Recommended Reads
Monday, June 30, 2008, by Leigh Anne
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School has been officially out now for two weeks at our house. The first week was spent at Girls Camp so this week was our first “official” week of summer.
There is always an adjustment period. The girls think that since it is summer they can stay up as late as they want and then sleep in as late as they want….WRONG!
I am not a “sleeper inner” - never have been -at least I don’t remember being one as a teenager - was I mom?? Since I regularly get up at 6:00 a.m. my definition of sleeping in is 8:00 a.m. - my daughters’ ideas of sleeping in are a little different!
I have decided that sleeping until 9:00 a.m. should be adequate (especially if you go to bed before midnight!) but my girls have discovered a secret. I will let them stay in bed as long as they want if I find them in bed reading a book - yes, I am a sucker for a reader. I love finding my children curled up with a good book and I’ll let them get out of just about anything if they are reading!
So yes - this is where I found my girls this morning….
You see they have fallen in love with vampires - at least books about vampires. Tessa has already read the Twilight series and has finished the first two books in another vampire series (Marked 
and Betrayed 
and we are waiting for the third one to come into the library).
Cali was so busy with AP Literature this past year she didn’t have any time for recreational reading and she has just started the Twilight series.
Even I have succumbed to the “vampire trend” and have read the first two books of the Twilight 
series and need to finish the third one before the fourth comes out in August - and yes, I have pre-ordered my copy which can be picked up at the bookstore at 12:00 a.m. on August 2nd!
I love a good summer time read. I tend to read a little different genre of book in the summer, an “easier” read. We are headed to the beach this next week for our annual “Week at the Beach” so I have a pile of books to take along including my book club book for the month, Cranford 
by Elizabeth Gaskell. Also in my pile are Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer and her newest book, The Host: A Novel
I hope to finish Eat, Pray, Love which I started a few months ago and just haven’t seemed to get around to finishing as well as a couple of others! There is the one other book - a special book I take to the beach with me every year to re-read. I’ll share that one with you next week.
Do you have any favorite summer reads? What’s on your list to read this summer? Please share by leaving a comment below (remember to click through to the blog to leave your comment if you are reading this through an email update or rss reader)
One of my summer goals is to read a book a week - I better get busy!
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Categories: Inspire, Recommended Reads
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Monday, June 16, 2008, by Leigh Anne
How many times does it take to get your attention?
I have decided to takes three times to get mine.
I have had several experiences the last couple of months that, finally, after hearing or seeing something the third time I figured someone was trying to send me a message and I should do something about it. So I’m a little slow sometimes….
Trying to get Leigh Anne’s Attention #1: Several months ago someone recommended the book The Last Lecture
by Randy Pausch to me. Being the book addict that I am I went right out and bought it - and didn’t read it.
Trying to get Leigh Anne’s Attention #2: A couple of weeks ago in church someone quoted Randy Pausch in their talk -”Oh, yeah I bought that book, I should read it”
Trying to get Leigh Anne’s Attention #3: I record Oprah everyday and manage to watch about one episode a week. The one I watched last week was an episode that was a repeat from last year. Guess who was the guest? Yes, Randy Pausch. “I guess I should read that book”
Well, I read the book “The Last Lecture”(I added it to my Recent Reads list on the right side of the blog.) The book is based upon a lecture that professor Randy Pausch gave at Carnegie Mellon University last year. Professors are invited to give a lecture as if it was their “Last Lecture”. In Randy’s case it literally was. Randy is dying from pancreatic cancer and has only been given a few months to live.
The book is the lecture he gave at Carnegie Mellon as well as some of the “life lessons” that Randy has learned in his short 47 years. The title of his lecture was “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” The inside cover of the book reads “the lecture he gave wasn’t about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment.”
It is a motivating and inspiring book with short little chapters that make it an easy and quick read but leave you with lots to think about!
The lecture that Randy gave was not for attention, for glory, for the people that attended - he did it for his young children, so they will know the man their father was, the father they would most likely not remember if it was not for “The Last Lecture” What a gift he has not only given us but that he has left for his children.
You can listen to and watch the lecture by clicking here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
It lasts about an hour and 20 minutes and is worth the time.
I think my favorite part of the book was the second half where Randy shares some of his “life lessons learned.”
Some of my favorites were:
Don’t complain, Just work harder- “Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won’t make us happier”
Will someone please share this one with my fourteen year old!!
Watch what they do, not what they say - this life lesson is meant as future dating advice to his 18 month old daughter but I got on the phone and called my son Logan to share it with him. I think it is good advice for boys too!
All you have to do is ask - I have found this life lesson to be so true. So many times I have had people ask me ‘How did you do that or how did you get that?’ The answer is usually “I asked!” As Randy says, “Ask those questions. Just ask them. More often than you’d suspect, the answer you’ll get is, ‘Sure.’
Be the first penguin -this life lesson comes from the idea that when penguins are about to jump into water that might contain predators, somebody has got to be the first penguin in. “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.”
After reading Randy’s life lessons I decided that I needed to start a list of my own life lessons - Leigh Anne’s Life Lessons Learned. I hope it’s a long time before I have to give my “Last Lecture” but I’ve got the list started!
So here are three of Leigh Anne’s Life Lessons Learned!
1. Life is not fair. Thanks to sweet Mr. Winston, my high school chemistry teacher, for teaching me this one.
2. Everything is a choice. We might not always be able to choose what happens to us but we can choose how we react to it.
3. Kill them with Kindness. The advice I give to my children anytime they are struggling to get along with someone (usually one of their siblings!)
So do you have a list of Life Lessons Learned?
I’d love it if you’d share one or two in the comment box below. Remember if you are reading this through an email update or an rss reader you will have to click through to the actual blog to leave your comment. Thanks - I look forward to hearing from you.
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Categories: Inspire, Recommended Reads
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Thursday, May 1, 2008, by Leigh Anne
“The things that make you feel, think and laugh”
As a child I loved books and I loved to read. Thanks to a mother who loved to read I have been a life long reader. One of my favorite childhood memories was our weekly trip to the library in my hometown of Kenosha, Wisconsin. In fact, Kenosha had a seperate children’s library, an old church that was turned into a library just for children.
As a child I loved all the usual - Nancy Drew, Little House on the Prairie, Pippi Longstocking etc. I also loved biographies I remember some of my favorite were Helen Keller, Jane Addams and Florence Nightengale.
I still love to read - my favorite genres now are memoirs, historical fiction and anything by Jane Austen or other authors of that era!
My declutter project this past week has been to clean out and organize all the books that have accumulated around and under my bed. I try to keep our master bedroom clutter free but my side of the bed just seems to be a magnet for books. In fact when I gathered up all the books this is what I found…..
There were 36 books by my bed. - o.k. -so they weren’t exactly this neat and tidy!
I guess I am a bit optimistic about how much reading I can actually get done each night before I fall asleep.
That pile includes my current “read” which is Eat, Pray, Love and the book I need to read for book club that is in a couple of weeks Three Cups of Tea. There are business books, church books, current best sellers and two little known novels by Louisa May Alcott Inheritance and A Long Fatal Love Chase along with the third book in the Vampire series by Stephenie Meyer, Eclipse, that I need to get read before the fourth one comes out in August!
So many books, so little time…..
You may have noticed a new little feature I added to my blog -a listing of my most “Recent Reads.” (Scroll down on the right hand side) I hope you’ll enjoy this new little feature and if you’re looking for a good book - check out my list.
One of my favorite questions to ask people and one I’ve been known to ask everyone, even complete strangers, is “What’s the best book you’ve read recently?” I keep a running list of their answers in my little notepad so I am never wanting for a good book to read!
I’d love for you to share with me “What’s the best book you’ve read recently?!” Just leave a comment below and let me know. Remember, if you are reading this in a rss reader or through an email update you will need to click through to the actual blog to leave your comment.
I look forward to hearing from you and adding your favorite book to my “To Read” list! Happy Reading!
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Categories: Inspire, Recommended Reads
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Friday, October 5, 2007, by Leigh Anne
Each Friday, I would like to share with you one of my “Recommended Reads” - something I have been reading recently that I think is worth sharing. I am a pretty avid reader - about a book a week. I try to keep a balance to my reading mixing self-improvement, fiction and non-fiction. I love reading for pleasure (my latest pleasure reads have been the fun Young Adult series - Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse) but I know the importance of reading in my chosen field (homebased business, sales, recruiting, leadership, time management etc.). You may have read the studies that show that reading 1 hour a day in your chosen field (which is about a book a week - except for us speed readers) will make you an expert in your field in 3 years, a national authority in 5 years and an international authority in 7 years. Truly all leaders are readers!
Several weeks ago I received a phone call from the mother of one of my daughter Tessa’s friends. She was calling to thank me for something Tessa had done. It was the first week of school and her daughter, along with my daughter Tessa, were just starting high school - freshman, in a very large high school - 2,600 students. Her daughter had had a rough couple of “first days” of school, feeling overwhelmed, lost and coming home in tears. Tessa knew that Katie was having a hard time so she decided to leave Katie a surprise in her locker. She put a plate of cookies together (I had just made some homemade cookies) and wrote her a note - letting her know she was thinking of her and hoped that she was having a better day. Tessa had the combination to Katie’s locker so left it inside her locker. Well, Tessa’s act of service made the difference in Katie’s day and Katie’s mother’s day! Tessa was a Fred! So what is a Fred?
A book I recently read and recommend is ”The Fred Factor” by Mark Sanborn. To quote the inside cover of the book, “In his powerful new book, The Fred Factor, motivational speaker Mark Sanborn recounts the true story of Fred, the mail carrier who passionately loves his job and genuinely cares about the the people he serves…Where others might see delivering mail as monotonous drudgery, Fred sees an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of those he serves.”
We have all experienced great customer service and terrible customer service -Fred is a true example of what great customer service is. But the book didn’t just get me thinking about times when I had experienced great customer service but made me stop and think - what kind of customer service do I give?- to my customers, my downline team members, my family and my friends? Like Tessa and Fred, do I make a difference in the lives of those I come in contact with daily?
Each of us has the opportunity every day to make a difference, in fact we all make a difference - the question is “What kind of difference is each of us making?” Mark Sanborn outlines 3 difference-making strategies.
1. Identify when you’ll make a difference- we have dozens of opportunities each day to make a difference in the lives of those around us. Be conscious of wanting to make a difference and look for opportunities to make a difference. Sometimes it may be a planned “difference” or it may be a spontaneous “difference” - either way we are making a difference.
2. Target the people to whom you’ll make a difference - Fred the mailman chose to make a difference to the people he delivered mail to each day. Tessa chose her friend Katie. The most important people in our lives deserve our best attention and service - our customers, our team members, our family, our friends. I know when I am rushed, stressed and under pressure it is usually those closest to me that get my worst “customer service”.
3. Be the Difference- it’s the little things that really matter. So often we are so busy and stressed that we don’t take the time or make the effort to make a difference in someones life. Adding a little goodie into a customer’s order, putting a note in a child’s lunch, leaving a “I’m thankful for you because” voice mail for a friend, or cookies and a note in their locker can really “Be the difference” in someones day.
One of the most important things we have as homebased business women, the thing that really sets us apart from our “retail competition”, is the difference we can make in our customers lives. Whether it is leaving an extra little something with their product order, sending a note to remember a birthday or other special event in their life, or remembering some seemingly unimportant little details we have the ability to make a difference - we are the difference. As mothers we are also the difference - in the lives of our children, our husbands and our family members.
So pick up a copy of “The Fred Factor” or go online and request it from your local library. It is quick read at 112 pages. Let me know what you think and if you’d like to share a way someone made a difference in your day or how you were able to “Be the Difference” I’d love to hear - just click on comments below.
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Categories: Customer Service, Home Based Business, Recommended Reads
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