Weekly Reads – March 4th

Welcome to the Weekly Reads, where I highlight articles that I found on the web and that are focused on career advice, lifestyle, beauty or anything I think would round-up as useful for the young, modern, working woman.

The Weekly Reads are perfect for your Monday morning commute or your first coffee break of the week. So get yourself comfortable, pour a cup of coffee – or tea – and enjoy this week’s reads!

What have I been up to this week

The past two weeks have been crazy. I had an important client meeting last Monday and we worked a lot ahead of it, including the full weekend. On Monday I had a 4 am wake up call, travelled to Switzerland to see my client, led a full day meeting and arrived back home in Berlin by midnight. I am extremely happy with the work put in but as the days passed, I realized that my body was really tired and I definitely could use some proper rest – so, by the time the weekend arrived it felt amazing to just give in.

This makes me want to quickly touch on the idea of “balance”. I used to think that balance is about doing it all at all times – working, exercising, relaxing, being social,iving the life etc… – but as time passes by, I start thinking that balance is more about knowing what to focus on at a certain point in your life rather than trying to do a bit of everything every single day. So, if one month is about working extra hard and focusing on giving as much as you can at your job, so be it. Simply focus, put in the work, be proud  and enjoy the results. The next weeks or months you can slow down and focus more on personal projects.

The Weekly Reads

Get ahead. I was talking to a colleague at work earlier this week about how you have to advocate for yourself at work and make sure you speak up if you want to build a good reputation and image. And not only that but you actually need to be aware of what the people you are working with (managers, team members…) want to achieve and what are their needs and goals so that you can understand how you can help them and therefore they can help you back. Our chat reminded me of this article from Women Who that talks exactly about this and I think it’s a gem and definitely a must read.

Great career advice. Grace Atwood, founder of TheStripe.com shares her best career advice. I came across her Instagram this week and loved her blog post on career advice because I think it’s coming from a real place. Also, I like the fact that she is not just a blogger who gives advice but she actually has tons of experience behind her, having worked at both big companies such as Coty or P&G and even startups. Big like.

Capsule wardrobe. I have discovered Daria (personal shopper and capsule wardrobe guru) through Komal from Conscious by Komal and I loved her videos. This weekend, having a bit more spare time on my hands, I’ve been binge watching Daria’s videos and I loved every single one of them. First of all she has a great sense of style and her videos are also very well made and enjoyable to watch. I love this wardrobe 1:1 video and this other one on business casual dress code. Needles to say, of course I also got inspired to clean up my wardrobe, get rid of some pieces and re-organize it.  Ah, it feels so good. I call this a win-win!

Supportive leadership. Or why it is important to work for a “boss” that supports you (Forbes). This actually reminds me of what one of my Management professors from my Master’s degree told us a few weeks ago and really stuck with me. “What is important to remember is that you can change the dynamics in the workplace. You don’t have to repeat the same mistakes that others have made on you, and when your turn comes to be a manager you have the power to change things.” For me, learnings like this one, that are simple yet impactful are why I am really happy to keep studying (formally) and think it’s worth to keep learning no matter what.

What I’ve subscribed to recently. I recently discovered Hitha Palepu has a newsletter where she gathers good reads from around the web an I love it. You can either sign up here to receive a weekly digest or follow Hitha on Instagram and see a daily roundup of 5 articles from the web in her stories.

Thank you for reading and I am wishing you all a wonderful – and hopefully sunny – first week of spring!