Expecting the Unexpected Weddings. Graduations. Birthdays. Holidays. An endless list of important occasions. We all have major events in our lives and others’ lives in which we participate. We and people close to us have sometimes exerted tremendous effort organizing celebrations with the intention

Back to school! Turns out the children are listening, too.The question is, what are they learning and what are we teaching? No matter whom we interact with, we should all take some time to reflect upon how our practices are matching up to our ethics and beliefs. We all have the potential to produce

Focus on the Negative From Wellsprings of Wisdom: Fascinating Stories and Parables that Guide and Inspire by Ralph Louis Woods comes this thought-provoking story: “A successful businessman was invited to address a group of young executives on the subject of opportunities. He began his talk by tackin

People will probably forget what you said and they will possibly forget what you did . . . but they will never forget how you made them feel! Either a good or bad word from someone will stay with you for a long while – but how they made you feel in what they said – will stay with you forever!!! Of c

Committee Comfort It has been said that a camel is just a horse that was created by a committee. You’ve probably witnessed the process yourself. Put any twelve decision-makers in a room together, and they can’t seem to make a decision at all. Worse yet, they create something that suits the members–a

Take Off the Bandage! What do transparent tape, “sticky” notes and adhesive bandages have in common? Each has a different function, is made of a different material, and serves its own purpose. Oh sure, you can say they’re all necessary supplies – and you’d be right – but look a little deeper for the

Can We Control the Weather? Problems with the leadership at work, current world events, too much rain, heat or cold–we can easily get stuck in frustration and worry about things like this, eventually affecting every aspect of our lives. Thing is, how do we free ourselves of so much negativity? Compl

If You Were the Carpenter A story written by an unknown author goes like this: An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his contractor employer of his plans to leave the house-building business and finally spend more time with his wife and family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed t

6 Metro Phoenix hot spots for luxury homes The Phoenix area is vast. It’s home to millions of people, a number of suburbs and countless individual neighborhoods. As one of the biggest metro areas in the country (both geographically and population-wise), Phoenix has carved out unique luxury real esta

Time’s a-Wastin’! Wouldn’t it be nice to have an account where we could save time? I could have saved literally millions of minutes so far. We have our methods for “saving time:” cooking in our instant cookers, using mobile deposit, or shopping online. But do we actually do anything with that “saved

Stop Building Castles In the Air What are you daydreaming about? Writing a novel? Starting a non-profit to benefit youth in your community? Want to rise to the top 1% of your profession? No matter what the dream is, you need to start with the basics. Begin building the foundation that will support t

Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? Waiting for your ship to come in? Think you need to win the lottery to become a millionaire? Don’t hold your breath. Unless you are one of the lucky few, you’ll have to make your own million. And here’s the best part–it’s not impossible! Consider this method for becomi

Good leaders are good followers A young woman was filling out an application for college when she came across the question: Are you a leader? She thought she had better be brutally honest, so she answered, ‘No.’ She was convinced when she sent the application in that she’d never hear from them becau

Phoenix ranks No. 4 in U.S. for biggest home sale price decrease March home sales jumped 37.7% over February, signaling the start of the peak spring and summer seasons in the report’s 52 metro areas. While inventory was down 2.8% from February’s total, March inventory was 56.4% higher year over year

The Words We Love to Hear It had been a very busy day with a number of client meetings, so when I parked my car in the city some distance from my last appointment, I was hoping that it would be a quick one so that I could then beat the afternoon city rush hour. I had a very important family document

320-acre retail destination Five North at Vistancia takes shape in Peoria The Vistancia master-planned community’s 320-acre commercial and retail destination FIVE NORTH at VISTANCIA is taking shape as the first hot spot in the far North Peoria/West Valley area. Envisioned as the energetic heartbeat

Raising the Bar Do you ever feel as if you’re swimming in a sea of mediocrity? Your children, co-workers, friends, organization members, all stuck in a rut of being happy with just plain old normality? Are you yourself keeping standards low so as not to be disappointed? While keeping things routine

Just Say No Of course, parents all love our children, but who doesn’t chuckle after reading today’s quote? Perhaps we have all secretly begrudged the behavior of our kids, whether they’re five years old, fifteen years old, or even fifty! We try so hard to teach them the lessons our parents tried to

Slow Your Pace Today’s quote is funny, but also sobering in light of studies of hard-working Americans. As it turns out, hard work could actually kill you. Well, it’s not actually the work that does it, but the amount of work and the time spent at it. The Japanese even have a word for it, karoshi, a

$32 million was the asking price for 20568 N. 112th St., Scottsdale. Arizona has long been a refuge, attracting people from other parts of the country for a variety of reasons. From agreeable weather, to tolerable taxes, to a lower overall cost of living, the desert is enticing for homebuyers across