Tag Archives: courage

“Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the Ark, professionals built the Titanic”

“Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the Ark, professionals built the Titanic”  I love that quote! It totally reminds me that we should never sell ourselves short in life. We should never assume we are not capable of achieving GREATNESS because WE ARE! Every one of us is capable of achieving […]

“Great things are done when men and mountains meet.”

I love that quote by William Blake, although I change it to read “where women and mountains meet” for the version on my wall :).  Today I want to talk about overcoming obstacles, mostly to help remind me of how I need to always take on the obstacles in my own life. One of the […]

Where There’s A Will There’s A Way

It is 1:33am and we just finished unboxing for the night.  I went to get out my laptop to write my blog and realized that I didn’t have the power cord. We tore through boxes looking for it but finally had to give up.  I panicked because I have not missed even one single day of […]

“A place for everything and everything in its place” -Ben Franklin

Today’s advice:  Organize your life BEFORE you move!  Oh my goodness how I wish I would have done just that!  I wish I would have had the time to organize my life before I had to move into a new home.  I have lived in my current home for around 15 years and it is […]

“If you knew how much work went into it, you wouldn`t call it genius.”

I love that quote by Michelangelo! It is so true that the great work of this world is not done by geniuses, but by ordinary men and women that are simply hard working and dedicated and who strive to achieve extraordinary things. We are in the final week of completing the construction of our new […]

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.”

Single parents carry an incredible burden. Only those who have been a single parent can truly understand just how heavy that burden is. For a period of ten years I was a single mother myself, trying to raise my two children who were around 2 and 5 years old when I got divorced. When I […]

“The greatest concern in the minds of men will always be what could have been”

Stepping out of your comfort zone can be scary.  Feeling overwhelmed and overloaded isn’t fun.  Trying and failing is a huge bummer.  But worse than all of these is having to live the rest of your life with the woulda-coulda-shoulda regrets that come from never finding out what could have been. Put yourself out there. […]

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 […]

“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 […]

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 […]

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.   […]

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 […]

Private Violence

“Every day in the US, at least four women are murdered by abusive (and often, ex) partners. Over 75% of the homicides occur when the woman attempts to leave or has left her abuser.” Today I attended the showing of the documentary Private Violence at Sundance Film Festival.  The documentary follows the story of Deanna […]

If You Could Do Anything…

If you could do anything you wanted with your life, what would you do?  Have you ever asked yourself that question?  Just for a minute take away all restrictions or limitations that typically exist and the barriers that scare you or deter you.  Take away all worries of being able to fulfill your financial obligations […]

The Best is About To Be!

2014 has just begun and as I look ahead those words by Robert Browning of “The Best is Yet to Be” are ringing loudly.  I am thoroughly convinced that 2014 is going to be the most Epic year EVER!  For all of us! We have each just opened a new book full of blank pages […]

Endings and Beginnings, Happy and Sad, But Never Alone

I hate that we sometimes feel alone in this life – the fact is that we are never alone – there are always others out there going through the same thing that we are, it’s just that we need more of us who are willing to be honest about it so we give permission to […]

Build Your Sky Castle! – Now is the perfect time

When my children were young I would lay down with them on our trampoline outside in our backyard and we would look at the sky together and play a game we called “Sky Castles”. In our game we would take turns building our pretend sky castles by saying what we saw happening in our life […]

True Christmas Joy

Only 10 days til Christmas!  I can’t even believe it!  How did that happen so quickly??!  Good heavens I am not even kind of ready yet!  Thank heavens for Amazon Prime two day shipping is all I can say! Maybe I am the only one that feels this way, but picking out Christmas presents is […]

“Doubt Kills Dreams More Than Failure Ever Will”

Today I was humbled and honored to receive the UVEF Entrepreneur of the Year Award.  At the awards lunch they asked me to share a few words about the things that I would like to pass on to other Entrepreneurs from the lessons I have learned from my own journey.  I struggled deciding what lessons […]

More Inspiring Stories from the TED Women Conference

Today was another great day in San Francisco at the TED Women’s Conference.  Here are a few inspirational stories to share from today: Diana Nyad:  In 2013, at the age of 64and as her fifth attempt to do so, Diana swam all the way from Cuba to Florida.  A total distance of 110 miles in […]

Some Days I Forget

So much to do, and not nearly enough hours in the day to do it. I get so frustrated when I work my guts out all day only to come to the end of the day feeling like I have barely scratched the surface of what I needed to get done.  When that happens day […]

The Key to a Good Marriage is Finding Someone With a Good Heart

Relationships are a tricky thing.  Men and women are so drastically different in so many ways that it is a serious miracle that we actually end up together in many ways.  We communicate differently, we show love differently, we have different expectations, we have different emotional responses…we are just plain different. And is if our […]

The Ones Who Do

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.   The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo.   You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. […]

Before You Do

“Before you act, listen. Before you react, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you criticize, wait. Before you pray, forgive. Before you quit, try.”                                       -Ernest Hemingway I love the message of that quote.  It’s such a […]

Embrace Uncertainty

Security is something we all long for.  Security in our job.  Security in our financial state.  Security in our relationships.  We look for security in certainty – in knowing what to expect each day, in knowing what our tomorrow will look like, in knowing what future we are securing for ourselves. But if you really […]

Pride vs Gratitude

“Pride is to relationships as cyanide is to health.”  I came across an amazing article today about pride and there was a section that was so powerful I had to share it. “A pride contest has no winner because nobody likes the winner. Humans don’t respond well to being put down, and pride gives others that […]

Anyway

Anyway People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered; Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and […]

Thank you, thank you, thank you

Today I spoke to a large group of students at BYU.  I love speaking to the students.  They have so much energy and enthusiasm and joy for the future.  They are so young and full of promise for their life ahead. In preparing to speak to them I really tried to consider the messages I […]

Face Your Fear; the Result Might Be Amazing (Forbes Article)

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but the mastery of it.” -Victor Hugo Do you remember back to when you were a kid? When you blew out the birthday candles to make a wish with the belief that it would actually come true? Or when you pinned a towel to your shoulders and played […]

“Don’t Let Behavior of Others Destroy Your Inner Peace” – Dalai Lama

It is a fact of life that we cannot control what other people do.  We can’t make someone else act with integrity, or make someone else do the right thing, and we can’t make someone else be a good person.  All we can really control in life is ourselves. When someone else does something bad […]