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11 Tips to Study Effectively | How I Study for Law Exams

Are you sick of getting bad grades in return for all your time and effort? From now on, you’re going to study effectively like an A-student!

After years of tweaking and improving my study strategy, I’ve finally reached a point where I study effectively.

A word of caution: Since every subject has different requirements, no one solution fits all.

These tips to study effectively are basic so that everyone can apply them. Still, I encourage you to modify them to your needs.

With that, let’s learn how to study effectively!

1. Speed!

One of the most important things I’ve had to learn was that time is a limited resource.

In my first semesters of studying Law, I spent so much time carefully preparing the study material that I had only a little time left for actual studying, which was proven painfully by my disappointing grades.

While I did put in lots of time studying, I didn’t invest that time into the right tasks. Therefore my grades didn’t represent my effort.

Over the years, I improved more and more. But as there was more material to study, I always discovered I was still way too slow in my preparation.

Nowadays, I rush through my study material preparation and almost immediately jump straight into the studying part.

The goal here is to get through all the necessary material as quickly as possible.

There will be a lot of things that will stick already in the first round. And because I know I have all my material organized already, I can spend more time towards the end on the most difficult things for me.

If I were to obsess over these things straight from the beginning, I often would run out of time to study the rest.

Many of the following tips will show you how to speed up the inefficient parts of studying.

But since this is such an important tip, I wanted to highlight it straight from the beginning.

So next time you see aesthetic Study Inspo images on Insta or Pinterest, enjoy them but don’t feel compelled to create your own.

It might be fun, but most likely not the most effective study strategy.

2. Aim to study better not longer

A few months ago, I stumbled across live study videos on YouTube.

Basically, these are students that film themselves while studying.

At first, as I saw that +6h, 9h, or even 12h study session videos, I felt motivated and a bit envious.

I thought, damn, I want to be a good student like them and put in badass study sessions.

But just as quickly as that thought came up, another flashed through my mind.

I thought: Hold on! I don’t want that. I don’t want that at all! I want excellent grades while studying little. Why would I even want to study 12h a day?! Let’s be honest, not even half of that time would be effective studying!

In fact, I’ve heard multiple times that the top students actually study less than the students slightly worse than them, because they study more effectively.

The amount of time you study does not linearly represent the grades you will get (despite what some professors try to tell you).

Sure, we all need a basic amount of studying.

But if you do it right, you can probably cut down your study time significantly and get better grades while doing it.

Ever since my last study strategy improvement, I now study basically only throughout the morning until lunch.

I get in around four productive hours of studying before lunch and then maybe add an hour or so in the evening on top of it.

Before that, basically, my whole day always stood under the big label of ‘STUDY TIME.’

But to be honest, that “study time” was sprinkled with distractions.

Now, I’m really consequent and intentional about study sessions before lunch. And after lunch, I allow myself to chill or do whatever needs to get done in my life.

And let me tell you, I’ve never been happier or more confident with my study strategy!

3. Ditch textbooks as your primary source for information

So, I don’t know what it’s like in the degree you are studying for, but in Law, pretty much EVERY professor always talks about how we should have a good textbook.

And therefore, that’s what I did throughout my first semesters. I diligently picked a textbook, and then I worked through it from beginning to end, highlighting happily.

The goal was to accumulate my study material out of the highlighted parts of the textbook in addition to the scripts the professors handed out.

The problem with using textbooks as your primary source of information is that they are often broad and cover many largely irrelevant niche topics.

And it takes time to read through this information, of course, and even more, time to convert them into study material.

So, looking at the ‘time-useful information’ ratio, textbooks are not the ideal source to create study material from – at least in my case.

So what do I do instead?

I work with the 80/20 rule and try to focus first on case books that provide the most important 80% of the information.

Only after I studied this information, I turn to additional sources like textbooks and commentaries for the other more specific 20% of the information, if I have time left.

So this tip to study effectively is that you should consider exercise books or the like as your primary source of information instead of textbooks.

I’m aware that this doesn’t work for every degree, but it is worth consideration.

4. Do practice exams even if you don’t feel ready yet!

Practise exams are invaluable!

There is literally no better way to study effectively than using practice exams.

If you have access to them, get yourself the exams of past years and try to solve them even before you feel entirely ready.

For my last exam, I wrote the previous eight exams the professor had created in realistic 5h exam conditions.

I didn’t even have the solutions for these practice exams but simply the act of solving them and seeing where I am struggling helped me immensely.

Also, it is extremely reassuring to realize that you can handle the difficulty level of a real exam.

Sometimes, the other exercises you might practice with are much more difficult or just different from what will be asked of you in the real exam.

Whether you have access to the real tests of the past years or you bought yourself a book full of exercises, make sure to start practicing with them very early on.

I am always hesitant to start doing practice exams or other exercises because I don’t feel I know enough of the subject yet.

However, since I learn the most from doing such exercises, I’ve seen the best results the sooner I started studying with them.

That’s why nowadays, I try to push myself as early as possible into studying with exercises instead of just memorizing the material, and I recommend you do the same.

5. Ditch reading – ask and answer questions instead!!!

For most of my life, I’ve always studied with the rode method. So basically reading the same information over and over again until I finally had punched it into my brain enough for it to stick.

No wonder I didn’t like memorization. It was ineffective and annoying.

On the contrary, I always loved studying for math because I rarely memorized anything; I just jumped ahead and did exercises. During the first few rounds, the results were wrong until I got the system and finally managed to do them right.

Studying for math was more fun and effective because it was a much more active process than rode memorization.

And after three years of studying Law, I’ve learned that active recall is also a much more effective study strategy for this subject.

So now, instead of reading over my notes time and time again, I create digital flashcards that ask me a question before I can see the answer.

The important part here is that you actually try to answer it yourself first before reading the correct answer!!!

This feels effortful and can take far, far more time than just reading the answer and moving on, but that’s exactly why it works so well!

From now on, I recommend your number one study technique to be active recall, be it in the form of flashcards or practice exams.

6. Anki – seriously, how do you even manage without Anki?!

In the previous point, I’ve mentioned digital flashcards. Anki is the program/app I use for these flashcards.

Now, what makes Anki so special?

Frankly, not much. Its value lies primarily in its automization of the intervals in which you should repeat your study material.

It just makes things easier for us students. For example, I have mountains of information I need to get into my head for my law exams.

It would be exhausting to remember which information I should study according to the forgetting curve.

With Anki, I don’t have to worry about that at all.

As soon as I have entered any kind of information into Anki, I can forget about it with the certainty that I will have memorized it until the exam if I do my flashcards daily.

I honestly don’t know how I would manage without Anki.

Depending on which Anki program you choose, the layout may look a bit overwhelming, but there are plenty of introductional YouTube videos to help you.

You can also choose a similar program as long as it uses a spacing effect based on the forgetting curve of Ebbinghaus (or anything similar).

One last word of warning, though: You need to do your flashcards daily, or else you will get entirely overwhelmed because they accumulate.

7. Go digital for organization and speed

Alright, so I’ve come a looooong way through loooootsss of experimentation and improvements to speed up the non-effective parts of my study routine.

As mentioned, I quickly realized that reading textbooks, writing notes, and listening to lectures are pretty much the most ineffective study methods out there.

The only thing they accomplished is wasting my time, and at best, I familiarize myself enough with a topic that I could say, ‘ah, yes I’ve heard about that somehwere before.‘

Another thing that can steal an immense amount of time is the preparation of study material.

I’ve made the process more effective step by step over the years:

First, I used handwritten flashcards (took AGES, near impossible to edit and takes up loads of space)
Then I purchased pre-made flashcards (didn’t work for me; often, I didn’t even know what they were trying to tell me)
Then I started typing out and printing flashcards (faster than writing manually, but still slow, it takes up space, and the printing costs money)
Then I used my typed flashcards digitally with Anki (much more effective because of the automation, however, typing and formating is still time-consuming)
Next, I took pictures of the paragraph with the information in my case book and turned them into photo flashcards with Anki (Seems quicker at first, but the uploading into the cloud, downloading on my laptop, labeling, and putting into Anki was still too time-consuming)
Now, I only type out a question for the front of the Anki flashcard, and on the back, I refer to the book and the page that holds the information. (So far, this is by far the quickest way to start studying without wasting time on preparation. It also doesn’t take too long to find the relevant page in the book)

8. If it feels hard, you’re doing it right!

If so many studies show reading and highlighting texts are fairly ineffective study methods, why do most students still do it?

Because it is easy and makes you feel productive.

But studying is similar to working out. Doing only easy exercises won’t build you those abs you are craving.

To get a sixpack, you have to do what feels difficult and takes up loads of energy.

The same goes for studying. You should spend most of your time studying in a way that takes effort.

This is what I was talking about earlier with active recall.

You also need to realize that you can’t have 9h study sessions filled with energy-draining but effective study methods like active recall.

But the good thing is that you don’t need to study that long if you study this effectively!

9. Know when to think short-term VS. long-term

There are times when it is wise to study only specific information on a subject that are more likely to be relevant.

Lots of students apply such short-term gambling when they anticipate the test questions.

However, other times it might be smarter to apply a more long-term strategy.

This can be in studying topics that might not be relevant for the next exam but for the more important exam in a few months.

I can’t give you a rule of thumb when to apply a short-term vs. a long-term strategy. It depends entirely on the situation you are in.

Just make sure to consider which strategy is the most effective one for you in any given situation.

10. Keep it simple

Don’t overcomplicate your study plan.

I know many students who seemingly do a million things simultaneously in a frantic attempt to get all the information into their heads.

Just hearing about their study plan stresses me out.

For many semesters, I also expected myself to have an intricate study strategy in preparation for the important Law finals that require all the knowledge of six semesters.

Now that I’ve actually reached this preparation stage, I’ve actually settled with a very simple plan. At the core of it are the lectures I plan to attend, one casebook per subject, flashcards, and one or two practice exams a week.

That’s it.

It was such a relief to realize that this simple plan is pretty much everything I need in preparation for my finals.

If you keep your study plan simple, you are avoiding being overwhelmed, and it will be much easier for you to stick with it.

Also, very likely, you don’t need to study in a million different ways to ace your tests. Simplicity is truly key.

11. You do you – dare to walk the path less traveled

Just because most people are studying a certain way doesn’t necessarily mean you should, too.

Take some time to seriously consider your options. And if you decide that this way of studying is not for you, don’t feel pressured to do it.

For example, in Germany, there are commercial preparation courses for the Law finals.

They are pretty expensive, but most students are simply too scared to try studying without these courses since seemingly everyone gets this help.

Even now, that my Uni offers the same kind of preparation without charge, many students rather keep paying a huge sum of money because they are stuck in the herd mentality and scared to break out of it.

Granted, perhaps some of them actually see the commercial courses as superior over the free one, but I can’t help but feel like most of it is due to fear of going against the stream.

Don’t be one of those people.

Choose the option that seems most fitted to you, and that will help you to study effectively.

You do you. Always remember that.

BONUS – Loci Method

If you’ve been interested in study techniques for a while now, you might have come across memorization techniques like the loci method.

Basically, this method is all about creating mind palaces, in which you visualize obscure images for each information you want to learn.

For example, if you want to memorize the periodic table, you create one image for each element and mentally place them around your house.

When you visualize yourself walking through your house, you will see these images and associate them with the element they are connected to. And voila, you can rattle down the periodic table forwards and backward without much problem.

The best part about this technique is its reliability. Once you’ve stacked your mind palace with images that work for you, you will be able to recall them almost effortlessly for a long time.

The biggest downside I’ve discovered is that it takes a lot of effort to tap into your imagination and creativity to create such a mind palace.

Many topics are not easily convertible into an image, and attempting to do so takes up an immense amount of time, which doesn’t help you study effectively.

Depending on what you study, it might be worth a try.

The loci technique works especially well with any kind of list you are trying to memorize.

If you are interested, check out the book Moonwalking with Einstein. I also have it listed on my Reading List for Personal Growth.

Well, what was your favorite tip to study effectively, and do you have some of your own you’d like to share?

Until next time!

Sophie

How to study smarter - 11 tips for students

How to Be an Overnight Success Book Review | Lessons + Quotes

Blog, Books, Boss Lady, Success

One week has passed, and I have a new book to share with you. Today’s book review is about “How to Be an Overnight Success” by Maria Hatzistefanis.

As always, I tried to collect lessons for you that you won’t already get by merely looking at the index and the chapter titles.

So if you’ve read the book already, this will be a good recap for you, and if you haven’t read it yet, there is still much to learn, so don’t hesitate to grab your own copy.

Reading Experience

Frankly, I was a bit disappointed by this book.

While it was interesting to read about the author’s entrepreneurial rise and the challenges she overcame, I felt the book was too much storytelling and too little general advice.

I guess my disappointment stems more from my false expectations than the actual quality of the book.

Overall, it is a good and interesting read that can teach you a few things about making it in the makeup industry.

1. Overnight success is based on patience and hard work

“I have yet to find a brand that was created overnight and had a sustainable business model. Overnight success is really just overnight exposure.”
– Maria Hatzistefanis (How to Be an Overnight Success)

This really wasn’t a shocker to me. While ‘How to be an Overnight Success’ is a catchy title, I knew there is no real overnight success in most cases.

There goes lots of experimenting, planning, and planting seeds into preparing for that one breakthrough moment.

This basically tells you that no matter how long you’ve been trying to get your business off the ground, you could be mere days away from having overnight success.

It’s a very uplifting thought that will keep me going whenever I am frustrated by my efforts’ lack of results.

#1 Actionable Idea

Ditch the habit of looking out for that one big chance. Instead, make a plan of daily habits that you can commit to that will get you closer to the success you’re aiming for.

For example, I just started writing blog posts. I stopped waiting for the perfect business idea to strike me and instead simply went ahead and started a blog.

I worked every day, 7 days a week, for around 2h each on it, and with time I developed competence, confidence, and a strategy.

So just start.

2. You can’t rest on overnight success

“It takes years to make an overnight success. And once you are there you have to keep challenging yourself. Do not stand still, do not stagnate.”
– Maria Hatzistefanis (How to Be an Overnight Success)

I’m sure you can think of a few celebrities or businesses that had a comet-like rise to fame, only to seemingly vanish into thin air a few years later.

Perhaps we can count PokemonGo as an example.

Anyway, this proofs what Maria Hatzistefanis is teaching in her book. Success only remains through continuous effort.

It’s like the saying goes, if you’re not growing, you’re dying. So if you are in this game with the expectation of early retirement after your breakthrough moment, then you’re clearly not cut out to be an entrepreneur.

#2 Actionable Idea

Make sure to remind yourself after your next small or significant success that now is not the time to stop the hard work.

You have to keep going to keep the success alive and build on top of it. Once your success seems stable enough, you can put in place systems that do the work so you can relax more.

3. Lack of knowledge can be your competitive advantage when building a business

“If I was coming from the beauty industry and realised how much work it takes, I would probably not have done it. But again, my naivety helped me a long way.”
– Maria Hatzistefanis (How to Be an Overnight Success)

I’ve thought the same thing so many times throughout my life!

The first time I had this realization was after an excruciatingly long hike. I had no idea how far the distance actually would be. So after each corner, I told myself, ‘just one corner more then I’m there.‘

Safe to say, it ended up taking much longer for us to reach our hiking destination, and in the end, I was so incredibly glad I didn’t know beforehand how long it would take.

Same story with my business.

I naively hoped to start seeing results after three or six months. I am now approaching my 2nd anniversary and am yet to gain an income. If I had known how long and expensive this journey would be, it would have taken more effort to get started.

#3 Actionable Idea

If you’ve been holding back to start a business because you thought you knew too little about it, get out your journal.

Write down this limiting belief, how it makes you feel and when it comes up.

Then do some research and write a bit about successful people, that have started something with zero knowledge.

Ask yourself: If they could do it, why shouldn’t you?

4. When in doubt, try it out – Failure is better than regret

Ah, I love this lesson. I’ve really made the experience that you end up making the best choices if you consider regret in your decision-making process.

We only have one life after all, and there is no rewind button, so we have this one try at every opportunity presented to us.

If the worst-case scenario is merely uncomfortable but not unbearable, then you should most likely go for it.

Start that business, even if you don’t know where it’ll lead you.

Publish that book, even if you’re not sure if people will be interested in it.

Buy that course, even if it might end up not teaching you anything new.

After you’ve taken action, you’ll be wiser, and you won’t have to bother yourself with ‘what-ifs.’

#4 Actionable Idea

Next time, when you’re unsure about doing something, ask yourself directly and honestly how you would feel later on if you said no to this opportunity.

Would there be regret?

What would failure entail? Could you handle it?

If so, try it out and risk failure. Ask yourself these questions again and again whenever you are confronted with an opportunity.

5. Stop worrying about the competition

“It’s not about beating competition, it’s about becoming better than yourself. It’s about pushing your limits every single day.”
– Maria Hatzistefanis (How to Be an Overnight Success)

I’ve noticed this myself. At the beginning of my business journey, I was worrying a lot about competing with other content creators.

After all, they have been at it for years and have created seemingly every content piece that can be made. What do I have that could compete with that?

Nowadays, I barely ever worry about competitors. I see them as inspiration of what is possible and what works.

Beyond that, my main focus is always on myself. I always ask myself what I could improve and how I could create something new.

That way, I have had a few unique ideas already, and I am increasingly feeling confident in my role as an entrepreneur with unique value to share.

#5 Actionable Idea

If you are still obsessed with your competition, cut them out of your life.

Stop looking at their Insta feeds or their websites. Perhaps you need to delete Instagram entirely to keep yourself from seeing them, or you can mute their accounts.

Whatever you do, make sure you stay clear of them for a few weeks. During that time, you should solely focus on your work. Try to come up with unique ideas. Don’t worry about what others do; just do it your way.

That way, you will develop more confidence in your competency and uniqueness. Once you have a sufficient amount of it, you can slowly start to look at competitors again.

But make sure to do it purely from an inspirational perspective instead of a judging one.

6. You represent your brand, so act accordingly

“The reality is that as a brand owner you represent your brand and, if you want your brand to be recognised, you need to build your personal brand too. Your company and your personal brand go hand in hand.”
– Maria Hatzistefanis (How to Be an Overnight Success)

This might be the lesson that was the most novel to me. Until I read ‘How to be an Overnight Success,’ I’ve never really thought about it this way.

Mainly because I am not really using social media privately. But it’s not just about that.

Even entrepreneurs that work behind the scenes and are mostly staying anonymous step into the spotlight at least once or twice.

Even or perhaps especially for them, it is important to align their appearance with the brand since they don’t have many chances to present themselves to their customers.

I’ve noticed that the person behind a brand can make me more or less excited about the brand and its products.

In that sense, I am now aware of the responsibility I am carrying as a business owner, and I will be ready to represent my brand accordingly.

#6 Actionable Idea

If you do have a personal social media presence, take stock of it for a moment.

Does it look aligned with your business brand?

It doesn’t need to be 100% in the same aesthetic and tone of voice; after all, you are your own person.

You should just make sure to not sent entirely mixed messages.

If you have a vegan business, you might not want pictures of you eating meat on your personal Insta.

Or, if you have a fitness business, you might not want too many pictures of you lazing about and eating junk food.

7. Dress to impress

“Dress for success. Don’t dress for the job you have, dress for the job you want.”
– Maria Hatzistefanis (How to Be an Overnight Success)

“That was the moment I realised that being successful and looking good at all times go together.”
– Maria Hatzistefanis (How to Be an Overnight Success)

I’ve talked about this so.many.times!!!

I’ve also noticed this very lesson in various series and movies:

Perhaps you are afraid of having to dress chicé in daily life. Don’t worry; that’s not necessarily required to ‘dress to impress.’

The key is to ask yourself who you want to impress. If you’re going to impress corporate employers, a business chicé style will be the right choice.

But perhaps you are in the Art or Fashion scene, and you want to showcase your unique taste. In that case, clashing colors, chunky jewelry, ribbed or sheer clothing could be absolutely perfect for impressing the right people.

As mentioned before, you represent your brand. Any fashion sense that is in alignment with your branding is going to aid your success.

In other words: Dressing to impress means being aware of who you want to impress and consciously fitting your style to reflect what you are aiming for.

#7 Actionable Idea

Clean out your wardrobe and throw away things you don’t feel good in and unflattering items.

Don’t go on a massive shopping spree afterward!

Only buy the things you need right now and buy them fitting to your personal color pallet. Each new item should be wearable with at least 3 other things.

Find more tips here: 11 Fashion Hacks For Stylish Women

8. What makes people successful is not their motivation but their consistency

“At least I show up, and keeping consistency is more important than waiting for that day that you are fully motivated.”
– Maria Hatzistefanis (How to Be an Overnight Success)

Getting motivated is the easy part. It only takes one YouTube video, an Instagram post, or a conversation to encourage most people to change their lives and do something challenging.

But as quickly as that motivation comes, it also wanes. Successful people get bored and lose motivation just as much as ordinary people.

The key that differentiates them is their consistency and determination to work through the boredom.

Doing a high-intensity 2h workout when you are motivated won’t get you the dream body. Doing 30min exercises every day will if you stay consistent.

Writing 10 blog posts in one day won’t result in 5-figure blogging business. Writing one post every week consistently will do that.

Motivation is excellent, and you should definitely take advantage of it whenever it strikes you. However, it is no requirement for success, and if you keep relying on it, you will never get there.

#8 Actionable Idea

Take stock of your daily habits.

What habits do you want to do daily but not always manage to do so?

Turn them into Atomic Habits.

Make them so small and easy to accomplish that it takes no motivation at all to do them.

Besides, make sure to imbed them into your day in a way that will make them naturally turn into the full habit you had initially planned.

For example, I wanted to meditate 10 min a day. But it was difficult, and I was inconsistent about it.

After experimenting, I figured out that I can be effortlessly consistent with meditating 5 min first thing after I wake up.

9. Focus more on your strengths than your weaknesses

“Focus on your strengths rather than your weaknesses – obviously, it’s good to be aware of your weaknesses but you need to ensure you don’t make these your focal point otherwise they can undermine your confidence in yourself!”
– Maria Hatzistefanis (How to Be an Overnight Success)

Confidence changes everything. There are countless stories of people achieving the most remarkable things by being confident, while more capable people who lack confidence can’t get the job done.

Being confident is virtually impossible if all you are focusing on are your flaws. This will cause you to doubt yourself in whatever you do.

You will think, ‘I can’t do this’ more often than ‘I can do this!‘

While it is essential to be aware of your weaknesses, that’s all you need to be: aware of them.

You don’t have to focus on them all the time. It’s enough to figure them out once and store them in the back of your mind for relevant situations.

But your primary focus should always be on your strengths and accomplishments.

You need to be your biggest cheerleader.

#9 Actionable Idea

In addition to writing down three things that you are grateful for each day (truly a must-do habit, I hope you’ve included it into your daily routine already), write down one thing that makes you worthy of success.

What are you good at? Why do you deserve all the success of your dreams?

This exercise will build your self-worth and confidence, enabling you to achieve bigger success in life.

10. Never stop learning and changing

“You will find that the most successful people in the world never say, ‘Oh I am so successful, this is it.’ They reinvent themselves. It’s all about learning and progressing.”
– Maria Hatzistefanis (How to Be an Overnight Success)

Our world is changing at a pace as rapidly as never before. It would be naive to expect that things you learn today will still be relevant in five or ten years.

If you want to stay on top of the game, you always have to continue learning. For example, every time a new social media platform gains popularity, you have to be there and figure out how to use it most effectively.

The good part about this is that if you make an effort to spend some time learning something new each and every day, it will become effortless.

Learning is challenging if you do it in phases. After each non-learning phase, studying something new takes a lot of effort.

Just like after summer break while you were still in school, studying took you longer than it took you during exam time.

So make learning a daily habit. If you never stop learning, you will quickly adapt to the market changes and keep your business afloat.

#10 Actionable Idea

Do you have carved out some time each day to learn something new?

This can be in the form of listening to podcasts while you walk your dog or workout.

Perhaps you ditch some of your Netflix time for informational YouTube videos.

Or you could find at least 20min each day to read a non-fiction book like “How to Be an Overnight Success.”

Maybe you are very keen on growing into a better version, and you even decide to do all of these things.

11. The better you feel, the more productive and creative you are

Have a daily workout regime, whether it is a HIT workout, weight training, hiking, dancing, yoga, walking your dog – just make sure to move your body. The endorphins created that way will help you in your pursuit of overnight success.

Dress to feel great. We’ve already talked about dressing to impress, but your style should also alleviate your own mood. If you feel stylish, powerful, or sexy in your clothing, you are more likely to deliver outstanding work than in your pajamas.

Perhaps the most crucial groundwork you can lay for success is personal well-being.

If you feel good, you perform better, you are motivated more quickly, you have better discipline, and you are more creative.

So make sure to always feel good in your skin.

Buy clothes that you love, even just for wearing them at home.
Take care of any health problems immediately.
Declutter your environment.
Have a weekly grooming routine.
Sleep well.
Drink lots of water.
Eat fresh food and take your supplements if necessary.

Just make sure you feel good all-around, and everything on your way to success will become a lot easier.

#11 Actionable Idea

What are you wearing while you are working at home? How does it make you feel? Maybe try wearing things you would usually only wear outside and see if that changes your productivity and overall mood.

What other things can you identify that make you feel ‘bleh‘ daily? Tackle one after the other and try to improve them by just a tiny fraction each.

Even tiny changes can reap significant results.

What are your thoughts?

Have you read “How to Be an Overnight Success” by Maria Hatzistefanis already?

What was the most eye-opening lesson you’ve learned from the book or this list?

I’m looking forward to sharing more great books with you.

Sophie

How to Be an Overnight Success Book Review | 11 Lessons + Quotes

11 Rules Of Success From The Teen Wolf Women

Blog, Boss Lady, Success

The women of Teen Wolf are smart, fierce, and overall impressive. Let’s take a look at the rules of success we can learn from them.

The following list mainly focuses on Lydia Martin and includes Allison Argent, Melissa McCall, and Kira Yukimura at some points.

If you love analyzing series and movies for life lessons and you enjoy this list, make sure you check out the other lists in this series:

1. Use your assets to your advantage

Lydia is hot, and she knows it. She’s also very willing to use that to her advantage whenever she can.

Allison is talented at archery from a young age. In the early series, we finally saw her taking advantage of that skill she had previously deemed just a hobby.

Same thing with Kira and her sword-fighting skills.

Most of the time, we’re so focused on all the traits and things that we don’t have that we entirely disregard all the skills and attributes we already own.

Look at what you already have. It can be anything from good looks and style to charismatic charm or extensive knowledge in skincare.

Literally, ANYTHING could aid you on your journey of success.

Many people end up turning a passion they’ve had since childhood or their teens into a ragingly successful business or career.

Now it’s your turn. What are your assets, and how can you use them for success? There is always a way!

2. Don’t hide the difficulties you’ve overcome – be proud of them and let them make you stronger!

“Someone Tried To Strangle Me And I Survived; I Don’t Need To Hide That.”
– Lydia Martin

The adversities you’ve overcome and the problems you’ve solved have become some of your biggest strengths.

Countless people have created a whole business around the lessons they learned while working through a problem. Now, they make money, helping others overcome this issue quicker, and less painful than they had to.

Lydia, Allison, Malia, and Kira have all faced challenges and adversities of some kind that could have broken them. But they not only overcame them but learned how to thrive through them.

Start looking at every challenge in your life as free training from the Universe to prepare you for your future life.

How has the pandemic trained you? What did you learn from losing your job or from not getting into the college of your dreams?

What did you learn from that painfully failed relationship? In which ways are you better than your past self through failing that exam?

Stop looking at your failures with shame. Be proud of overcoming that experience and using what it taught you to create a more successful life.

3. Only by taking risks can you save others

“I Don’t Want To Be Safe; I Want To Save Stiles.”
– Lydia Martin

If you want to be a leader with raging success who changes people’s lives, you have to be willing to take risks.

You will never be able to make a significant impact in the world if you timidly sit on the safe sideline.

I’m not saying go out there and spend all your savings on one far-fetched business opportunity.

Our Teen Wolf women also didn’t throw themselves unnecessarily and without any kind of plan into danger.

What they did do is not cower away when danger approached. Instead, they prepared themselves, and when the time came, they strategically and instinctively went into the battle.

That’s what you need to do. Stop avoiding any kind of risk for fear of failure.

Sometimes, the risk of failure is well worth the potential reward.

4. Work in silence and stun them with your results

Unless they get to know Lydia more, most people perceive her as a very superficially pretty, and popular girl.

She downplays her intellect by making dumb comments – which is entirely unnecessary, though.

However, it does create a striking contrast to her silent achievements.

She has an immensely high IQ, and her EQ is also far from bad.

Without people noticing it, she regularly scores the best grades while at the same time battling the supernatural and figuring out her powers, all without much help.

The point is, your results matter, regardless of whether other people recognize them as such.

Work in silence towards your goals relentlessly. It’s much easier to do so if you don’t have to fight against a stream of unwanted attention by small-minded people.

5. Know how to take care of yourself; don’t rely on others to save you

Lydia learns self-defense when she’s sick of playing the role of damsel in distress.

She wants to protect herself. She wants to do the saving for once instead of being saved by others.

Allison picks up archery again when she gets sick of feeling so damn scared and helpless.

She knows she is not made for being helpless, and she takes matters into her own hand to fulfill her potential.

Knowing how to take care of yourself doesn’t mean you should be one of those men-bashing women who are all about ‘who needs men, I’m a strong independent woman!‘

No, be grateful if people offer you help and accept it if there is no good reason other than your ego to say no.

We all love helping someone out. And especially men love helping women out since most men’s primary energy is masculine, which is very giving by nature.

Most women’s primary energy is feminine, which makes them cherish receiving. We can see that being reflected in endless fictional stories, where women find their prince charming, who opens the door for them, or gives her his jacket.

The important thing is, you can receive very well without needing to rely on it. Obviously, you can open a door for yourself, but it’s a sweet gesture if someone cares enough to do it for you. So why not cherish that?

So learn to take care of yourself as Lydia and Allison did.

Practice self-defense.

Learn different languages.

Get a degree.

Know how to change a tire.

Know how to drive a car.

Be informed about your finances.

Have all the skills necessary to take care of yourself. But if somebody offers to help you, don’t turn them down simply to prove yourself.

You don’t need to prove your strength to anyone. You simply need to be strong when it counts.

6. Always improve yourself

It takes Lydia quite a long time to get a grip on her banshee powers.

Unsurprisingly so, as she’s the only Banshee around. There is no alpha there to teach her.

For a long time, her powers scared and confused her. But as she started to get a real handle of them, boy did she become powerful!

Kira also struggled to get the hang of her Kitsune powers. With a lot of practice and determination, she eventually manages to get the hang of them.

As mentioned before, you should use your already existing assets to your advantage.

In addition to that, you should definitely also develop your strengths further and make the most out of them.

So, you are a natural speaker. How can you be even more charismatic in front of an audience?

If you’re great at socializing, how can you improve that skill to reap even more rewards from it? Perhaps learning how to remember names with ease would help you.

Appreciating and using your strengths is a crucial step to make. But truly successful people never just settle for being right. They want to be great, to be outstanding and exceptional!

So improve yourself with unrivaled determination. There is much more potential in you than you expect.

7. Make badass and out of the box friends

As Teen Wolf progresses, Lydia grows stronger bonds with Scott, Stiles, Allison, Malia, Kira, and others.

Together their circle of friends becomes smarter and stronger. They bring out the best in each other, and they help the other whenever they are struggling.

Also, they are very different people with very different skill sets. This is a considerable advantage since when they come together, it makes them unstoppable.

Work on having friends as Lydia Martin does.

I know it’s not as easy as going out and buying yourself a pair of shoes (which, to be honest, is not that easy with my small shoe size, either, but you get the point).

Sometimes, all you can do is improve yourself and have faith that you will find your tribe.

But to do that, you have to be open about the different personalities that they might have.

Sure, you probably want to stick to some rigid core criteria, like no criminals or junkies or whatnot.

But don’t dismiss the dorky or nerdy or jock type just because you’ve never even considered having friends like that.

Sometimes, the best kind of friends are strikingly different from us in some ways.

Just like Lydia and Stiles or Malia. Yet, they work out, don’t they?

8. You have the power to create your own life, so use it!

“There’s No Such Thing As Fate.”
– Allison Argent

All of the Teen Wolf pack are incredible at taking life into their own hands instead of leaving things up for fate to decide.

And let’s be honest, they could have so very quickly decided that fate condemned them for how many times the world caught fire with them in the middle of the inferno.

You have the same power to create your own life, so use it!

9. Always fight for what’s important to you

Allison, for example, wouldn’t stand for the way her family treated supernatural beings. She knew better, and she fiercely stood for it.

You will always have more endurance to fight for the things that are important to you, something you are passionate about.

Instead of being miserable and doing a half-ass job with things others tell you are essential, stand up for your values and passions.

Swim against the current and lead the life you deserve instead of the life others have planned for you!

10. Be your own support system; be your own cheerleader

“Be Your Own Anchor.”
– Melissa McCall

I believe we can all agree that Melissa McCall is one of our fiercely brave women of Teen Wolf. So let’s include her in this.

In the beginning, Scott had used Allison as his anchor to ground himself in his humanity and not lose himself to his supernatural side.

After they broke up, he struggled and got some advice from his mother.

I like to interpret this advice as we need to be there for ourselves and can’t solely rely on others.

We are social beings that crave to be accepted and supported by others. However, relying solely on this support can be detrimental to our success.

In times of change, when you are about to take the risk to start building a business, for example, chances are you will not have an anchor in your inner circle.

If you are the first of your pack to ever do something like this, there might not be many cheerleaders edging you on.

If you are solely anchored in their approval and their support, then you will never take the steps necessary to create a bigger life than they can ever imagine.

You need to anchor yourself within you first and foremost. Be your own cheerleader and your own support system.

Know yourself enough to pull yourself out of the dark and motivate yourself to keep working towards your goal.

If you find additional support from elsewhere: Awesome!

But you should never rely on it. Be your own anchor first and foremost.

11. If you’re going through hell, keep going

Yes, this is basically one of those cringy bumper stickers, but I’d like to look at it from a slightly lighter perspective.

While we know to keep persevering through hard times because there is light at the end of the tunnel, most people don’t apply the same principle to less dire situations.

What about that hobby you are trying to get the hang of but always fail at.

What about your math grades that seemingly never improve no matter how much effort you put in.

And what about that bad habit you’re trying to quit but always fall back into.

If we all know to keep going through hell, why do so few of us keep going through slightly challenging and far from hellish situations?

Why do we need our world to go up in flames before developing discipline, determination, and resilience?

Don’t be one of those people who need the worst to happen for them to finally learn the lesson.

Learn it now!

Learn to keep going when things get challenging. You wanted to have a successful business after three months, and two years later, you still haven’t earned $100? So, what? Do you still want that business? Well, then keep going until you have it!

I know you have it in you to achieve great things. The only thing you need is for someone to finally say the right something in the right moment and flip that switch inside you that activates your truly unstoppable self.

I hope this might have flipped that switch or at least loosened it for easier flipping later on. ;D

Well, that’s it for this list. What was your favorite rule of success? Can you think of any additional ones?

Also, who is your favorite boss babe from Teen Wolf?

Until next time,

Sophie

11 tips for successful women from Teen Wolf

11 Rules Of Success From Spencer Hastings Of Pretty Little Liars

Blog, Boss Lady, Success

Spencer Hastings is the Pretty Little Liars girls’ sarcastic and academically ambitious brain. Let’s discover her rules of success.

I love approaching fiction as entertainment and as a chance to learn something.

Whether conscious or not, the creators of fiction often include many valuable nuggets of wisdom in their creation, and it would be an utter shame to not take advantage of that.

That’s why I have this whole series where I collect tips for success from movies, series, and books. If you like Spencer Hastings’s Rules of Success, you should definitely check out the following:

But now, let’s get into it!

1. Research, Research, and do some more research

The information you need is out there, girl. Go get it!

Spencer spends tons of time hunched over her laptop researching for school or something A-related.

She is a master at finding and extracting facts.

And in times like these, when we seemingly drown in the amount of information we get from every direction, this is a crucial skill for success.

Stop taking the first information about a topic you’ve received as the ultimate truth. Do your own research first!

It’s baffling to me how many people nowadays honestly believe all the information they see on social media within the blink of an eye. This always becomes very apparent during times of election all around the world.

There are always at least two sides to a coin. And if you believe you have seen them all, you are probably one of the people least informed.

Unfortunately, this rule of doing extensive research also applies to health issues.

In general, you should never ever blindly trust doctor google. However, you should also be careful to blindly trust doctors with a medical degree.

They want to help you to the best of their abilities; that’s without question. However, they can’t always do their best if they haven’t been taught the best methods during their medical studies.

There are so many unique medical concerns that are so extensive that rarely one person can overlook them all.

That’s why people manage to build a whole business around managing migraines or getting rid of acne and PCOS.

They spend every day on that topic, so obviously, they will have more significant expertise in this than a general doctor.

So if your doctor tells you that for 100 years, science knows that acne can’t be cured naturally and that you should take some medicine for years, that is potentially liver and kidney damaging (true story – luckily, I knew better already than taking that advice), don’t just take this as the ultimate truth.

Please broaden your opinion and sources of information through extensive research, as Spencer Hasting would do.

And I mean extensive! Don’t just click on the first three google links; read through them for 20 min, and call it a day.

Do it like somebody is holding a gun to your head, telling you to find all information on this topic.

Once you have those, you are well-informed to decide on any further course of action.

2. Know Your Skills

Spencer is very aware of her strengths and weaknesses. She knows she is a fantastic strategist, can keep a cool head, intimidate people, find information, and stubbornly stick to a project until she succeeds.

Knowing her skills not only served her very well during her school time. She also turned them into her career as a lobbyist and later lawyer.

Knowing your skills makes it easier for you to choose the tasks you’re best at.

It also clarifies which skills you should acquire if they’re not in your toolset yet.

Know your skills. You’ll set more realistic goals for yourself, delegate and outsource smarter, and feel more confident in your decision to take on a task.

3. Avoid Lies Because Of Their Long Tail

Alright, I know what you’re thinking. Doesn’t Spencer Hastings lie at least once every episode?

Well, yes. However, I think she’s often learned that lies have long tails and can cause staggeringly bigger problems than you’d ever expect.

So, I think it is fair to say that a lesson for Spencer Hastings’ success would be to avoid lies if possible.

4. Know who you can trust

Spencer Hastings and the rest of the Pretty Little Liars clique have learned what happens if you trust the wrong person.

Now, I hope no one out there is blackmailing or trying to hurt you.

However, knowing who to trust is still essential in daily life.

For example, you should know who you can afford to tell about your new goal. It needs to be someone who uplifts you and doesn’t infuse you with their doubts.

Telling people about your outrageous goals and having them criticize you for it can turn into your most significant obstacle, if not downfall.

Read also: 11 Easy Ways To Honor Your Privacy

5. People can change

Spencer Hastings and her friends could have had endless reasons to mistrust Mona for the rest of their lives.

And they did heavily mistrust her for quite a while after they learned more about her.

However, they did give her a chance in the end and benefitted greatly from having a mastermind like her on their side.

Being resentful keeps you from being truly happy and possibly destroys beautiful opportunities for success for you.

I’m not saying to forgive and forget within the blink of an eye. You should always remember.

But you need to be able to forgive and grant a second chance to people that prove themselves worthy of it through their actions.

6. Don’t be a mindless follower

Save to say, Allison did quite the number on her friends during their pre-series friendship.

She was a master at balancing carrots and sticks and kept them wrapped around her little finger, ready to do her bidding.

I imagine Spencer and her friends didn’t even notice slipping into that fellowship initially.

However, over its course, multiple moments of realization left each feeling uneasy in this friendship.

Instead of continuing to be a mindless follower because it was comfortable and calculatable enough, Spencer Hastings should have stood up for her values.

She should have done something much sooner because the long-term effects of Allison’s manipulations have haunted her for years to come.

7. Be the leader if you can’t follow a good one

Spencer Hastings knows how to step up and be a leader if the situation demands it.

In many situations, she has been the leader of her friend group. She’s done what others weren’t willing to do, and she’s constructed the plans that moved them forward or onto safe ground.

Few people dare to take the lead nowadays.

I remember many group assignments in school in which nobody wanted to be the first to propose an idea or the one to do the presentation.

Instead, everyone silently sat there, hoping for one of the others to speak up.

The same can be seen during all kinds of projects in the economy.

Many poorly managed companies struggle with a lack of willing people to lead and take responsibility.

You might have experienced one of those phone calls where the guy at the service hotline connects you to his colleague who is supposedly responsible for your query. Only this second guy connects you to another colleague, and after a few reconnections, you end up with guy no. 1 but none the wiser.

Spencer Hastings hates a reluctance to take responsibility.

She’d much rather do what’s uncomfortable herself and take responsibility so that the group as a whole can move forward more quickly.

That’s what makes out a great leader!

8. Brush up your networking skills

I get it. Networking sounds fake, bothersome, and, overall, as much fun as having your teeth pulled out. Especially if you are an introvert like me.

The thing is, connections really do make an immense difference in life.

If you are not blessed by being born into strong nepotism, you must create those life-changing connections yourself.

Spencer makes good use of her connections, whether securing a place in a college or getting the information she desperately needs.

She is neither afraid to make new acquaintances nor put them to fair use later.

I don’t recommend squeezing your connections for all their worth. That can hardly be called networking.

Instead, try to approach every new acquaintance of yours with one question in mind: How can I provide value for them first? What do they want, and what do they need?

If you can provide value for others even before you have asked anything of them, you earn not only a long-term connection but also one who will jump at the opportunity to give back to you.

11 smart tips for success to learn from Spencer Hastings

9. Don’t try to be as perfect as others; simply do your best

Spencer has been fighting to be as “perfect” as her sister for a very long time.
Spencer Hastings is brilliant in her own right, but it was never enough for her unless she beat her older sister.

Her obsessive competitiveness runs her into the ground.

Especially considering the more challenging circumstances, her sister didn’t have to go through.

Furthermore, Spencer discovers that neither her sister nor her parents are as perfect as she had once believed them to be.

If you look out for it, you will realize that this is generally a recurring theme in life.

Nothing is quite as perfect as it seems.

That course your university offers with the excellent degree advertised a lot throughout your lectures isn’t as prestigious once you’re in it. It’s okay, but not outstanding.

And that person you’ve idolized surely has bad habits and problematic opinions that you don’t vibe with.

Nobody and nothing is entirely perfect. So don’t force that unrealistic standard upon yourself. Simply do your very best.

10. Do the dirty work

Spencer does not shy back from doing the dirty work. If nobody wants to do it, she ends up doing it. Be it breaking in somewhere, spying on someone, stealing something, or climbing over freakin’ high balconies.

Granted, she does it as Team Sparia sometimes, so it’s not like she’s always doing it alone.

Anyway, the point being she gets the job done.

Staggeringly many people have all those dreams and goals and complain about never reaching them when, in all actuality, they are simply not willing to do the uncomfortable work to get there.

I still can’t believe how many people fall for quick fixes like ‘lose half your weight overnight with this magic shake’ or ‘become a billionaire within two weeks by copy and pasting this process.’

I mean, really? Come on, people …

You will never be able to win big by putting on your fuzzy slippers, making yourself a warm tea, and cuddling up with your blanket on your bed while staring at your vision board.

You have to actually go out there and do … you know, THE WORK.

It is often a surefire sign that something will make a massive difference if it forces you to step outside your comfort zone.

So do it!

11. Be true to yourself

And lastly, Spencer teaches us to be true to ourselves.

Throughout PLL, many people criticize Spencer for who she is, most noticeably her family and Allison.

And while she does experience many stumbles on the journey and sometimes has to learn how to control her more destructive habits, in the end, she stays true to herself.

She’s still the slightly scary, overambitious, caring, and loyal Spencer she was all along.

Actually, even more so now, after she learned not to let others force her into being someone, she clearly isn’t.

She will not bully someone or let them win at tennis just to achieve success and fame.

She knows she can do so on pure talent and hard work, which she sticks to.

Alright, that’s it. How did you like it, lovely Felicity Seekers?

Are there any other things you’ve learned about success from Spencer while being annoyed with the girls’ stupid choices at times?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on it!

Also, have you watched Pretty Little Liars from beginning to end (write 1), or are you stuck somewhere in between (write 2)?

Before watching the second half of the last season, I wanted to rewatch the whole series, and now I’m kind of stuck in season 3 ^^’.

Let’s hope I can finally finish it this year before Netflix might take it out of the program.

Have a lovely day, Felicity Seekers, and I’m thrilled to bring you the next part of this rules of success series soon!

11 Rules Of Success From James Delaney Of Taboo

Blog, Success

James Delaney in the series Taboo has fascinated many of us. So let’s look at what rules of success we can learn from him.

I love the many intricate strategies that were in play throughout the plot of Taboo.

As I looked back on the series, I noticed that James Delaney shows many qualities and habits that would help us all on our way to success.

And since we are all students for life and have room for improvement, we can do our best to learn from people like him, fictional or not.

Read also: 11 Rules Of Success From Inception

1. Never let them see your whole hand

James Delaney always got an ace in his back pocket.

Whenever his enemies think they’ve got him, they are surprised by his move.

Be it his knowledge about treaty negotiations or him creating a last will.

Whatever move he makes or knowledge he has, he doesn’t share with anyone unless necessary for his plan.

He works silently in the shadows so that people underestimate him.

I hope you are not in danger of being murdered over a piece of land. Still, it can be very beneficial for you to keep your moves and plans silent.

For example, I didn’t tell anyone about how I was starting a business and pursuing financial freedom for years.

I silently worked every day on it, but I didn’t share my extraordinary plans with the people who were content with their ordinary lives.

And fortunately, I didn’t! My business took quite a while to start producing any income. It would have frustrated and embarrassed me immensely if people had kept asking how it was going.

But without anyone knowing, it was just me and the doubts I had to work with. And then one day, I was just like, ‘guess what? I’ve been working on it for years.‘

So, always carefully consider when and whom you tell things that are important to you in any shape or form.

2. Be unpredictable; let them think you are mad

“People who do not know me soon come to understand that I do not have any sense.”
– James Delaney

James Delaney carefully crafts his image of madness and takes full advantage.

If people think you are mad and unpredictable, they will usually think twice about crossing your path or even trying to stab you in the back.

Of course, an image of unpredictableness is not ideal for a leader if he wants his team to trust him. But this kind of image directed outward of one’s inner circle can help keep unwanted people away.

3. Know how to convince people

Sometimes Taboo feels like a series about James Delaney convincing people because he does a remarkable amount of convincing for such a short series.

He convinces Lorna, Zilpha, Atticus, Helga, and others to help him or do as he wishes.

To do so, he uses different tactics: bribes, threats, logic, and relentlessness.

In life, you will often find yourself needing other people’s help. For these situations, you need to master the art of convincing.

The most effective way is to give them something they want–sometimes even long before you ask anything of them.

4. No reward without risk

James needs the gun powder – urgently.

So he has to take a very high risk to produce it, a risk no sane person would take, except if the reward is worth the risk.

Generally, success won’t require you to actually risk your life. However, there are always risks involved, big or small ones.

Starting a blog, Podcasts or YouTube channel risks you putting in money and time without getting any money out of it. You may be ridiculed by others, and you won’t succeed.

Starting to pursue a college degree contains the risk of realizing you don’t actually want that degree a few years into it.

Every opportunity for success has at least some form of inherent risk.

How much weight that risk has lies in your hands, though.

For some people, spending money and time on a business that won’t succeed is not worth it. But, for others, it’s not even a risk since the experiences and skills they will gain make up for the effort, money, and time put into it.

So even though you can’t forgo the risks included on the journey to success, you can decide how to look at them.

5. Understand peoples intentions

James doesn’t fool himself into thinking that people will grant him favors just out of the kindness of their hearts.

No, everyone has their own agenda in mind, especially during difficult times like those in Taboo.

Instead of fretting over people’s selfishness, you should take it to your advantage. Offer them what they want, and they will work for you.

For example, if you want to be interviewed on someone’s podcast, try to provide value by regularly engaging with them on their social media pages.

Also, if you know the underlying intention behind people’s actions, you can anticipate their moves, which can sometimes save you from costly mistakes.

6. Study your enemies methods

James Delaney can fight the East India Company party because he knows exactly how they think and act.

He has once been a student studying to hold a position in this Company, and that knowledge aids him very well now.

It’s not just your enemies’ methods you should study. In fact, I don’t suppose many of us have real enemies.

However, you do have competition in whatever you do. Your competition can be that A-student, your colleague who got the promotion, or the more successful business in your niche.

Whenever you find yourself confronted with someone in your field, it is worth studying their methods.

If they’re better than you, you can gain insight on how to improve your own strategy.

If you’re more successful than them, you can learn what not to do.

So get out your Sherlock Holmes magnifier and start analyzing.

7. Learn from other cultures

During his time in Africa, James Delaney has learned and grown a lot. He learned about their rituals and language and how to tolerate more pain than most people.

Always walk through life with an open mind. You can learn something from everyone, no matter how weird or illogical they may seem.

This includes broadening your horizon toward other cultures.

I still find it startling how separate the western and eastern cultures are in such a seemingly connected world.

Thankfully, more and more people are discovering the treasures found in eastern media, music, and traditions.

Ask yourself, have you been closing your eyes toward those cultures?

Why not take a chance and dip your toe into it? You might be surprised what you find.

8. Use their ignorance against them

Because they are blatantly ignorant of cultures they consider inferior, the East India Company and the Londoner society get all freaked out when James paints his face with red powder or murmurs in a different language.

Of course, he is playing that card very intentionally and, as mentioned earlier, benefits greatly from it.

Instead of being frustrated by people’s ignorance, try to use it to your advantage.

Try to gauge in which direction their thoughts are going, and when it’s in your favor, don’t contradict them. Instead, let them think about what they want.

Of course, if this person is important to you, you should probably point out their mistake and lovingly inform them of the truth.

9. Be willing to do the dirty work

James Delaney is more than ready to do the dirty work to get what he wants.

With that, he differentiates himself massively from many people that complain about why they’re not successful.

Ultimately, you don’t want to be the person doing the dirty work anymore. But unless you are at that point already, get your sh#t together and do what’s necessary!

Stop complaining and whining; that’s only robbing you of time better spent working towards your goals.

10. What others think of you doesn’t define you

As mentioned extensively, the Londoner society thinks James Delany is a crazy beast.

All sorts of whispers are exchanged about his crazy father, his insane mother, and how James lost his civilized humanity in Africa.

James Delaney doesn’t let that bother him, though.

He knows better than anyone who he is. He also knows better than those people who his mother and his father were.

James doesn’t let other people’s opinions of him hold him back.

He is unapologetically himself and succeeds through his unconventional ways.

11. Money brings the good as well as the bad

Most people either think that money would solve all their problems and create happiness or imagine it as the root of all evil.

Very few people have realized that money is neither black nor white.

It has its good parts as well as its bad.

More money means more freedom but also more responsibility.

You can hire others for your cause with money, but they also start demanding things because you’re wealthier.

With the money, you can make mighty friends and perilous enemies.
And the more money you have, the more people you can help or condemn.

In life, everything is in balance; everything good has something bad accompanying it.

Truly aligned and successful people are aware of that, making them ever so grateful.

Grateful that the good outways the bad in the best moments and thankful that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, even in the darkest ones.

Well, what do you think?

Do you have any additional rules of success from James Delaney to add?

What was your favorite rule of success on this list?

Let me know! I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Until next time, Felicity Seeker!

11 Rules Of Success From James Delaney Of Taboo

11 Rules Of Success From The Devil Wears Prada

Blog, Boss Lady, Success

Are you ready to discover the rules of success we can learn from The Devil Wears Prada? Well, you’re in the right place!

I love this series I started, in which I analyze movies and series and books for their rules of success.

And of course, I had to include such an iconic movie as The Devil Wears Prada!

If you love this list, you should definitely check out the other parts of this series:

Read also: 11 Rules Of Success From Inception

1. You need to respect others to be respected

I know you think that this is obvious, but Andy is the perfect example for someone not realizing they haven’t been showing the respect they expect to be treated with themselves.

Throughout the beginning of her employment at Miranda Priestly’s office, Andy was looking down on everyone around her and their obsession with superficial things such as clothing.

She showed this by not caring enough to dress appropriately for the job and having to snort in ridicule about how someone could obsess over the blueness of a belt.

She doesn’t even consider how much fashion shapes our everyday life and how much of a significant impact it makes.

At the same time, she kept being confused about why her colleges and mostly her boss kept treating her with so much disdain and why they gave her such a hard time.

Only when ??? pointed her disrespect out to her did she take action. And the results were stunning! A seemingly simple makeover did wonders for the respect other people showed her.

So you should ask yourself: Have you been respecting the successful people you want to be like?

For example, you can’t talk trash about their over-the-top lifestyle and expect to be included in their inner circle.

Respect is a two-way street, and you should always be aware of which impression you set.

2. Sometimes you have to work really hard for a while

As many of us modern boss babes, I am very willing to hustle for my goals. However, I do not plan on hustling day in day out for the rest of my life.

That’s not my definition of success. For me, success means being in a position in which you can spontaneously take a week or two off from work without it harming your bank account.

I want to hustle when I’m inspired to do so.

Of course, it takes a while to get to this point of success. In the beginning, you often have to hustle harder than later on.

And that’s ok, as long as it is only for a while.

Andy quickly realizes new hustle lifestyle is ruining her social life and the relationships she’s Build over many years.

Ultimately she wasn’t willing to do that anymore and quit her job. And low and behold, she got a fantastic other job with far less grind to it.

Her short-term masculine hustle enabled her to live a successful boss babe life later on.

So prepare to put in some extra hours at the beginning of your success journey. But never let it take over your life in the long-term!

3. Know you self-worth

If you have high self-worth, you won’t let yourself be treated like sh#t. You won’t crawl on your hands and feet to please someone, and you most certainly won’t starve yourself to be a size zero.

The way Andy and Emily scramble to fulfill Miranda’s every wish beautifully shows the difference between people depending on their self-worth.

Miranda Priestly knows her value in this world. She knows how many people depend on her and is impacted by her decisions. Therefore she feels worthy of the success she has achieved and fearlessly goes after even more significant success.

Emily seems to base a big part of her self-worth on the feedback of her idol Miranda. And it reflects in her self-sacrificing behavior.

Andy, on the other hand, doesn’t idolize Miranda at the beginning of her employment. As time progresses and her hunger for career success grows, she forgets about her self-worth for a while.

Ultimately she concludes that she deserves better than a life-sucking career as someone’s errand girl.

Clearer than before on her worth, she boldly quits her job and pursues the kind of success that is meant for her.

Every truly successful person has a healthy amount of self-worth. If you unconsciously don’t feel worthy of receiving money, fame, and overall great life, you will sabotage yourself.

Always remember: A high self-worth attracts a high net-worth!

4. Dress how you want to be treated

No matter how much we like the saying that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, judging someone by their appearance makes out an essential part of a first impression.

Andy’s style is improvable, to say the least, as she starts working in Miranda’s office.

Even in a company that is not about fashion, her appearance would have caused raised eyebrows and judgmental looks.

At the end of the movie, we see Andy’s new style. It’s not her forced fashionista chic she adopted for her job and not her I-am-above-such-superficial-things-like-clothing style from the beginning.

It’s her new personal style. These are outfits that are thought through and express her character and ambition.

Without consciously watching out for it, the viewer immediately gets a different impression and vibe of Andy. It shows the power your outfit choice truly has.

So if fashion hasn’t been at the forefront of your mind until now, start educating yourself about it.

I started pretty late with caring about fashion myself. But let me tell you, the feeling of looking stylishly put together is worth every effort that goes into it.

It not only gains your respect from others but also gives you the confidence to build an empire.

For that, I have compiled some of my favorite styling tips so far in these posts:

Read also: 11 Fashion Hacks For Stylish Women

Read also: 9 Fashion Hacks For Petite Women

Furthermore, I recommend you check out The Devil Wears Prada Film Analysis: The Forces Behind Fashion With ModernGurlz.

I love the fashion analysis videos on the Clever&Chic YouTube Channel; they are really mind-opening and bringing awareness to the psychology behind fashion choices I’ve never previously noticed.

5. Know how to follow orders

One of the movie scenes that never fails to annoy me is when Andy, I supposed to deliver the design book to Miranda’s home.

She is explicitly told to put it on the table next to the door and then get out of there as fast as possible. Granted, there are two tables and two doors.

However, I think most of us can agree that we’d instead put the book on the wrong table than follow the advice of two children that call her upstairs into the clearly off-limits parts of the house.

If you are striving for success in life, you have to learn how to follow orders.

Yes, I know you most likely want to be the one giving the orders and not following them. But rarely anyone starts out at the top, and if they do, their lack of experience often leads to disaster.

I believe there are two main parts of following an order correctly:

Listen attentively

Most people don’t really listen; instead, they wait to speak and mull over their answers in their heads.

No wonder they miss out on details or forget the task altogether.

2. Be willing to follow the order to the best of your abilities

Even if you hate the task you’ve been given, as long as it is part of your job and isn’t morally problematic, you should do your best at accomplishing it as efficiently as possible.

I’ve met so many people in the workforce who deliver utterly mediocre work because they only want to put in the bare minimum.

Or they stretch out the time it takes to accomplish the task for as long as possible because they get paid by the hour and don’t want to ‘overwork themselves.’

If they were honest, they most likely (there are always rules to an exception, I admit that) have only themselves to blame for having a job they hate.

If you don’t have the guts or motivation to do anything about your tedious job, the least you can do is not ruining it for everyone else by putting in a sh#t effort.

You, as an ambitious Felicity Seeker, need to learn how to follow orders and not just the ones you like!

6. Think ahead of the game

One of my favorite movie scenes is when Andy presents the Harry Potter manuscripts for the twins to Miranda.

And Miranda, still trying to punish Andy for her mistake mentioned above, is just like, ‘well, are my twins supposed to share the manuscript?!’

And Andy is prepared and gives her a second one.

Still, Miranda is trying to catch her off guard and says, ‘well, how are my twins supposed to read them when they are already on the train?’

And Andy, like the badass boss babe she has grown into, gives her a smile and tells her that they already have their copies with them; these two are only backups should one of the others get lost or destroyed.

Like, DAMN, you go, girl!!!

We should all learn a thing or two from Andy in these moments.

Ladies, it’s time to stop being reactive in life. If you only react to what’s already happened, you will always be hustling at the mercy of other people and luck.

It’s time to work smart, not just hard. It’s time to look ahead and anticipate what’s about to happen!

Business-wise this can mean preparing for holiday seasons or events like Black Friday months in advance. Because if you start putting out Christmas content and Pinterest pins on Christmas, it’s already too late.

As a student, this can mean informing yourself about your curriculum for the next year/semester and starting to study in the holidays before it.

Just think ahead! It might seem impossible in the beginning, especially if you’re already lacking behind. Still, if you don’t do something about it now, you’ll always lack behind, which is just unnecessary stress.

Success comes to those who anticipate!

11 powerful girl boss tips from the devil wears prada

7. Know your priorities and follow through on them

If you don’t know what your real priorities in life are, you will make decisions that won’t align with them, and as a result, you will always find yourself frustrated with some parts of your life.

It’s important to know what you value most in life and what least. Knowing these things is like having the rulebook for a game. Without it, you might be able to win but only by luck.

Andy had to learn that in the end, she prioritized friendship and family over a successful career.

She realized that having the immensely sought after job as Miranda Priestly’s assistant while losing her friends was worse than having her friends but losing her job.

It doesn’t mean she had to give up entirely her goal to be a successful career-oriented woman. She simply had to find a job that doesn’t interfere with her number one priority.

There are too many ‘successful’ people in our world that have made it to the top of their career yet are miserable because they sacrificed all their social relationships on the way.

I am a believer that you can have it all – a successful career and loving relationships.

The way to get there is by honoring our priorities. If your current job isn’t compatible with your dream social life, then that’s the Universe leading you to something even better for you.

Just because you can’t yet see a better way doesn’t mean an opening won’t reveal itself if you follow what makes you happy.

Never doubt that the Universe has your back. All you need to do is give it the chance to help you instead of forcing your way through life.

8. Don’t complain unless you are giving your absolute best

Remember the scene directly before Andy’s makeover?

Andy is frustrated that her work doesn’t get recognized, and she goes to Nigel to whine about it.

He doesn’t take her sh#t and instead gives her some much needed tough love.

Thanks to him, Andy realizes that she hasn’t been giving her best, and she immediately commits to remedying that.

Andy does something at that moment that so very few people have the guts to do.

She admits her wrong, stops blaming life for its unfairness, and decides to take matters into her own hand.

Too many people nowadays whine about life’s unfairness and complain that rich people all just got lucky.

Well, newsflash! Whining won’t get you anywhere. The only thing it does is giving you the short-term satisfaction of ‘poor me, I have it so tough in life.’

But if you’re reading this, you are most likely better off than a significant part, if not the majority of people on this planet.

These people would give everything to be in your position, yet here you are whining about its unfairness.

Get a grip on yourself! You don’t get to whine unless you’ve given it your all! You owe these people that are worse of than you to make to best out of your life and, as a result, pull them upwards along with you.

So, what have you last been whining about?

You’re allowed to have a 10-minute pity party, but after that, you better pull up your hair, put on your blue light blocking glasses, and GET.TO.WORK!

9. Change your pattern

Andy was far from the usual assistant Miranda hired. But since all her past ones ended up disappointing her, she chose to try something else.

And what a success it was!

It took a while, but ultimately, Andy impresses Miranda, which is a real rarity.

Sure, in the end, it didn’t work out between the two of them. However, there clearly was no bad blood between them, so it can be counted as a success.

Many of us, me very much included, get easily stuck in routines and patterns.

We find a way to do something that works moderately well and stick with it. When in reality, there could be a much better strategy out there!

Don’t get too stuck up on patterns and routines. Even if you are happy with something, try changing it once in a while.

It won’t always work out better for you, and if it doesn’t, you can still revert back to your old habits.

However, this is the way to stumble across unexpected blessings and a massive success!

So dare to change your pattern!

10. Know what you want and go get it

Miranda knows what she wants -period.

She’s not afraid to go for it either.

She’s definitely not a people pleaser. She has no qualms about pursuing her lips when she doesn’t like someone’s designs. After all, she has a responsibility to fulfill and can’t just promote anything less than the best.

Too many of us are people pleasers that don’t even consider what it is we truly want.

When is the last time you’ve honestly stopped for a second and considered if you really want to work in a 9-to-5?

Society just always tells us this is the path to go, so most of us rarely consider that there is another way. A scary one, yes, but also an incredibly rewarding and possible one.

So what is it that you truly want in life? What do you want out of your day? And what can you do to unapologetically get it?

11. Focus on what you’re best at and delegate the rest

Leaders have overcome the habit of thinking they have to do it all by themselves.

They are confident that delegating tasks is increasing their efficiency and leading to more success and happiness.

Why bother doing something you dislike or even hate when someone else could do it for you?

Wouldn’t you instead focus more of your time on things that you enjoy doing?

Look at your life for areas that would do well with some delegation.

Perhaps you hate bringing the trash out, and your sibling hates doing the dishes – wouldn’t it be better to exchange your task and do what you’ll like most?

Or perhaps you have a business and hate how much of your time marketing takes.

Do some calculations to figure out how much it would cost you to hire someone to do at least one of your marketing tasks for you. Just one task less on your shoulders can make a world of difference if you hate doing it.

Never feel bad about delegating tasks. More often than not, it’s a win-win scenario.

You get more free time to spend on things you enjoy, and the other person receives the same or gets paid for their work.

So, what can you delegate next?

Phew, that was longer than expected.

I hope this gave you tons of value and motivation to become the successful boss babe I know you’re capable of being.

Pick one of these traits and actively work on it for the next month. If you do that month after month, you will rival boss babes like Andy or Miranda before you know it.

Also, keep a lookout for the next part in this series!

Until next time

Sophie