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Hi, I hope your 2022 has been better than 2021 so far. For the last few months I've been going down the Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) rabbit hole . Money for the most part is about options. If you have the opportunity to it's worth finding out what you can. I hope in time schools will provide financial education which will compound in time. Some podcasts I've been listening to are: Ramit Sethi "I Will Teach You to Be Rich" Meaningful Money YouTube channels: FinanceDee TheHumblePenny MamaFurFur Have you been learning more around money? What are your favourite podcasts or YouTube channels?

We're 'well well' into the seventh month of the year - I hope you are slowly and surely making your dreams come true in 2021. A quick thought: Let who you are be a reflection of what you want to happen in your life.

Dorothea OLDANI on Unsplash So spring has finally sprung officially in the UK, still in lockdown in England but you can still exercise, and one of the main ones for me at the moment is running. I'm still learning as I go but I feel I'm gradually getting better, here are some tips that are helping me: Doing a warm up I confess, for years I would be haphazard with stretching before I started running and that probably hampered my progress in retrospect, because my muscles wouldn't be warmed up and prepped to go - and muscle memory not geared up for taking larger strides while I ran. This YouTube video from Ben Parkes explains it well.    Taking larger strides When I look back to the way I used to run in the early days, it feels like I was probably doing the equivalent of shuffles. I definitely feel a bit more free when I run/jog, taking larger strides helps the run go quicker and produces an easier run. Being light on your feet Just as taking larger strides has helped so has ...

I've become a morning runner, started consistently running three times a week because the gyms are closed in lockdown.  If you are looking to start running, here are a few really quick tips I've found helpful: Get a good night's sleep and stay hydrated. It will help set up the morning well. Get your kit ready the night before. Obvious, I know, but picking up all your outfit in one place just makes life easier in the morning as I psyche myself up to go for that run. It all helps. I prefer running in the winter as I tend to get really hot in any temperature, so if you are new to it, running in the colder months might be a good way to ease in to a jog. Make your playlist work for you. I am constantly tweaking my list and some songs include Amerie's '1 Thing', Ciara's 'Bang It Up' and Red Hot Chilli Peppers 'Dani California'. Use an app to track your run, I enjoy seeing the progress I make. I might not be quicker with each run, but the monthly av...

One of my favourite styles of music is neo soul . I remember hearing Musiq Soulchild for the first time and falling in love with not only his vocals and lyrics, but the atmosphere his music evoked and I'm happy I was able to see him in concert years ago. I think all of these artists make me feel a similar way. Neo soul makes me think of sunny days, laughter, love and good times.  Here's a list of some of my fav neo soul artists and songs: Musiq Soulchild - Halfcrazy; Girl Next Door Erykah Badu - Bag Lady; The Healer Dwele - Subject; Timeless Bilal - Love Poems D'Angelo - Untitled (How Does It Feel?); Africa; Really Love Jill Scott - Getting' In the Way; Whatever Amerie - Why Don't We Fall in Love Lauryn Hill - To Zion Raphael Saadiq - Be Here Amel Larrieux - For Real Who else would you add?

We're halfway through the first month of the year? How is it going for you? A good thing to do is reflect on the month gone and look to the year ahead. A few questions to ask daily may be:  Who were you in 2020? Kind? Nonchalant? Meaningful? Truthful? Horrified? Numb? Shocked? Reflect on the energy you think you held most of the year and whether it's the same type you want to carry on through. I totally understand it was an extraordinary year in so many ways.  Who do I want to be in 2021? What do I want to do in 2021? Who do I want to spend time with in 2021? This may be difficult in these times but could technology provide a way for you to see those you want to?

The world is changing and it's showing us every day that there is so much that we do not know - and won't all learn before we go. I'm seeing more and more that people are trying, and learning. You have to give yourself permission to keep trying, failing, learning, trying again and training. In that space between not knowing and knowing is growing and having the bravery to keep learning. Here's to growing in 2021.

This is a simple blog post, but I hope it's helpful for you in some way. Sometimes it's good to stick to the foundations.  As we near the end of 2020, you may be reviewing what you've achieved this year. I know it hasn't been an average one; however I hope good things have happened for you personally. But before reviewing, what's the vision that you've had for your life so far? Have you had a vision in each of these areas? Home life Work/career life/vocation Friendships Spirituality/religion Finances Hobbies Health  Without a destination, there's aimlessness and that, often brings regret later in life. If you have had a vision for each of these, have you fulfilled the visions via your goals and objectives? Or at least stepped closer to them? If no, here are three quick tips which may help, and even if the answer is yes - and that is wonderful news - you may find that these tips may be tools in your kit to make it happen quicker or easier. 1. Ask yourself, ha...

Today felt like a melting pot. Around me via walking around, interactions online and face to face, hearing voices on the phone, the emotions: pain, anxiety, laughter and mirth,  I felt the contrast of tears and carnival atmospheres of groups as the sun beat down in London town, of struggling, laughter and suffering, boundaries broken as parents continue to work out the way they will deal with their schedules, oblivion, joy. There are people who are unaffected by the news today and within the world today, content with indifference and the bliss of extra downtime, while some whose desires to learn have been ignited, others afflicted by pain first-hand and others who have never been more successful, it all feels so Ecclesiastes. The summer brings heat. It tends to bring anger to the surface, it heats up the bubbling feelings of frustration, as well as suppressed and repressed pain like a hot pepper soup, where that wrong way down that bite can cause a violent splutteri...

I've been creating 'stuff' all my life. Some of it has been good, OK and awful: portraits, fashion designs, lettering, poetry, songwriting and essays, probably more I can't remember. I now see that the habit of creating throughout my life is what has helped me stay creative. Like consistent exercising you eventually see the muscles emerge. As I write that down it sounds absurdly obvious. But honestly that attitude will see you through. Am I a successful artist? I honestly don't think it's about that, I think it's about if you create art, you are an artist. I wish I'd kept all my work somewhere safe. I'm sure I could have used them to help me create something new and document my level of progress. Alas I didn't, but I will try to from now on because it will help to show your evolution. It can't help but do that. So this post is about asking you to keep on going. You might feel crap about your work, but show up, let it emerge and lea...

2020 has been a strange, strange year so far for people, talking particularly to people in the UK. The UK leaving the EU, storms, floods, coronavirus. It has been a time where people have been almost forced to reflect. Life will have given people mixture of the good and bad. When we come out of this strange, strange time, it's an idea to ask yourself: What habits will you have taken up? What habits will you have adapted? What would you have learnt? And honestly, this isn't a "If you haven't learnt a language, taken up a new hobby, time was never an excuse" post. What it is, is a chance to ask yourself in a few months from now, how would you like to respond to someone when they said: "So what did you do during the time of COVID-19?"

In 2020, I'm learning that turning up is one big part of the victory. By that I mean, turning up: at the gym, at the French class, in front of the piece of paper on the table. That is a big part of the mental victory. Do not underestimate that. James Clear puts it well . I am going to use this year to continue better habits, which will lead to a better life, watch this space.

2020 is such a beautiful-sounding year Here's to better: money habits friendship habits career/work habits sleep habits spiritual habits

Words that I thought were boring in the past are now becoming my friend: Consistency:  steadfast adherence to the same principles, course, form, etc Habits:  customary practice or use Implementation which I have now rephrased as "Now doing and continuously learning" -  to fulfill; perform; carry out: Life is made by those day-to-day habits and attitudes. I cannot emphasise that enough. I have also loved books and videos on how you've been programmed to think the way you think by the way you were brought up in your first seven years, and not just with your parents or guardians, but also teachers, your parent's friends and adults around you at church, clubs and groups, in day-to-day interactions, I like Bruce Lipton in his videos (watch the above video) who explains it so well. Loving Secrets of the Millionaire Mind . It's all about action! What is your habitual perspective on the world? All t hese sources are so fascinating - what are your th...

It's been another year. I read the great book Atomic Habits by James Clear and it made me assess my habits: I wrote a couple of pieces for Black Ballad in 2019: https://blackballad.co.uk/people/meet-the-black-female-fitness-influencers-inspiring-us-to-take-care-of-our-bodies-for-life?listIds=5925d3bb89cc51231bd4c235 https://blackballad.co.uk/people/black-female-finance-experts-on-spending-saving-financial-freedom?listIds=590867cea8c0bab2039c3ac5 I was a regular(ish) at the gym, alongside a great personal trainer John. Started attending weekly French classes at Institut français. I'm learning that habits are key. Here's to an amazing 2020 x

In my birthday post I wrote the following: ********************* I would like to: Learn French to a conversational standard - I was good at it until A-levels (haha) Create an arts hub in south east London area Have at least two paid voiceover work gigs in my portfolio Start a marketing consultancy/Have freelance marketing contracts Be 61kg or less Have an arts exhibition of my own ************************ And I want to continue the momentum for the year ahead  - 2019. How am I getting on? French - I started off well, writing and practising from YouTube videos but I know I need to get into a proper routine. Maybe 10-20 minutes a day? Arts hub? Noone near begun! Voiceover work gigs - only two free ones so far, and that was at work, impromptu. It will help with my goal though - here they are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfLGyiAE30E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWRCoQEMzWs Marketing consultancy: again, nowhere near yet. However, I have ...

I've not watched a full episode of Davina McCall's 'This Time Next Year' but I like the premise. A member of the public comes into the studio and professes to Davina and the audience what they would like to have achieved in a year's time. I think examples have been learn to walk again, lose a certain amount of weight, things like that. It was my birthday earlier this month. Birthdays are always a time of contemplation aren't they? And so I want to do my own This Time Next Year scenario and see what it leads to... I would like to: Learn French to a conversational standard - I was good at it until A-levels (haha) Create an arts hub in south east London area Have at least two paid voiceover work gigs in my portfolio Start a marketing consultancy/Have freelance marketing contracts Be 61kg or less Have an arts exhibition of my own That's a lot for now! What are your goals for this time next year?

Tokini Peterside is generating a lot of buzz in the art world - and with good reason. She is emerging as a dynamic force in bringing about recognition of West African art to the wider audience - and going about it in a very savvy way. Tokini Peterside She is the Creator of Art x Lagos West Africa’s first international contemporary art fair - which should surely be a Lagosian art lover’s dream. It brings together artworks from different artists in Nigeria, West Africa and the rest of the world with the objective to showcase the best and most innovative contemporary art from the African continent and the diaspora and was created in 2016, which went well. She’s come to London, UK so she can spread the word about Art x Lagos, so we meet at Kaffeine, Great Titchfield Street, and here I see a professional, polished, and accomplished young woman - and why wouldn’t I? She is 31 and as a Strategic Consultant already helped launch Maki Oh - a fashion label wo...

In the summertime, when the weather is hot, people can be funny and offer some very funny lines, here are two I remember so far: "Black Beauty - are you okay?" (Not stopping to hear the answer) "It's good to be beautiful!" Please help me out here, I want to laugh hard! What's the funniest chat-up/opening line you've ever heard?

I hope the first half of 2017 went well for you. I feel like I've taken more risks, started processes, received new messages and am learning along the way, and the second half of the year will bring about the manifestations of these new things I've learnt, so we shall see. I hope the latter half of 2017 is stronger for you too.