Secret Tips Day 4

Handling Stress and Dreaming Big are the two topics we talked about today. How does stress show up for you every day? How do you handle it?

Imagine your life is like a piggy bank. Every dollar that goes in is a positive experience. Every dollar coming out is because of stress. Count how many dollars you add to your bank or take away from it every day. For example, talking to friends, eating healthy foods, getting at least eight hours of sleep a night, exercising, and laughing all help your bank grow. Worrying, arguing with friends, not getting enough sleep, eating junk food and not exercising are examples of things that decrease the funds in your bank. Watch your “account” for one week. Do you have more positives than negatives? Where would you like to improve?

American Teens Movie

A new documentary opened at the Sundance Film Festival, and opened in select cities on July 25. It’s called “American Teens”. 

The documentary follows teens during their senior year of high school, covering the drama, the competition and the fun. You can watch the trailer and learn more at:

http://www.americanteenthemovie.com/

Let me know what you think! Is it a good or bad idea? Would you want to see it? Do you think the movie will accurately show what teenage life is all about?

Back to School!

School starts in two weeks for me! CRAZY! I know it’s earlier than some people, but I am actually kind of excited about it. I just became the Editor and Chief of our yearbook, and have been participating in a mentor program a lot lately.

So what was the most embarassing or craziest thing that you did over the summer?  I think my most embarrasing moment was on the Fourth of July. I was wearing a cute little dress (DON’T EVER WEAR DRESSES OUTDOORS) and I stepped in a mud puddle. When I tried to get my flip flop out of the mud, it flung all over my best friend and my back. I just laughed and said, “This is exactly why I don’t wear dresses!”

What are some of your embarassing moments from this summer?

Secret Tips Day 3

What another amazing day! Today we talked about beauty, courage, and confidence. One of the big ‘aha’ moments for everyone was seeing that we all have confidence issues, but that they’re different for every girl. Some girls find it hard to stand up for themselves and others need more courage to talk to their parents or be in front of others. Since these issues are different for everyone, we can all help each other! It was fun for me to see our group help each other. What was difficult for one person came easy to another. So, next time you think you’re not good at something or you need a little confidence boost, find a friend who excells at what you have trouble with and ask them how they do it.

Build off of your strengths and things you are confident about. Take a look at where you have tons of confidence. Ask yourself what you can learn from this. How can you apply it to your current situation?

Have fun! Today we talked about ‘walking in the right shoes’. It’s important to walk with confidence, so we made beatiful flip flops! You can see some of them posted at my Twitter account. Want to make your own pair? Go to an art supply store such as Michael’s and buy a pair of flip flops and a bunch of fun things to embellish them with! You’ll look fabulous!

Secret Tips Day 2

It was another great day with eight amazing students! Today we focused on our strengths, friends and mentors. I”ll share a few tips and ideas you can use as you follow along with us.

It’s really important to know yourself. Write down a list of 10 things you are good at. If you get stuck, ask your friends and people close to you. Another great tool can be found at www.kolbe.com. It costs money, but it’s well worth it!

Choose the right friends! We had a great discussion about friends and how tricky it can be when friends change or start having new interests. The most important advice the girls shared with each other is to be yourself and tell your friends exactly how you feel. You might become better friends or decide to go down separate paths. Either way, you’ll still stay true to yourself, which is so important!

Mentors are key! Everyone in our group has a person they can go to! For some it was a parent, others an aunt or a close friend. If you don’t have someone to look up to, find one. We also looked beyond people we know and did research on the computer. If you have a dream to become an actress or a veternarian or a lawyer, look for people, resources and organizations in your area of interest. This can be a different type of mentorship that can help you reach your dreams.

Stay tuned for more tips!

Girls With Dreams featured in St. Louis Post Dispatch

Check out the most recent article featuring Girls With Dreams, published in the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Secret Tips Day 1

Today I started teaching an awesome class called “Just for Girls” at Lewis and Clark Community College. What an amazing group of young women! I thought it would be fun to share with all of you some of the tips we’re talking about in class.

For starters, I was totally impressed with the talents and dreams of this group. All of them had amazing dreams like…to be famous, to be a soccer player, to be a marine biologist, to go to Yale, to be on Broadway, to become a veterinarian, and to be an actress. I just love all of these!

We also talked a lot about intuition! It’s that gut feeling you get when you make a choice. Sometimes it’s really loud and other times it can be more difficult to hear. It might be something as simple as choosing between a burger or wrap for lunch, or a more complicated decision such as riding in a car with your friend who just got her driver’s license.

So, we talked about the 5 keys to getting better at listening to your gut. All of these are in the Powder Box Secrets, but I’ll share one tip to get you going: Practice, practice, practice! Take out a little Post-It note and divide into two sides. Put a plus on one side and a minus on the other side. At the end of the day, write down where you listened to your gut well on the plus side and write where you didn’t listen well on the minus side. Think about where you can improve tomorrow. Don’t get upset with yourself if things are a little rough at first. The most important thing is that you’re paying attention to that little voice inside of you.

I also wanted to share a special surprise…the girls in the class want to create a series of short videos to share with all of you, so watch out for those in the next few weeks.

Randy Pausch Will Be Missed

It is with great sadness that I write today because I just heard of Randy Paush’s passing. If you haven’t heard of The Last Lecture or Randy Pausch, you should. Randy found out he only had a few months to live, and instead of dreading the end, he decided to live every moment to its fullest. As a college professer, his last lecture to his students became famous as it filtered through the Web and eventually became a book. So many lessons can be learned from Randy, from his courage and determination to live every day with joy to the lessons he left in his book.

One which I loved hearing about was his Wall of Dreams. When he was a little boy, he asked his parents if he could paint his dreams on his bedroom wall. They said yes, and you can still see them there today. This wall has inspired many to create their own Wall of Dreams!

What an amazing gift Randy left for us. My prayers and thoughts go out to Randy’s wife and children. He will be greatly missed and always remembered.

Are You Seeing Green?

I met thousands of amazing women when I was in Dallas this July. Two of them started GenGreenLife.com, founder and CEO Charisse and and marketing and content manager Crystal. The goal of the site is to be the most comprehensive listing for local resources that support environmental awareness. There are more than 25,000 listing to help you live a green lifestyle! Everyone can benefit from it, whether you’ve already gone green or you’ve been wondering what all the green buzz is about. I’ve already joined the site and found a lot of local resources. After you check out www.gengreen.org, make sure to give Charisse and Crystal feedback!

Are You Soaking Up Summer?

Where has summer gone? In just over a week, it will already be August. Sorry to break the news! I hate to see summer go so fast too. I love the warm days and evenings, the time at the pool, the fresh fruit, time with friends, and all the other fun stuff. But, don’t get depressed that school is right around the corner, it will be an exciting time wherever you are.

In the meantime, make sure you soak up summer! Here’s a few quick tips that will surely help you make the most of your summer!

• Ask yourself, is there anything I really wanted to do this summer that I haven’t yet? Now, write this down in your calendar and stick to it.

• Is there anything you’ve been afraid to try that you’ll regret if you don’t?

• What are you most looking forward to about the fall?

• Is there anything you need to do over the next few weeks to make sure you start the school year on the right foot?

• What can you do to help you make the transition from summer to school? For example, some people find it helpful to change their sleeeping habits a week before, or maybe for you it’s about reconnecting with friends, or just soaking up every minute left of summer fun.

As we get closer to the school year, watch out for more tips to help you! If you have other ideas to share about making the most of summer, please post away.

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