It’s that time of the year again.
A time for new – and renewed – resolutions. A time for new beginnings.
In our conversations, we almost always ask, “What’s the best advice you’ve been given?”
Perhaps some of this advice will help us all in the year to come. May you all have a blessed 2023.
Nikki Mosher: Don’t stop learning. We learn something – at least one thing – every season. And we usually learn a lot more than one.
Jacob Stieg: Failures in life are successes in life. If something fails, take a look at why it failed, and move forward on it. You don’t dwell, you move forward. And life is what you make of it.
Kelsey Vanderhoef-Schoch: My biggest thing would be to never doubt yourself. Always think in a positive direction. That’s where I’ve learned – I’ve always taken things so seriously, but it’s a new year, and new me thing – and I’ve decided to focus on myself, and make myself better. Always think positively, and don’t dwell on the negativity. Don’t doubt yourself and have a positive outlook. Ever since I’ve been doing that, it’s been great.
Kevin Sisson: Honestly, when you get a goal, just stick with it. There’s going to be ups and downs, getting to that goal, but always stick with it. Stick with your gut. Do what you want to do. Obviously, life is going to throw you curveballs, but you’ve got to get past that and get to what you want to do. Set goals, try to achieve those goals, and create new ones.
Jimmy Johnson: It would have to come from my dad, and it was kind of funny. He would say, “Use your common horse sense.” And so that would mean a variation of things, which means, essentially, it would be “use your common sense when you’re making different decisions. And never be complacent and never sell yourself short, because anytime you get complacent, then you’re not pushing forward to better yourself.”
Amanda Gilde: Years ago, an older lady at church told me that our girls are delightful and she said, “Whatever you are doing, keep doing it. These girls are the only thing you have in life that will appreciate in value.” That lady has passed on now, but I’ve always held those words of wisdom close to my heart. I know that my kids are not perfect because nothing this side of heaven is. They are good kids and we’ve raised them to work hard but to enjoy life too. We are very proud of them.
Matt Keller: I always had a phrase: “What don’t kill you, makes you stronger.” Basically, your challenges in life that bring you down, what don’t kill you, you can either let it beat you up, or you can change it and make a better person of yourself.
McCoy Williams: [Marion teacher] Mr. Engleright told me: “You never want to lose all the money in your account, you always want to add on to it.”
And that applies to everything in life. You never want to just stop doing something. You want to keep going, build consistency, and time is the key. That’s how you make money; that’s how you lift weights; that’s how you get good at sports; that’s how you get good at music; that’s how you get good at anything. Consistency is the key. Be consistent with everything you do.
Jayson Lafever: My mom told me that if you don’t understand something, there’s a reason you don’t understand it: Because you don’t want to be like that person. If you question “Why would someone do that?” you probably don’t want to know because you don’t think that way. If someone killed someone, you wouldn’t want to know why because you don’t want to think like that person. “How could someone do that?”
Alex Zink: Most of that really was the community, and that goes with pros and cons. Learning off people’s mistakes and learning off people’s achievements. You’ve got to fail sometimes to succeed. If you don’t fail, then you’re not trying hard enough to learn.
Pastor Mike Leydet: The best advice that I think we were ever given – this is my wife and I both – and I think it applies to more than to just the situation that was at hand. Our kids are 13 months apart; they’re very close, and we were serving at a little church as a youth pastor then. My wife was a stay-at-home-mom with the kids. Two kids that age were somewhat stressful. And one of the ol’ gals at church noticed that, and told my wife, she said, “Remember Hunny, the days are long, but the years are short.”
Ashley Barron: Just take it one day at a time, and appreciate the day that you have. If they’re going through something rough, you don’t know what tomorrow’s going to bring. And if today is a good day, just live in that day.
Dan Kingsbury: Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life. I love working with the community, and what better goal is there than making sure people get fed?
Jon Stahl: Couple different pieces of advice. The first one, that’s most helpful to me: Learn how to manage your money young. Learn how to get your bills paid, get your taxes done, so that way you don’t have to worry about stuff. Another good piece of advice – and of course back in school I was a pretty big procrastinator – “Don’t Procrastinate!”
Krissta Major: There’s not ever a dumb question. Always ask the questions that you have. It’s how you’re going to learn. I tell my kid that all the time: “Well, Mom, I didn’t get it.” “Then ask!” That’s all you’ve got to do.
Lindsay Sandelius: Just be patient, and let the process work itself out.
Carolina Faulman: “Put your family first.” My mom always says that. And it’s always her kids.
Adam Faulman: That is good advice. Family first. I think maybe you and I have learned that over time. It’s not really worth everything else. When you’re younger, you’re chasing that dollar, but as you get older, things slow down. Put your family first. None of that other stuff really matters.
Roger Elkins: One of our scout mottos was, “Do your best.” – I often think about that. We had a tremendous scout master, and at the end of our meetings, we’d have a “Scout Master’s Minute”. It would be sort of a devotional, and I can remember a number of those lessons or stories that he had within there. But if I had to pick one, it would be “Do your best.” That’s what I try to do.
Deb Wood: Always be kind and treat others the way that you want to be treated. That’s what I really try to do. And if you want something, you work hard for it. I can remember my grandpa always saying that: “If you want it, you work for it. Get a job.”
Deb Hammar: My mom and dad instilling hard work. With hard work you can do anything. You can do something, even if you don’t think you can – you’ve just got to try, and you’ve got to work at it.
Josh Stiles: Every time I get down in the dumps, I call my dad, John, and he tells me to keep plugging away, and to never give up. And that’s what I do.
Clay Dougherty: It’s not any specific one thing that’s been said to me, but it’s always been drilled into me: “You’ve got to work for what you want.” You can’t stay stagnant; you’ve got to always keep working to improve yourself – whether it’s your personal life, or work life, just all around.
Mike Thompson: What’s worked for me is to always follow God and have faith in him. He’s got control over whatever happens in my life, and to just trust him. If I trust him, it will come out for the better in the end.
Katya LaGrow: I would say – and this is my absolute favorite thing, and I try to instill this in my girls – “You need to love what you do, and do what you love.” It makes a big difference in your perspective on life. Love what you do and do what you love.
Avery Kietzman: Be so focused on what you’re doing, that you don’t focus on what others are doing.
Nikki Vanderhoef: A big thing for me – and it’s a bit of a Tupac quote – ‘For every dark night, there’s a brighter day.’ That’s always been something that I’ve went by.
Karl Bailey: Never take no for an answer. If you want something, work for it. If somebody tells you, ‘You can’t do it’ – you can do it.
Kyle Hammar: Being a good, genuine person to everybody. It helps you sleep at night, and it will come back around. Helping out your neighbor, because you might need that help down the road sometime. It’s funny the way things work out. Just being a good, genuine person to anybody and everybody. That’s something I was taught by both of my folks. That’s probably the thing that’s helped me out the most in life.
Tammi Ballew-Hoffman: I grew up with my parents always just saying, “Be yourself.”
I think that that is so underrated, and it sounds cliché, but you’ve just got to find what works for you. It’s not going to be the same thing for everyone, and that’s a hard lesson to learn. That you may not be exactly like all the others. Over the years, you just find what works for you, find what you like and where you want to be, and it just makes sense one day.