by Alison Moore Smith | Feb 28, 2013 | 100 Day Challenge, Lifestyle Design
Nobody's perfect. We've all heard it; we've all said it. While it's absolutely true, it's generally used as an excuse, as a negative term to explain failure. Let's turn that notion on it's head. The absence of perfection leaves the door wide open for ongoing...
by Alison Moore Smith | Feb 27, 2013 | 100 Day Challenge, Lifestyle Design
When this lesson began, I was sure I wouldn't like it. You see, I have an entirely different view on self-esteem than just about every person I know. The common pop-psych approach to raising self-esteem has always seemed nonsensical to me. Sure, being positive with...
by Alison Moore Smith | Feb 26, 2013 | 100 Day Challenge, Lifestyle Design
In 2004, to “celebrate”—using the term loosely—my 40th birthday, I trained to run the Top of Utah Marathon. One of my good high school friends, Jill Evans and I planned the event. Sam and my sister, Nora, joined us. A few days before the event, we...
by Alison Moore Smith | Feb 25, 2013 | 100 Day Challenge, Lifestyle Design
As I write this, Alana is in the last week of rehearsals for the college premier of Phantom of the Opera at BYU. As with any major-scale production, it's an exciting, challenging, and frustrating process. One night last week, the seven hour rehearsal included two...
by Alison Moore Smith | Feb 24, 2013 | for Fun, Yea Big
[Breakfast conversation overheard between father and daughter.] Dad: Just think how long it took to get her hair that straight. Alana (19): It's a wig. Samuel: What? Alana: Wig. Samuel: What? Alana: Wig. Samuel: Wig? Alana: Wig. Samuel:...
by Alison Moore Smith | Feb 24, 2013 | 100 Day Challenge, Lifestyle Design
While there are born optimists and born pessimists (if you've had a handful of kids, this truth is obvious), we have the power to chose and change. In my case, I was born generally optimistic, but some very pointed experiences—both as a child and as an adult—have led...
by Alison Moore Smith | Feb 23, 2013 | 100 Day Challenge, Lifestyle Design
Network marketing (the new name for “multi-level marketing”) has a bad reputation. But the truth is, at the core, it's not markedly different from other kinds of sales and distribution systems. The problems arise because most network marketing company...
by Alison Moore Smith | Feb 22, 2013 | 100 Day Challenge, Lifestyle Design
“Indomitable” means impossible to subdue or defeat. What positive life changes would you experience in a world where you were unconquerable? Automobile magnate Henry Ford said: For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the...
by Alison Moore Smith | Feb 21, 2013 | 100 Day Challenge, Lifestyle Design
This lesson can be summed up in one easy sentence: You become what you think about. Hollywood swirls in intellectual dishonesty. On the one hand, they court advertisers to pay millions of dollars to convince people to change their behavior and buying habits, while at...
by Alison Moore Smith | Feb 20, 2013 | 100 Day Challenge, Lifestyle Design
When I was in high school I began dating a guy I stayed with for a number of years. While we were never completely exclusive, we were definitely an item. And we were sure one day we would get married. In spite of those claims, the guy was always making out with...
