Beauty Tips

Last week I watched a really interesting episode of Oprah featuring career coach and author Marcus Buckingham. The show followed Marcus as he led a group of women who were dissatisfied with their jobs through an extensive “career intervention” seminar.

Strength training

One of the big lessons of the show was identifying your strengths, defined as the things that make you feel your best — organizing things, teaching, caring for others, being creative, doing detailed paperwork, crunching numbers, etc. — and finding a job in which you’re able to focus on your strengths as much as possible.

Business expert and bestselling author Marcus Buckingham has helped millions of people reach new levels of success and happiness at work — including employees at Coca-Cola, Gap and Microsoft — with his radical “strengths training” approach. His key to success is simple: Stop spending so much time trying to fix your weaknesses. Instead, focus on what makes you special and unique. “A strength is an activity that makes you feel strong,” he says. “If you want to know what your strength is, you’ve got to pay attention to how you feel. It feels like focus. It feels like concentration. You feel invigorated. Energized.”

Career transitions…

The episode hit me hard because like the women on the show I’ve been going through a transitional period with my career.

I haven’t felt good about my job at the literary agency for many months, so I’ve decided to find a new path.

Starting later this month, I’m going back to school for the first time in 10 years, yikes! I’ll be taking journalism classes and focusing on freelance writing. Like most people, I’m a little freaked out (aka scared) about the economy, but I couldn’t see myself being happy in 5-10 years if I didn’t try to move myself forward at work.

A list to get the career ball rolling…

Even if you’re happy and satisfied at work, it might be fun to make a list (you know I love lists!) of your strengths. It might help you identify new projects at your current job, find a new hobby or figure out ways to make some extra money.

Activities that make me feel strong, focused and energized…

1. Making lists 🙂
2. Organizing and executing detailed projects
3. Talking to people and being able to retain the information they share about their lives — the names and ages of their children, their favorite hobbies, etc. I’ve always liked chatting with people.
4. Writing
5. Brainstorming creative/odd/weird ideas
6. Learning about and trying new activities
7. Visual art stuff: photography, Photoshop, collage, makeup 🙂
8. Cleaning, LOL! I dunno if it counts as a strength, but when I have a clean and organized workspace all is right with the world.
9. Teaching and helping others

Are you thinking about making a career change or perhaps reevaluating the course of your current job? Writing a list might be a good way to get some ideas flowing.

Your turn

If you’d like to share your list of strengths, please post them in the comments. Oh — I listed 9 things because 9 is my favorite number, but you can make your list as long or as short as you want! 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Happy New Year!

I remember growing up oblivious to recycling in the 80s. I chalk it up to the times, but when I think of all the juice boxes, cans, plastic bags and bottles we wasted and CFCs (hairsprays, etc.) we released into the atmosphere, I feel rotten.

Times have definitely changed. It’s cool when beauty companies make an effort to use recycled materials in their packaging. The environment is a central issue in our lives now and growing more important every day.

I *love* pretty packaging and aesthetically pleasing design. Well designed packages bring me joy, but some of them still make me cringe, like when a tiny .3 oz. tube of product comes all by itself in an oversized, shrink wrapped cardboard box fitted with plastic buttons, ribbons and bows. Overkill — and most of it ends up in the trash.

What do you do with your discarded beauty product packaging? Do you ever reuse it around the house or recycle the plastic containers?

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Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen
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Hi, girls. I don’t usually reprint posts from the archives, but I stumbled across one from June 2007 that still strikes a chord with me.

I think it’s more about being considerate than it is about political correctness, cultural mores or stereotypes, but tell me what you think.

—REPRINT—

Two weeks ago I watched an Oprah episode titled “Children Ashamed of the Way They Look,” which also launched a new campaign to promote self-esteem for younger girls, O Girl, O Beautiful.

Oprah’s guests — celebs and a few regular people — talked about their experiences with beauty and self-esteem within their various communities.

The story of two of the guests, Tangela and her son Najee, resonated with me, and here’s a copy from the Oprah website:[Continue reading…]