Twenty Practical Lessons From Little Black Book

Ladies, the writer’s block has been real! I’ve been feeling quite uninspired, and the continued travelling for work is not helping much either! Anyhoo, I have been reading Litte Black Book by Otegha Uwagba on and off, and thought I’d share a few lessons I picked up with you.

It’s not entirely ground breaking however it is filled with a lot of wisdom to help you navigate through your career as a creative. It covers everything from networking and building relationships, to money management to the wise words of other inspirational women.

You may also want to read: Overcoming Writer’s Block & Life Lately

What is handy is that it cuts out the bullshit and gets straight into it, so it’s perfect for people who prefer succint information. Having said that, it would have been nice to have read a bit of the author’s back story, but then again its simplicity helps to keep the book’s pocket size. It’s perfect for women starting out in their career or still at uni. It works well as a reference book, which can be referred to as and when needed, rather than a book to sit down with and read from cover to cover.

I too have scrolled through portions of it here and there and these are twenty practical lessons from Little Black Book. 

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Great for uni students and women in their 20s starting out their career. It gets to the basics of everything from how to organise your time to helpful hints on giving presentations; cuts out the bullshit and and gets direct to the information you need – something which helps it to maintain its miniscule size. Will you be reading #littleblackbook? #bookstagram #blackgirlswhoread #Friday #buildingwomenwithwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #bookblogger #blackandbookish #blackwomenwriters #instablog #writersofig #communications #communicationsacademy #freelancer #femaleentrepreneurs #tipsforbusinesses #BlackBritish #bb_bloggers #freelancer #femaleentrepreneurs #womenwhowrite #blackgirlswhoblog #instablog #writersofig #blackbritishbloggers

A post shared by Madeline Wilson-Ojo (@madelinewilsonojo) on Jun 21, 2019 at 8:55am PDT

Twenty Lessons

1. Never stop learning
2. Before you pay for a course, ask your employer 

3. Network vertically as well has horizontally

4. At work, be friendly. Not a friend.

5. Put together a capsule wardrobe for work

6. When it’s time to stop working, stop.

7. Avoid multitasking

8. Keep your work area tidy

9. Noise cancelling earphones can come as handy

10. Your appearance is a part of your brand

11. When it comes to work, stay consistent and persistent

12. Keep your presentation slides simple

13. Sleep, eat and drink well before an important presentation or speech (no alcohol please!)

14. Before you name your price, research the going rate 

15. Save money

16. Get a contract signed for any job you undertake

17. Copyright your intellectual property

18. How people feel about you is as important as how they feel about your work. 

19. Communicate confidently

20. Practice self care.

The hardest time to motivate yourself to get down to work is not first thing in the morning, as we are commonly led to believe, but post-lunchtime, when you know there’s a good 4-5 hours between you and the end of the day.

— Otegha K. Uwagba (@OteghaUwagba) July 8, 2019

What do you think? Tempted to pick up Little Black Book from your local bookstore or library? There are hundreds of little nuggets in this mini read, but I couldn’t possibly share all with you, or you wouldn’t read it yourself!

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