Focus On Friendship

Play Dress Up

It’s important to feel amazing. I know that sounds like a vacuous comment but I don’t mean be done up to the nines with every part of you waxed, plucked and covered in makeup. I just mean make a little bit of effort with the way you look and confidence will surely follow. Other than my hair, for me it is about my clothes. I will dress a rainy morning with a bright coloured vintage dress and even when the weather is telling me I should be wearing wellies I just wear the dress anyway - with wellies. Vintage shopping is fun, cheap and unique.

The thing I love about it the most is that you will never have anyone turn up wearing what you are wearing, and that makes you feel great. I think it is important to push a few boundaries with what you wear. That doesn't mean you should look like you are in fancy dress, it just means that if you add some bright colours, some vintage fun, a pair of quirky shoes into the mix then it’s sure to give you a confidence boost.

Zone Out

Read. Get lost in someone else's world. No matter how busy, how stressed or how little time you think you have there must always be time to lose yourself in a story. Reading is the oldest and best way to distract you from the stresses and strains of life. Anything from a gritty thriller to your favourite celeb’s autobiography will keep your brain ticking over and inspire you to get stuff done.

If you are too tired by the time you get to bed then switch to Audio Books, download it into your smart phone and listen on the way to work, at lunch time and on that long walk you are about to go on! It’s a great feeling at the end of every month to know you have put your spare time to use and read a few good books.

Move - it makes you feel good! 

Walk. It sounds obvious but you would be surprised how little walking some people actually do over the course of the day. Personally I think life is too short to go to the gym, but if you love it and fit it in then good for you - part of me envies you, the other part of me thinks you are crazy.

For me it is all about walking from A to B. It’s really important to keep active, so carry your trainers in your bag and walk to work, get off your train a few stops early or use your lunch hour to stomp around the block. Fresh air and exercise go hand in hand in releasing any cobwebs in your brain, and don’t use the weather as an excuse not to do it! Just be sure to invest in a decent brolly.

Keep Life Exciting

Looking back on 2012, did you feel you spent more time in your job that you did with friends, family and partners? It isn’t right that we should while away so many hours wishing we were somewhere else, so it’s really important to feel satisfied with your life outside of work, so that you don’t feel like sitting at your desk is the only thing you ever do.

Make the effort to meet a friend for a drink after work and plan fun things to do at the weekends, even if it’s just a trip to the cinema. The key to not feeling like your life revolves around your job is to make sure that the life around your job is as full as it can be.

Enjoy Your Face

As much as I would love to say ‘don’t bother with make-up, we don’t need it’ I won’t, because...I need it. But a rigorous make-up regime can be exhausting and mostly unnecessary for day to day activities.

Unless I’m on the red carpet, I like to keep it minimal. A good moisturiser, some pressed powder, a swish of blusher and a pink lip gloss are my daily staples. A positive of keeping it simple during daylight hours is that when you make an effort after dark, you make a real impact.

Sniff Yourself!

Keep clean and smell nice. Now, before you think I just stated the obvious we can all admit to being slack at washing our hair sometimes, or not spritzing perfume on before we leave the house. As humans we already smell lovely, and we don’t need to add anything to our natural aroma but...actually scrap that, yes we do. Scents are lovely, not necessary, just lovely.

Find a perfume that suits you, they really do smell different on different people. Have fun choosing and enjoy knowing that when you walk into a room you give everyone a whiff of something really gorgeous. And don’t just stop at perfume, if you keep your hair smelling nice then if anyone gets really close (eye eye wink wink) then you can have confidence with that too! head&shoulders Apple Fresh is mild, gentle and you can use it daily so you’ll be 100% flake free and your hair will smell gorgeous all day.

  Dawn Porter is the face of head&shoulders’ New Apple Fresh ‘Get Fresh’ campaign!