We can become good at things or knowledgeable about topics, if we put the time into learning them. I remember Hyrum Smith, inventor of Franklin daytimers saying…if you want to be successful, do what successful people do. It is that simple. The people that are experts on a topic have spent years learning that topic. I am convinced that you can learn and become quite good at things, if you study and practice them for 3 months straight.
I had never been on a blog until Feb. 2008. 3 months later I had 2 years worth of entries and taught a class on it. We don’t know what we are capable of doing until we try.
What if I chose gardening. What if I visited nursuries, checked out library books on gardening, started working my soil and visited expert gardeners. How good do you think I could become if I did this 3 hours each day for 3 months? I would practically be an expert.

The 3 months are going to pass by anyway.
What is something that interests you, that you could start learning about?

Carla

This is a newletter I received from Connie Sokol, a successful life coach that lives in Utah. I believe what she says.

Hi Ladies,

I happened to catch Malcom Gladwell, columnist for The New Yorker, on a KUED interview as he shared the concept of “deliberate practice”. In his research of successful people, he discovered that most of them–no matter their profession, hobby, or pursuit–had in common one main thing. They had each “practiced” about 10,000 hours, which equals to about 10 years.

In relation to society “greats” such as Michael Jordan or the Beatles, what made them successful is that they got an early start. But early or late, if you put in your 10,000 hours of deliberate practice, meaning focused efforts and fine-tuning weaknesses, you will be a success in what you choose. Does this mean after almost 16 years of mothering I should be a stellar mother?!

Consider what you love to do currently and WOULD love to do in the future. Start now, a bit here, a bit there, gathering your 10,000 hours of deliberate focus. And who knows what you can do to change the world!
All my best,
Connie

Jodi made this really cute sign. When the women got off the elevator this is the first thing they saw.

Then Jodi had little signs on the doors of the main rooms so it was easier to know where to go. One room was called the fun room. It was for line dancing, picnic, future self exercise and our dancing queen training. There was also the girl talk room. That was for our workshops and cooking class. And our fabulous yum yum room where we had wonderful meals, candlelight dinner, crafts and a little dancing on the table. It was all so fun! We’re already trying to figure out how soon our next one is going to be. I really appreciated my willing team. I asked a lot of them right before Christmas and they all really stepped it up. I enjoyed listening and participating in every class taught. Dodie (the life coach) and Shari (the wellness coach) enjoying one of the activities. This was the Top Card activity that Dodie facilitated. This was some of the women’s favorite activity. Here are women working on their dream boards. I got reports from the ladies that they have hung up their strengths craft and dream boards in their closets and bathrooms so they can see them everyday. This is the strength craft. They turned out beautiful!

I taught classes on daring to be yourself, goal setting, exercise and thoughts create how we feel.

I didn’t get a picture of Allison teaching her fashion class but she was fabulous! She gave us all some great information and motivation. I have heard reports of people buying shoes, altering clothes and buying new foundation garments. Whoo hoo!

Jodie teaching us line dancing. Yes, we eventually got dancing pretty well. We had to watch her for awhile first.

Shari teaching her wellness class.

Our candlelight dinner eating Shari’s gourmet healthy food.

The food was awesome. Here is the panini bar with had the last night. We also served roasted red pepper soup, tortilla soup and a yummy salad. I will put some of the recipes on the blog in the future.

Two of the teachers, Dodie and Michele, looking gorgeous! That night Michele gave us an inspirational talk of word and song. She writes music of hope for women. I love to hear her tell how and why she wrote the songs. Then of course the best part is hearing her sing them.
We were lucky enough to hear 4 of the songs that are going on her new album that will be out in a few months. I love these songs so much, I will let everyone know when they are finally available.

Fun girls

Mindi and her mom Ada

wonderful women who came to my first retreat and helped make my dreams come true. I have had this idea for a long time and with their support I was able to take the leap and try something that up until now was only a dream in my mind.

I was surprised how happy I was with the outcome. I thought it was a “10″ both days! I had been worried that my perfectionism would creep in and I would have regrets about doing this or that better, but I thought it was perfect. I have lots of ideas for more in the future. Let me know if you are interested I already have a waiting list. Yay!

Dodie (the life coach) and Shari (the wellness coach) enjoying one of the activities.

Colette being coached.

I taught classes on daring to be yourself, goal setting, exercise and thoughts create how we feel.

This was the Top Card activity that Dodie facilitated. This was some of the women’s favorite activity.

Here are women working on their dream boards. I got reports from the ladies that they have hung up their strengths craft and dream boards in their closets and bathrooms so they can see them everyday.

This is the strengths craft. They turned out beautiful!

I didn’t get a picture of Allison teaching her fashion class but she was fabulous! She gave us all some great information and motivation. I have heard reports of people buying shoes, altering clothes and buying new foundation garments. Whoo hoo!

Jodie teaching us line dancing. Yes, we eventually got dancing pretty well. We had to watch her for awhile first.

Shari teaching her wellness class.

Our candlelight dinner eating Shari’s gourmet healthy food.

The food was awesome. Here is the panini bar with had the last night. We also served roasted red pepper soup, tortilla soup and a yummy salad. I will put some of the recipes on the blog in the future.

Two of the teachers, Dodie and Michele, looking gorgeous! That night Michele gave us an inspirational talk of word and song. She writes music of hope for women. I love to hear her tell how and why she wrote the songs. Then of course the best part is hearing her sing them.
We were lucky enough to hear 4 of the songs that are going on her new album that will be out in a few months. I love these songs so much, I will let everyone know when they are finally available.

Fun girls

Mindi and her mom Ada

wonderful women who came to my first retreat and helped make my dreams come true. I have had this idea for a long time and with their support I was able to take the leap and try something that up until now was only a dream in my mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7Bd3y_Ip4Q
You tube won’t let me embed this link. Copy and paste into the address bar.

This video is from 1991. If you can get past the hairstyles and clothes this video is pretty inspiring.

My favorite part of the song is about trying something foolish, doing something crazy, getting away and doing something for herself. She loves her family and doesn’t want to leave them but she wants more.

She’s always lived for tomorrow
She’s never learned how
To live for today
She’s dyin’ to try something foolish
Do something crazy
Or just get away
Something for herself for a change

Is there life out there
So much she hasn’t done
Is there life beyond
Her family and her home
She’s done what she should
Should she do what she dares
She doesn’t want to leave
She’s just wonderin
Is there life out there

It is smart to do some of your dreams while still raising your children, like going to school and getting a degree. When you take care of you, you’re happier and better able to take care of others.

Last Oct. a cousin came to stay with one of my kid’s friends. This girl hadn’t eaten candy for 10 months. She made a deal with her dad to not eat candy for a year for a cash reward. My girls were really impressed with this idea. On Jan. 1st my girls came to me and asked if I would do a similar deal. My son hadn’t drank any pop for 3 years since his track coach told him how bad it was for runners. So all 3 decided to do the deal. No pop and no candy for 1 year for a cash reward from mom. I knew I couldn’t do it, so I figured I wouldn’t go broke doing the deal. I thought the kids might learn some valuable lessons, even if they could only do it for a month or two. They would learn that it was ok to try something different, to not do things when everyone else was doing it, how to conquer peer pressure when their friends were trying to get them to eat candy, how to put off immediate gratification (pleasure of candy), how to have a very long term goal. It seemed like a great idea to support. 2 of my kids are still in the contest. Whenever they go to a birthday party, school or church activity they give all their candy to me. I am shocked at how much candy is given out to kids!

Zig Ziglar is my favorite motivation speaker. He wrote a great book called See You at the Top when he was an unknown. He put the principles of his book to work and became an international success. He has written many books since and has spoken all over the world. My very favorite is his book A View from the Top. The first book was about how he was going to make it big. Years later in A View from the Top, he lets you know how he got there.
He is an expert on goal setting and achievement. He has a free download on the computer of a step by step goal setting process.
http://www.ziglar.com/downloads/pplanner_3-6.pdf

Author of the best-selling Harry Potter book series, delivers her Commencement Address, “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination,” at the Harvard Alumni Association June 5, 2008.

I found her sincere, humble and funny. I enjoyed listening to the path she followed. She continued to follow her passion no matter what. It was her failure that gave her courage. She said “I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realized, and I was still alive…”

http://harvardmagazine.com/go/jkrowling.html
The video is 24 minutes. The words are below.

I haven’t put very much about my kids on the blog but I feel like I wouldn’t be a good mother if I didn’t acknowledge my son and his big year. He is such an example and teaches me how to be a better person. I really look up to him. He aims his goals high and achieves them one by one. What a blessing it is to be able to associate with a person like him.
Here he is with a friend at high school graduation. He had a 4.1 GPA. It was cold, rained on us the whole time and was held outside. (NOT fun!)
This was after getting his Eagle Scout Award. If you aren’t familiar with scouting it takes years and years of work and service to get this award. I was amazed at what it takes to get this award. Here he is standing next to my mother after graduating seminary. This is 4 years of religious study. He also just got his Duty to God award.
Jacob ran track and cross country. This was as hard on me as it was for him. I could hardly handle watching him in such pain. We live in Arizona and it wasn’t unusual for them to be running in 110 degree weather. Ouch!He finally quit playing in his band. Besides him blowing the roof off of our house, I enjoyed hearing the boys writing, singing, laughing and performing their songs.
I can go on and on but I won’t. I can’t take any credit for his accomplishments because he just came this way.
Your nickname “Jakey my Joy” is so fitting, because you were truly a joy to raise. I’m going to miss you when you go off to ASU. I LOVE YOU SOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!

A Life Map, Dream board or Vision board helps you discover what you want for yourself and your life.

“Our soul speaks to us in images. Our heads speak to us in thoughts… It’s hard to ignore when it’s staring you right in the face. It’s as if you’re literally creating your life as a work of art.”
— Lifestyle Makeover expert Cheryl Richardson

Making a Vision board is like setting goals with pictures. It is very powerful.
First tear out images, words or phrases in magazines. Make sure that they speak to you and evoke feelings.
Second arrange these on a poster board until it feels right.
Then if there is something missing, words or pictures find them on the internet and print them off.
Finally paste the images down.

You can take a picture of your board and carry it with you or put it on your computer as a screen saver. The more you look at it the faster your goals will be attained. It’s magic!

Ask yourself who do I need to become in order to fulfill the intentions on my Life Map?
If you need some inspiration go to http://www.visionboardsite.com

I have been talking about taking dancing lessons for years. I kept thinking my husband and I could do them together. Well, it was never one of his goals. He doesn’t like to dance. I thought I can either mope around because no one will take lessons with me or I can do it by myself. So last week I took action. I was frankly sick of talking and thinking about it. I drove myself down to Fred Astaire dance Studio and signed up for 5 classes. I went 2 times last week and it was really fun. I danced about 40 min. each time. It was physically and mentally stimulating. I came home and danced with my 11 and 12 year old girls. We had a ball. I am going to keep taking lessons. When I get better I hope I can teach my husband and girls.
This wasn’t a huge goal. It was just one of those things I thought would be fun to try. Is there anything you have been talking about doing? Are you waiting on others to do it? Do it on your own. Your enthusiasm might be contagious.

Here is my uncle and I dancing at my aunt’s 50th wedding anniversary. See the lessons have already paid off!

Mission Statements evolve over time. What is nice about writing one is putting it up on your bathroom mirror and reading it each day. When you say these positive things and know where you are going, your day starts out better with clearer direction.

My Mission Statement
I savor each moment of my life as a positive, grateful, happy, wife, mother, homemaker and successful business woman and coach who delegates, serves and helps others rise to greatness.
I am a strong, spiritual, healthy, organized and an energetic whole person who is self disciplined, a goal getter, who has deep, meaningful and fun relationships with family, friends and colleagues.