Self Centred with Roann

Magazine editor, author, TV presenter

Speaking to Michelle Ogundehin this week was a real joy. Currently on our screens every week as a judge on the addictive Interior Design Masters series, Ogundehin’s calm, informed and direct style has always been a real pleasure to watch.

But for me, it is in her recent book - Happy Inside - where she shares her most insightful wisdom. In Happy Inside, Michelle lays out a manifesto of how we can all live better by doing the small things well. She shows us how the everyday things we miss out on on a regular basis can have a disproportionate impact on our health and happiness, and how we should start sweating the small stuff.

And she says that we should give ourselves permission to take the time to express a more authentic version of ourselves, in the place that matters most, at home.

“We need a room of our own. We need space to retreat, and to rest and to be silent. And it doesn't have to be huge, but it’s understanding that we need this, the human species needs this - we need to retreat to the cave a little.”

As an award-winning editor-in-chief of Elle Decoration, regularly included in the power list of influential black Britons, Michelle has an impressive CV, but, she says, it’s the point in her life where she truly accepted herself for who she was, that brought her the most happiness, and, yes, the most success.

“Success actually is right there, it's right there in everyone's hand already, and it is just the power to go, you know what, I'm allowed to be me. And that's, that's enough. It's enough in all the messiness.”

I found our conversation, very stimulating, very practical and very helpful. And I really hope you do too.

In this short episode, I follow on with another of the daily habits that have made a real difference to my life. 

In the past year of the pandemic, one feature of all our lives have been virtual meetings. 

We often find our working day filled up with a series of back-to-back Zoom meetings, sitting at home, fighting wi-fi speeds, family interruptions and face freezes. It can be hard to find time to pause, let alone feel present at each meeting. 

I used to feel the same about meetings, but since recording the second series of the podcast – which we also do via Zoom – I’ve adopted a simple practice that has made a world of difference.

I’ll share that with you today and hope that it also gives you the chance to pause, reset and start the next portion of your day with your full attention. It’s something I’ve found to be really positive. 

Thank you again for listening today.

Founder, Ecotricity

Dale Vince’s story is amazing. The British green energy industrialist and passionate vegan is the owner of Ecotricity and a former New Age traveller, and has been the man behind the renewable energy revolution that we’ve seen over the last 30 years

In his quest to stop climate change and remove fossil fuels entirely, he has taken on the established energy companies and The National Grid - and convinced them that there was another way to do things.

And he did this all from absolutely nothing. He left school at 15 and lived in a truck for the decade or so it took to get his message out there. Dale is the true epitome of a mission-driven entrepreneur, who works from his innate set of values to change the rules and protect our future.

“Surely, fundamentally, as a country, what we should be doing all of this for is for the quality of life of the people that live here, and the people that will come after us,” he says.

Dale followed his passion to save the planet and, because he was following a real calling, his success has been nothing short of extraordinary. As a passionate vegan he has also done enormous work in bringing the plant-based message to a wider audience, not least in being chairman of the world's greenest football club and first-ever vegan club, Forest Green Rovers. 

In our chat, we talked about our power as consumers and decision-makers, his journey to a plant-based diet and his commitment to sharing this message with the wider world. We also talked about the systems that need to change if we are to fix our broken world and how important it was to do the right thing.

As Dale says: “There’s nothing better than having a mission, having principles and living by them. Nothing better.”

Humans thrive with variety - you feel this when you go to a new place, rearrange your furniture, change your route to work. These changes light you up, refresh your routine, offer a new perspective. 

And, now, with us largely confined to our homes, this concept is more relevant than ever. Introducing change into each day can be a real tonic, and it’s something that’s helped me in my life recently, both before and during lockdown. 

The concept of Portfolio Days is simple. Rather than seeing your day as a block - a neverending tide of Zoom calls, emails, social media responses - see it instead as a portfolio of hours that you slice up prioritising variety and values over churn or busyness.

In this short episode, I’ll provide a simple set of tasks to help you work through the things in your life that are most important, and suggest ways you can incorporate each of these into your working day. We’ll look at how you can start to more closely link your daily activities with your own values, creating lasting change for the better. 

It’s not about radical overhauls, but small bold changes that make a big difference. And it’s one that has made me feel more grounded and resilient. 

I hope this helps you too. 

Campaigner and co-founder at Compassion in Politics

Matt Hawkins is a social and environmental justice campaigner and the co-director of Compassion in Politics - a cross-party organisation working to put compassion, inclusion, and cooperation at the heart of politics.

Set up in 2018, the organisation has the support of 50 Uk parliamentarians from six parties and academics and activists including Noam Chomsky Charisse Matthews Helen Pankhurst and Ruby Wax. The Guardian described them as ‘the movement to be hopeful about’.

In a political climate as charged as the one we’re seeing now - from Trump’s second impeachment and Biden’s imminent inauguration, coupled with a worldwide pandemic, Brexit and the recent food banks scandal in the UK, compassionate politics sounds like an oxymoron. But Matt and his colleagues are trying to truly put compassion, cooperation and empathy at the heart of politics.

In our chat, we consider how human change is igniting political change, and talk about individual responsibility, what each of us can do to make a difference. We consider how change starts with us - both as individuals, but also in how we continue to push the idea that purpose, passion, love and compassion, rather than career, wealth and status are at the heart of what actually makes us thrive.

I love the fact that organisations like his exist, as it shines a light on the great parts of our human nature. Matt’s is someone really making good on this individual contribution - he is a bright, incredibly passionate and well-informed young man who made me feel hopeful about the future.

I hope this conversation inspires you - and reminds you too of the personal power you have.

How you can help:

I appreciate just how challenging campaigns like Compassion in Politics are to run. And I know for a fact that Matt has to work other jobs just to keep things going. So I would encourage you to support him, and the work at Compassion in Politics, in any way that you can.

You can donate to the campaign here https://www.compassioninpolitics.com/donate - and also support Matt’s anti-online abuse campaign which is seeking donations - https://www.stopthehate.uk/donate.

England cricketer and photographer

My guest this week is Nick Compton. One of the top cricketers of his generation, having made centuries for England and played in the ashes, he is sporting royalty and the grandson of Arsenal footballer and legendary cricketer Denis Compton.

And yet Nick is no ordinary sportsman. Since retiring from the game in 2016, and taking up photography, he’s done an enormous amount of soul searching, and speaks with remarkable honesty about his experiences in cricket and what these later years of reflection and travelling have taught him. Nick has travelled to places like India, Kenya and deprived parts of the USA, exposing through the lens, the cultures of less privileged society, listening to people’s stories and sharing their lives. “I think I'm looking for a connection that goes beyond the aesthetics, or the superficial quality of just being a good photo - if that makes sense,” he explains. “I think for me it has to have something else. Talking to someone and really understanding where they’ve come from and what their life has been about.”

In our conversation, we also discuss success, what it means and how perhaps we need to reframe our expectations of it. We also talk about the fine line between success and failure and the emotional cost of our own expectations.

“I think that the line between success and failure for me was incredibly thin, transparent at times...anything that wasn't Brian Lara or Sachin Tendulkar was a failure. It just wasn't good enough, and it didn't matter who told me it was.”

It’s a fascinating exploration of the relationship between success and failure, purpose and passion - between the things that drive us, and those things that heal us. He describes photography as a ‘meditation’ and says that even during his career, photography provided an outlet and a way to really express himself. “Sometimes I was sitting there waiting to bat and I was actually thinking about the photos I could be taking of my teammates.”

And it’s his description of his journey that I think will really be of value here. He is very open and honest about his post-cricket search for meaning. I’ve never heard a sports person speak so honestly and I really hope it also gives you the strength to follow your passions - even if it means embarking on the harder road less travelled.

In this special episode to welcome in the new year, and the start of Season 3, I share some of the routines and habits that have really helped me during the past year.

As our lives become centred more around our homes and families, the lifestyle tweaks and changes that we’ve been putting off can now be put into place.

And while I suggest simple things, such as waking well and mindful breathing to journaling and 15 minutes of exercise a day, my overall message is actually about doing just enough that it feels manageable. As long as you follow a daily ritual that allows you to claim the day as yours then you're already making a great start to a new year. 

I hope you find this helpful and it helps you to flourish during these exceptional times.

Wishing you a very happy Christmas, and a gentle reminder to give the gift of presence this holiday season. 

In this mini-episode, Roann considers our connection to both nature and family. How important it is to protect these relationships, but how they are also so often the things we sacrifice for work and productivity. 

Family is the bedrock of a happy society, and our very existence relies on our relationship with nature. 

Christmas is a time to remind us of these things, to lock our phones away, turn to loved ones and breathe in the fresh air.

So take time this Christmas, disconnect and reconnect.