Posted on 24 Feb, 2010 -
What Janet Street-Porter taught me
Janet Street-Porter reveals the secrets that have lead to her huge success… kept her sane… and enabled her to keep her self-belief even when the critics laughed at her accent and “frilly teeth”
The most important things to put on your CV or talk about at a job interview
Why telling the truth is (sometimes) overrated
While visiting a friend’s house the other day, I had a quick browse at a book by Janet Street-Porter called Life’s Too F***ing Short - A guide to getting what YOU want out of LIFE while she was making us a cup of tea. (My friend that is, not Janet Street-Porter.)
I was so impressed with the beginning that I begged her to let me borrow it for a week. (If I ever come to your house, hide all your books.)
The page that has struck me was her recommendation that when you wake up in the morning, before you do anything else, lie still for two minutes and repeat these words: “I am bloody brilliant. I am great. I am number one. Unique. I like me. I am worth it. I am highly intelligent, no matter what others may say.”
Nobody else, she says, is going to tell you that and valuing yourself is the single most important thing she has learned over the years. Sure, you might say, she has had a highly successful career in TV, as a journalist and even as editor of the Independent on Sunday. She has not, however, got any of that through lucky breaks, golden spoons or through good looks. It all came down to hard work and a belief in her own abilities.
Believe fiercely in yourself even when nobody else seems to
“I can write this book” she says, “because I grew up weird looking, with big frilly teeth, thick glasses and boring hair. I was the girl who never had a boyfriend at school, the last one in class to wear a bra, the girl they used to call ‘lezzie’ in the changing rooms for netball. Externally I might have seemed gauche and insecure, but inside I knew I was special and different. I’ve always had a huge amount of self-belief.”
She does not have a university degree but has never felt there was anything she couldn’t do. Although she has been constantly “slagged off” by critics whenever she was on radio or television, she used that to get stronger instead of allowing it to get her down.
Here are a few more of the tips I liked from the book:
Friends matter. “Make sure that, even though you only see real friends very occasionally, they realise that they mean a lot to you. It might only be sending them a postcard every few months… but don’t let your friendships whither to extinction.”
How to make new friends. Attend evening classes or groups where you’ll have a shared interest such as rambling groups, quiz nights, cookery courses, drama groups and book clubs. And if there’s not a book club in your area or nobody invites you to join one then why not start your own!
Another tip I liked in the ‘friends’ section is that it’s worth accepting that work situations are very different from others. There’s a high chance that about a third of the people will probably decide they don’t like you, that you are the enemy or that you are not on their ‘side’. You can’t expect everybody to be your friend. Friends are much more special and different from acquaintances.
Number one key to getting a new job: “Show an interest in the company you want to work for - and explain why!” As somebody who has seen thousands of CVs in her lifetime, Janet also reveals that she likes people who are very specific about their hobbies rather than saying they like ‘meeting people’, ‘eating out’ or ‘travelling’. She also recommends not giving your age and starting off with enthusing about your skills rather than a dry list of your qualifications. “Sound like you’re a multi-talented asset, not someone who is going to start moaning about how long it takes to get to work each day.”
How to get a promotion. “Target someone at work you can do better than, and make sure your bosses notice you by offering to take on all sorts of extra stuff outside your immediate job description. Always get to work early and be a person who says ‘yes’ rather than a person who says they’re too busy, not capable or qualified enough or that it’s not part of their job description. This coming from a person who went from nothing at the BBC to having 200 hundred people working for her in two years…
Don’t spend loads of money on expensive beauty creams, treatments or surgery. None of it will make you look any younger than a very simply beauty regime with creams costing no more than £10. The best way to look good is to sleep well, relax, drink water and not abuse your body with cigarettes and alcohol. Reduce creation of wrinkles with sun cream and moisturisers rather than believing they can be possible erased by a cream once they’ve appeared.
Nobody looks like the women on the front cover of magazines because those photos have been air brushed so that all the imperfections and lines have been removed. A beautician also once told her that your face gets used to any kind of cream after some time so you should alternate with a cheap one for a while.
“Face lifts have to be re-done regularly and soon you will start to look like a startled goldfish.”
Face powder is ageing after 40.
What women know about Men. “What men say and what they mean are two completely different things.” While women just say what they want, men are more vague and non-committal - although not necessarily deliberately or because they’re scheming. “Obviously men do not operate on the same clock as women, just as they do not speak the same language. When men say the word ‘soon’ it can mean all sorts of things.”
Sex with the same person goes off the boil over the years so there’s no harm in a little acting. Other things that are more important include a shared sense of humour, kindness and considerate behaviour.
Telling the truth is overrated. “Never look for veracity in every aspect of a relationship - we all lie about everything all of the time.”
Which is an interesting thought to leave you with.
