💄💄Lipstick life lessons

Feb 08, 2022

Welcome to this week's Laugh, Learn, Leg Up email


I went into town for concealer today and came back with an entire bag of make up... Now, before you roll your eyes and think 'Consumerist idiot', this wasn't about getting carried away (it's my birthday and I'd got a bit of cash) it was actually a learn about doing something I really dislike...

A bit of context:

I loathe clothes/make up shopping. I get utterly overwhelmed and I'm not good at it.  Highlights over the years include:

- Buying a pair of shorts I'd forgotten I already owned

- Getting a big, brown, boxy dress that when I wore it, husband quipped, 'When's Fedex arriving to pick you up?' (He's a keeper).

I've been putting off a shopping trip for forever, but I have a bright red scar on my nose, and much as I love Rudolph it ain't Christmas quite yet, so concealer is an essential item. Off I pottered into town for just that one item. I have now replaced all the years-old dog-ends lurking in my make up bag - which never really matched my colouring anyway.

So what the heck is the learn?! It's to GET STARTED.

One of my favourite time management tips is the 'ten minute rule'. Start an unpleasant task, but give yourself permission to stop after 10 minutes.  Research shows that even if we stop after 10 minute our brains are still working away subconsciously - that's why we have those 'aha!' moments in the shower. When we sit back down to the task again it's easier to engage with.

But often, once we start, we don't need to stop after 10 minutes - we are fine to keep on going. The task isn't as unpleasant as we thought... we might actually get quite into it.

Once I was inside Boots, chatting to Chelsea, the lovely shop assistant, it was all quite fun. Why not get a free makeover?

This is what Professor Wendy Woods calls 'Creating frictionless beginnings' - ie making the start of something small, easy peasy. If there's no drama, the 'fight or flight' areas of our brain aren't triggered, our internal critic won't try and dissuade us.

What have you been putting off? What is lurking menacingly on your to do list? Why not set a ten minute timer and start - just start.  Or why not focus on one teeny tiny step (like buying just concealer) and see what happens...?

...Oh and don't worry... I didn't buy a brown dress



1) FREE WEBINAR: how to make a fantastic job application.  A reminder that I'm joined by  Katia Chrysostomou , job-application-coach extraordinaire, 1-2pm UK time on 15th October. She'll be walking us step-by-step through how to analyse a job advert so you can craft an awesome pitch.  Join us live  via the link below. If you want to access the recording, please email me at [email protected]  


Meeting ID: 858 0885 0525
Passcode: 666892
Dial by your location
 +44 203 481 5237 United Kingdom
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kbPvaifWmD



Q: What kind of make up does a sad clown wear?

A: Frowndation

Q: What do you call an STD that loves make up?

A: Glamydia

Q: What do you call a long skinny fish wearing make up and a suit of armour?

A: Pretty Sir Eel

I met twins recently called Sharon and Karen. They wore the same clothes and make up. They had the same personality, so I guess it's true what the say... Sharon is Karen.

(Apologies if there are typos in today's email, I'm rushing as I'm off out for a birthday lunch (wearing full make up!!))

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Have a lovely rest of the week. 

Take care