A note every morning
Notes from Jo
On status, power, elegance and the small habits that decide how a room treats you. Written by a grandmother who learned the rules the long way round.
How to Stop Over-Explaining Yourself
Give the reason once, in one sentence, then stop. The long version and the short version of the lines we all say too much of.
Lateness Is Theft Wearing Perfume (and How to Stop Being Late)
For six years I was late on purpose and thought it made me interesting. It made me a small thief with good perfume. Here is what I learnt, and the one habit...
Why Truly Wealthy People Don't Look Wealthy
The richest person at the table is very often the plainest dressed. Grandma Jo on why wealth whispers, and what it is quietly saying.
Hold the Door You Once Waited Outside
Advice is the least useful thing you can give someone who is trying to get somewhere. A door costs you a little of your name. That is why it works.
How to Be Classy: The Only Test That Counts
Class is how you treat people who can do nothing for you. Everything else, the fork and the vowels included, is decoration on the house.
How to Look Expensive: The Details People Notice Before You Speak
The woman in the post office queue had a re-collared coat and resoled shoes, and the clerk called her madam. Here is what she knew about looking expensive.
How to Walk Into a Room With Confidence
The ten seconds at the threshold decide more than the two hours after them. Here they are, slowed right down, one breath at a time.
How to Command Respect Without Saying a Word
Nine people shouting at a hotel desk, and one woman in a grey coat who got the last room without a word. What she knew about respect, and how to learn it.
How to Leave a Party Gracefully (and Why You Should Leave Early)
Decide your time before you ring the bell, find the host, say one warm sentence and go. The exit is the last thing they see of you, so let it be unhurried.
Don't just read the notes. Live them for ninety nights.
Ninety nights from now you'll be ninety nights older either way. The only question is whether you'll have the pages to show for it.
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