I’m a type A person, so relaxing can be difficult for me because I like to plan out my relaxation time.

I’m a pretty optimistic person. Every day I wake up and think to myself, “another great day in paradise, let’s do this!”

Part 2: First off, I don’t remember EVERYTHING. Sometimes I forget, not intentionally….but I do.

First off, I don’t remember EVERYTHING. Sometimes I forget, not intentionally….but I do.

You get one body for your entire life. That’s it. I find too often that people do not understand this fact of life until it’s too late.

After my daughter, Avery was born I decided to start leading a healthier lifestyle because I wanted to be around for my children until I was 150 years old. I figured I better start eating healthier and exercising if I wanted that goal to happen.

I bet you’ve experienced one of those days when everything seems to go wrong? Perhaps your kids are running late, you forgot to make lunches, you snap at your spouse, you’re stressed out about work, and then you have calls or meetings you have to deal with. You may not even be sure why everything is going wrong, but it is.

I know what you’re probably thinking…one of your places to stay laser focused is fun? Seriously?

Yes it is.

Why? Because there is not a shred of evidence that life has to be serious.

I’m an entrepreneur, keynote speaker, trainer, and best selling author and I get asked all of the time…how do you get it all done. It’s really simple. I keep the main thing the main thing which I learned from my mentor John Maxwell. :) *Above is a picture of us in Paraguay.

For example I pick 1 big project I’m working on and I make sure it shows up in my schedule every work day. I just choose one thing. Seriously. I know it almost seems too easy. It is.

It's the first month of the New Year. How are your goals going around your finances?

I grew up with little if any advice on how to manage my money, but I knew I wanted to learn more about finances so I asked my grandfather to teach me. My grandfather taught me in high school his financial principles.

It’s January. If you’re like me, you’ve already slipped off the rails a bit with your 2019 goals. Over the next few weeks I'll be sharing how I stay laser focused in 5 different areas of my life: Health, Finances, Family, Field/Career, and Fun

I recently asked a question to John Maxwell about momentum. Sometimes in our careers we start to gain momentum, which is great especially when you're starting a business or starting something new. Momentum is AWESOME.It's important and it's critical to our success. We start to have people actually contacting us and asking us to do things; so we say 'YES'. And we keep saying  YES, YES, YES. And eventually we start to say YES to things that don't really make any sense. Until we get to a point that all of those YES's are actually causing us to go backwards. 

How can I improve my thinking ?

For the longest time I lived in a lack mindset. I never thought there was enough of anything. I wasn’t enough. There were never enough resources, money, time, or energy for anything. I spent most of my time feeling guilty Then I learned about the abundance mindset. Stephen Covey explained these concepts in 

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. He wrote,

One of my favorite books related to growth is John Maxwell's, "The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth." It share the 15 laws that will help you grow yourself. The really impactful thing about growing ourselves is that it impacts everyone around us. Many of us try to grow others first, without thinking about our own growth. But that is exactly opposite of what we need to do. We need to grow ourselves first. We need to focus on filling ourselves up with whatever we need to be the best version of ourselves. If we aren't growing, our team will notice. Our clients will notice. Our family will notice. Take time today to think about your growth plan. 

Last September on a warm day in Paraguay I walked around the campus of National University with my new friend Gabi. Gabi showed me their typical classrooms, library, and beautiful campus. Students were doing their homework outside, while cats wandered around. They even had pet alligators on campus!

Have you heard of the 'Hot Air Balloon Effect?' I bet you haven't because I just came up with it. HA! :)

I live in a beautiful community in central Wisconsin. We have lakes, rivers, rolling hills, farmland, and a mountain. It's a magical place, but there is one other thing that makes it even more magical...Hot Air Balloons!

"You can’t afford to quit on your dreams.” -Terry Bradshaw
A few weeks ago I had the privilege of learning from Terry Bradshaw at a conference in California. He's a football champion and I was excited to hear his message, so I could share it with all of you. :)

I can't tell you how many times in my life that I've said these two magical words to myself. I remember when I started my first business and I was unsure of what to do. I would say, "Allison, just start." Then as I gained momentum and I wanted to grow more I would say, "Just start...again."

Leadership Lessons from Paris, France

About one month ago I did something CRAZY! My husband and I decided to travel to Paris, France. We were a bit nervous, but mostly excited because we love adventures and visiting new cities. The first day we arrived we jumped off the plane and it was tomorrow already. We had a choice. Stay awake and tour around Paris for the day or go to sleep. Of course we decided to stay awake. Each day we visited amazing historical monuments and walked the streets of Paris. It was so fun and I learned so much about leadership.

What does Collaboration vs. Competition mean to you?

I had my friend Natalie ask me to cover this topic...She’s currently a college student in education and is experiencing other students feel like they need to compete against each other starting because they think they'll be competing in the workforce.