tent?  I’ll explain: Years ago I shared in a blog how when my children were young and they were acting badly […]

Our life tomorrow is the result of our attitudes and the choices we make today

Each day we go through life making choices. Sometimes they are carefully thought through choices and sometimes they are impulsive. Sometimes we make them based on what we want for the future and sometimes we make them based on what we want right now. And while we all get to make our own choices, we […]

Big Decisions and Avoiding the “What If” Bus

We are all familiar with the quote “Decisions determine destiny” and I genuinely believe that is the case. That is why it can be especially hard to make big decisions that come up in our lives. Anytime I have a big decision to make in life I think to myself “It would be so much […]

The Champion

The average runner runs until The breath in him is gone, But the champion has the iron will That makes him carry on. For rest the average runner begs When limp his muscles grow, But the champion runs on leaden legs. His courage makes him go. The average man’s complacent when He’s done his best […]

Focus on the unique contribution you can offer the world

“The only unique contribution you can offer the world is to be who you actually are and no one else.” – Ashly Lorenzana Every person is born with individual strengths and talents. Every person brings something unique into this world and each person is able to add something different to this world. And it is […]

If you want a thing bad enough

If you want a thing bad enough To go out and fight for it, Work day and night for it, Give up your time and your peace and your sleep for it; If only desire of it Makes your aim strong enough Never to tire of it, If life seems all empty and useless without […]

Be careful with your words

“Be careful with your words. Once they are said, they can only be forgiven, not forgotten.” Lashing out, saying things in anger, yelling, name calling, demeaning, putting someone down…all of these things create wounds that are far slower to heal than a physical wound and they leave emotional scars behind that never quite go away. […]

Avoid discouraged, depressed, and empty!

Motivation. We all need it. Not just once or twice, but every single day of our lives. If we don’t refuel our motivation tanks on a regular basis we will burn through them and find ourselves discouraged, depressed, and empty. It would be nice if we had a low fuel indicator light on our personal […]

It’s the first day of Spring AND it’s International Day of Happiness…coincidence…I think not!

I love that there is an international day dedicated to being happy! And the fact it falls on the first day of Spring is perfect because Springtime makes me happy! In honor of the holiday I felt it only appropriate to talk about being happy. Did you know that research has shown that happy people: […]

Don’t be so quick to forget

My daughter Ashley who is still out serving her mission shared a story from a talk she attended on her mission that has such a simple, yet powerful message, that I had to share it with all of you. She was attending a meeting where a leader was speaking and in the letter Ashley is […]

Changing From The Outside In. It works!

Today I was at the annual meeting for the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business Advisory Board I serve on. They invited renowned speaker, Jack Zenger to speak to us over dinner. Jack Zenger is the founder of Zenger Folkman, a professional services firm that provides leadership development programs and Jack is considered […]

There is no foot too small that it cannot leave an imprint in this world

Today I went down and spoke to the students at Utah Valley University. I really love speaking to the students at the colleges because as I stand on the stage and look out at their faces I can’t help but be humbled by the amazing things these young people are going to go on and […]

Olympic Gold Medalist Nikki Stone Interviews On Sticking Your Neck Out

This morning I was asked by Olympic Gold Medalist Nikki Stone to come and do a live interview with her for a segment on the TV Show “Good Things Utah” on ABC4Utah television. During this segment Nikki interviews successful business people who learned to “stuck their neck out”, a premise based on Nikki’s bestselling book “When Turtles Fly: […]

Motherhood Is Not A Liability To A Woman’s Ability In Business, So Don’t Act Apologetic As If It Is (Forbes Article)

When I started my first technology company in my early 20’s it never even crossed my mind that I was a bit of an anomaly being a female CEO in a male dominated tech industry. Frankly, the first time I really even became aware of how few women executives there were in the tech industry […]

Intuition, Instinct, an Inner Voice – Whatever you want to call it, it’s real!

Some people refer to it as following their intuition. Some refer to it as instinct or following their gut. Some refer to it as an inner voice or the Spirit. I don’t really care what someone calls it, all I know is that it’s real. As you know, Monday of this week was a holiday […]

Delicious Ambiguity

Certainty…it’s something we all long for because we want that feeling of security, but the fact is that none of us can ever really get it because life is, and always will be, full of uncertainty. That’s why the key to being at ease in life is to learn to embrace uncertainty. So how do […]