#WorkingAtHomeTip

Tomorrow will be the first day some of us will start working from home fully...so decided to share a tip that you might find helpful. #WorkingAtHomeTip

Learnings from my sunglasses...

A few months ago, as I put on one of my favourite sunglasses I smiled as I looked at the "screwstopper" on the left side.

"I live"...

...I mean "I leave."

Show me your shoes

A few weeks ago, standing at the check-out line the corner of my eye caught a tote that read:

Dress up

I found these 3 statements when looking through my old notes:

Clothes should skim, not cling.

Avoid a closet full of clothes with nothing to wear.

Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.

 
I've written about the 1st and last points* so want to keep this piece short & sweet.

So I'll wrap this up with 3 more statements made by men:

Know, first, who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly.  ~Epictetus

You cannot climb the ladder of success dressed in the costume of failure. ~ Zig Ziglar

Bottom-line:

If there is one thing I know about dressing properly, it's all a sign of self-respect...

Let me see how you dress and I can tell if you have self-respect.

*For further reading
http://empowered-women-excel.blogspot.ca/2012/08/dress-essence.html


http://empowered-women-excel.blogspot.ca/2012/03/dress-sense.html


http://empowered-women-excel.blogspot.ca/2012/03/essence-of-dress-sense.html


http://empowered-women-excel.blogspot.ca/2012/09/next-size-please.html
http://mrs-pastor-and-pastor-mrs.blogspot.com/2013/09/power-full-dressing.html
http://mrs-pastor-and-pastor-mrs.blogspot.com/2013/08/mrs-pastor-vs.html

Short & Sweet?

A lot of times in Corporate circles, you hear the phrase "Short & Sweet." A lot of people, including me, like meetings, conferences and speeches that are "short & sweet" - yes, swift and straight to the point. When this topic came to me, it also hit me that a lot of people would want to apply this "short & sweet" phrase to many areas of life so I started asking if there were any areas where we should NOT use the phrase.

You may already know where I'm headed, if not, I'll try to be short & sweet about it.

For me, this is a black-and-white issue.

Short & Sweet does not apply to dressing. Short - top, bottom or dress - no matter how sweet the colours may be, show too much & are inappropriate for the professional women that we are. Showing too much empowers others to look down on you and I'm sure you never want that to happen to you - or anyone you're mentoring for that matter. Be a mentor in words and "wear"...

A truly empowered woman helps others focus on her brain not her body...

that's one short & sweet way to excelling and being an example to others.

P.S. Tried to live up to the phrase and make this short and sweet too ;)


Other posts to read:
http://empowered-women-excel.blogspot.ca/2012/03/essence-of-dress-sense.html
http://empowered-women-excel.blogspot.ca/2012/03/dress-sense.html
http://empowered-women-excel.blogspot.ca/2012/08/dress-essence.html
http://empowered-women-excel.blogspot.ca/2012/09/next-size-please.html
http://empowered-women-excel.blogspot.ca/2012/09/keeping-it-simple.html
http://empowered-women-excel.blogspot.ca/2013/06/the-essence.html

1, 2, 3...Dress

I found these 3 quotes that essentially say the same thing in different ways:

Know, first, who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly. 

~Epictetus

"Dress for the job you want, not the job you have!"

~Jeannine Morris, Founder and Blogger of BeautySweetSpot.com

Bottom line:

You'll be addressed the way you dress.

P.S.

Have you noticed that this topic* has a way of coming up ~ every quarter?

Just noticed & will now try to keep it that way...please remind me if I forget.

*Read more:

http://empowered-women-excel.blogspot.com/2012/03/essence-of-dress-sense.html

http://empowered-women-excel.blogspot.com/2012/03/dress-sense.html

http://empowered-women-excel.blogspot.com/2012/08/dress-essence.html

http://empowered-women-excel.blogspot.com/2012/09/next-size-please.html

http://empowered-women-excel.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-essence.html

http://empowered-women-excel.blogspot.com/2013/06/can-you.html

Sharpen Your Skills

I got this piece a few days after the one I shared on Sept 1 and felt it was an excellent sequel.  As I typed this intro 2 things came to mind - a verse:
Ecc 10:10 "A dull ax requires great strength; be wise and sharpen the blade." 

and a previous posting titled "Stand out!"
click to read: http://empowered-women-excel.blogspot.ca/2011/09/stand-out.html

Guess what? I looked up both and found that the verse was included in this previous posting which incidentally was published exactly 2 years ago to the day - Wow!! Enough said, be blessed as you read and act accordingly promptly...

Develop Your Talent

I got this and was blessed by it...

and decided to pass on the blessing -

especially as we start a new month...

Develop Your Talent

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“That you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God [with fuller, deeper, and clearer insight, acquaintance, and recognition].”

Colossians 1:10, AMP)

TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria

Too many people suffer from “destination disease.” In other words, they’ve reached a certain level or obtained a goal, now they’re coasting in life off of what they’ve already learned. Studies tell us that 50% of people, after they graduate from high school, will never read an entire book the rest of their life. One reason is that people see learning as a period of life instead of a way of life. They think, “I’m out of school. I’m done with my training. I’ve got my job.” But, God never created us to reach one level and stop. Whether you’re 90 years old or 9 years old, you should be constantly learning, improving your skills, and getting better at what you do. The key is that you have to take responsibility for your growth. Growth is not automatic. What steps are you taking to get better? Are you reading books? Listening to teaching CD’s? Are you taking any courses on the internet? Going to any seminars? Do you have any mentors? Don’t just coast through life relying on what you’ve already learned. You have treasure on the inside. Develop your talent and become all that God created you to be.

A PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father, help me to develop the talents You have given me. Show me to how to continue growing, stretching and increasing. Help me to maximize what You’ve placed in my hand as I daily give You glory for Your faithfulness in my life in Jesus’ name. Amen.

— Joel & Victoria Osteen

Can you...

...lean in confidently and comfortably?

I recently bought this book more out of curiousity than interest...I'm looking forward to reading it over summer. 

It's interesting how dots get connected. I was just thinking about my last post: "The essence of dress-sense is ABC:  http://empowered-women-excel.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-essence.html

Taking the book's title literally, it occurred to me that: When you are properly, not sparsely, dressed, you can "lean in" during meetings/conversations and your brains, not your body, will be on display...to your benefit.

Now I'm curious to see if the book has anything to say about dress-sense...hmmm.

The essence...

of dress-sense is

Dress-essence

In April, one of my FB friends, MB, wrote:
"Corporate dressing purpose is divided into three aspects -

Coverage, Communication and Comfort.

In simple words, your clothing should look decent, should communicate a positive message and you should feel comfortable with your dressing."

I'm sure you know that this is just up my alley...so "walk with me"

Coverage: it goes without saying that what you show determines who you are...

Communication: the level of coverage or lack thereof sends messages about you.

Comfort: it's one thing to be comfortable in what you wear and equally important that what you wear is "comfortable" with where you are. We should be appropriately "dressed for the occassion."

Although your comportment is also important, your clothes should portray you in a good light and you should also portray your clothes in a good light. It is not about wearing costly or "current" (i.e. fashionable) clothes; what is important is wearing the correct clothes - that align with who you are. Allow me to say:

"Show me your clothes and I'll tell you who you are."

Dress-sense

I've found that people think that having dress-sense is "following fashion" and that cannot be further from the truth. I'll let Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel and Quentin Crisp help me here - respectively:

"Adornment is never anything except a reflection of the heart."

"Fashion is what you adopt when you don't know who you are."
I totally agree that "to be a fashionable woman is to know yourself, know what you represent, and know what works for you.  To be "in fashion" could be a disaster on 90 percent of women.  You are not a page out of Vogue." (Author Unknown)

Like I said earlier, you can get ideas for others but must never stop being yourself. Who you are speaks in what you wear. I was intrigued to find out what some colours reflected. Since knowledge gained is knowledge shared, let me share a few:

• Black - authoritative, in control
• Grey/Gray - professional and dignified
• White - simple, innocent and maybe na·ïve
• Brown - friendly, approachable and down-to-earth 
• Blue - confident, conservative, calm and caring
• Green - growth, vitality and prosperity
• Purple - regal and sophisticated
• Red - power and passion

I'd really like to know what "Rainbow" would stand for - like I said I usually prefer "one-for-many" type jackets or accessories. The truth about dress-sense to me is like Cecil Beaton said: "The truly fashionable are beyond fashion."

Radiate who you are in what you wear and it will reflect positively in what you do. You can be a trend-setter, an original not a copy-cat...just dress well and sensibly.

P.S.
You can read some more about colours here:
http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-meanings-in-business.html 
http://www.precisionintermedia.com/color.html

The essence of dress-sense

I attended a First Impressions session for some young ladies getting into the work force where a lot of good things were said. When the volunteer presenter, who is a Style/Image consultant, said: "Dress for the job you want, not the job you have" it stuck with me. I don't know who the author of this quote is (checked the internet) so I'd rather dwell on how this should guide our quest to dress for success.