Christina Makoyawo

1. Know that what you focus your mind on grows bigger.

2. Don’t take things personally.

3. Express gratitude — daily.

4.  Stand up for yourself but don’t act entitled.

5.  Ask for 100% of what you want from 100% of people 100% of the time.

6. Learn to like rejection.

7. Recognize that money gives you freedom.

8. Always negotiate.

9. Start investing early.

10. Do one thing at a time.

11. Accept and enjoy where you are right now.

12. Get a regular dose of nature.

13. Sweep your side of the street.

14. Know that people who talk about other people behind their backs are also talking about you behind yours.

15. Don’t hold a grudge.

16. Always put in your best effort, so that you never have regrets or wonder ‘what if.’

17.  Lasting change in life starts with daily habits.

18. Ask yourself, “Will this matter in a year?”

19. Treat others with kindness and understanding.

Turn Your Used Diptyque Into Storage Space

Because old candle jars make great holders for makeup brushes. And I've been doing this since forever.

Step 1: Freeze out the wax. It may seem a little ironic, but stick your unlit, room-temperature candle in the freezer, and leave it overnight. All that wax will solidify and harden so firmly and thoroughly, you can scoop/jab it out with a knife and it won’t flake and crumble. Usually, that gets it most of it.

If there’s still residual wax in the jar, try Step 2: Put the jar in the sink and pour boiling water into it until it overflows. Leave for a few hours. When you come back, the rest of the wax will have floated and solidified at the top. Pop out, and you’ve got a beautifully clean jar, ready for a new life. Wax off!

2. push yourself to fall asleep earlier - start with 11pm, then 10pm, then 9pm. wake up in the morning feeling re-energized and comfortable.

3. get into the habit of cooking yourself a beautiful breakfast. fry tomatoes and mushrooms in real butter and garlic, fry an egg, slice up a fresh avocado and squirt way too much lemon on it. sit and eat it and do nothing else.

4. stretch. start by reaching for the sky as hard as you can, then trying to touch your toes. roll your head. stretch your fingers. stretch everything.

5. buy a 1L water bottle. start with pushing yourself to drink the whole thing in a day, then try drinking it twice.

6. buy a beautiful diary and a beautiful black pen. write down everything you do, including dinner dates, appointments, assignments, coffees, what you need to do that day. no detail is too small.

7. strip your bed of your sheets and empty your underwear draw into the washing machine. put a massive scoop of scented fabric softener in there and wash. make your bed in full.

8. organise your room. fold all your clothes (and bag what you don’t want), clean your mirror, your laptop, vacuum the floor. light a beautiful candle.

9. have a luxurious shower with your favourite music playing. wash your hair, scrub your body, brush your teeth. lather your whole body in moisturiser, get familiar with the part between your toes, your inner thighs, the back of your neck.

10. push yourself to go for a walk. take your headphones, go to the beach and walk. smile at strangers walking the other way and be surprised how many smile back. bring your dog and observe the dog’s behaviour. realise you can learn from your dog.

11. message old friends with personal jokes. reminisce. suggest a catch up soon, even if you don’t follow through. push yourself to follow through.

12. think long and hard about what interests you. crime? sex? boarding school? long-forgotten romance etiquette? find a book about it and read it. there is a book about literally everything.

13. become the person you would ideally fall in love with. let cars merge into your lane when driving. pay double for parking tickets and leave a second one in the machine. stick your tongue out at babies. compliment people on their cute clothes.

14. challenge yourself to not ridicule anyone for a whole day. then two. then a week. walk with a straight posture. look people in the eye. ask people about their story. talk to acquaintances so they become friends.

Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

In one of his most famous essays, “Politics and the English Language,” Orwell writes that “the following rules will cover most cases”:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which are used to seeing in print.

2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.

3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.

5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. (I’m charmed by his example: use “snapdragon,” not “antirrhinum.” Snapdragon is so much nicer.)

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