New Year New You - 5 Tips To Maintain Motivation

The new year always brings a fresh focus for me, what about you? For many people it's dismissed as a money making scheme that is over-priced, loud and noisy and a waste of time. I'm the optimist and I see the end of year event (despite some of the associations being true) as an opportunity.

I spent my New Year's Eve in Berlin, which was in-part the start of one of my 2017 resolutions to travel more and see more of my friends in other countries. It started with a bang! I always think about  it like this:

Whilst goal setting and New Years resolutions are a flash in the pan for most - I take mine very seriously and because I set serious but realistic goals, I nearly always achieve them. Years ago I used to write ridiculous lists of things I wanted to achieve and every year I would be disappointed as I set myself up to fail every year. As a seasoned goal setter with high achievement rates - I wanted to share my tips to help you get started and stay motivated across the year. 

Here Are My Top 5 Tips For Maintaining That New Year Motivation 

1. Make resolutions that you are passionate about and that are realistic.

2. Start small with your commitments and gradually build up the amount of time, energy and effort you put into it. It has to be sustainable.

3. Plan what you are going to do and when, for how long and how often. 

4. Make sure you goal is specific, these are going to be the things that help you determine whether you are staying on track or not, measure your progress with real metrics.

5. Make sure you announce it - people who don't share their goals and say them out loud are at a social disadvantage, when we tell others what we are going to do - we feel more compelled to stick to our goals because of accountability. If you don't want to inundate your facebook page or friends with your daily updates - try joining a special interest group online to stay motivated and post your goals there. 

I wish you a fit, fab, happy, healthy and stylish 2017.

Here are my goals for 2017:
1. To make time for myself and to enjoy my friendships more. At least x1 per week and to maintain Skype contact with those not local to me in London. I will do this by planning dates/times in my diary like important work meetings.
2. To create more time and opportunities for myself so I have the opportunity to find a relationship  (although I love my work - it's time to start dating again) x 2 dates per month. I will do this by asking friends to help and by using dating apps and being proactive.
3. To read more books. A minimum of 6 books across 2017. I will select 6-books that I know will help with my self-development and allocate a book to read for Jan-Feb, Mar-Apr and so on..
4. To focus my attention within my business on PR and business partnerships to raise the profile of the RSL coaching and styling across Q1- Q3. I will set clear targets for the  number of journalists I need to contact per week and number of businesses owners that share similar values and make sure I contact and follow up - and keep following up until I get a response. 

Roberta x 

Of course if you are interested in any of the services that are provided by www.robertastylelee.co.uk or www.fitandconfident.co.uk I would be happy to help.

• Confidence Coaching (Overcome the barriers that stop your confidence from growing - create unstoppable confidence and live the life you deserve)
• Personal Styling (Dressing for Confidence & Sustainable Styling)
• Healthy Living  (Fitness & Meal planning) 

You can find out more about Roberta Style Lee over on the website at www.robertastylelee.co.uk 

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Building More Partnerships With Ethical Brands And Female Entrepreneurs

Hi ladies, if you are discovering my blog for the first time you may not know that I am  passionate about giving back, staying true to my ethical values, being as sustainable as possible and supporting women in business. This past year has been a great journey, I have turned my attention towards consumer behaviour and it's been a huge eye opener. It's called conscious consumerism or as ethical brands call it: ethical consumerism. Once you start the on this path of knowledge and discovery - it's hard to turn back. 

Let me introduce you to an the brands I have discovered....

The Latest Ethical Brand 

Very recently I discovered another new ethical brand that ticks all the Roberta Style Lee boxes - Sapellé. They are an ethical online fashion and lifestyle brand that brings together the best of African inspired design - they loved my website and what I do, and I loved their website and what they do. The perfect starting point for a partnership. 
Upon further investigation into one another's business we realised our target audience is quite similar too and by partnering up we felt could offer extra value to our existing customers. 

We are also both keen on the 541 philosophy of sustainable styling - we should always be trying to stretch each investment so we can create up to 5 new looks. Check out this Sapellé blog - 1 dress 5 looks. 

We decided to kick things off in December with a last minute Black Friday promo offering FREE PERSONAL STYLING at their Sapellé showrooms (London) for a Christmas shopping event on the 3rd December 2016. 

I was on hand to offer some personal styling tips and one-to-one styling sessions and help Sapellé customers make the most of their purchases. The event went well and we have decided to do another one in early 2017. 

Interested In Style Tips?

If you are interested in coming along to the next event make sure you are subscribed to the mailing list by adding your details here - you'll also get a copy of my Top 10 Personal Styling Tips, Designed For Busy Women

My Ethical Brand Recommendations 

I'm slowly building up an impressive list of amazing brands that I can personally vouch for, I have some reviews of products pending - these are marked *

So far I have had the pleasure of getting to know the founders of these amazing ethical brands:

• Sapellé Gifts & Clothing 
• Dfynorm Women's Clothing 
• Bella Kinesis Fitness Clothing  
• AmaElla Ethical Organic Lingerie *
• Elkie & Ark Luxury Organic, Ethical, Sustainable Bed Linen *
• Jakes Boost - 100% Natural Nut Butters 
• The Little Soap Company - 100% natural soaps *

What do you think? Would you like to discover more amazing brands and maybe even get some discount codes? That's the goal. I aim to test, review and recommend products and services I think you'll love and make becoming an ethical consumer a bit easier for you. Sign up to Roberta Style Lee Updates and you'll be notified when discount codes become available!

More Brands? 

Do you know of any great little brands that could do with some support and a boost? If you do let me know and I can make contact with them and arrange a review and try to negotiate a discount code for you.  

I hope this was a useful blog post and if you find the time to please do check out these brands and my LOVED BY RSL page on the Roberta Style Lee website. 

Roberta x 

You can find out more about Roberta Style Lee over on the website at www.robertastylelee.co.uk 

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Roberta Style Lee Inspirational Women Series Podcast Ep005 - Interview with Allison Baver (Part 1 of 2)

I was absolutely chuffed to bits when super busy and the amazingly talented Allison Baver agreed to come onto the Inspirational Women Series. She is known for many things but most notably her Olympic career as a short track speed skater, she then moved into media work, then modelling and most recently started to turn her hand to fashion design. 

Allison demonstrates throughout her career that's she's got transferable skills. She's also an amazing example of how to reinvent yourself and why we shouldn’t believe that talent is limited to just one skill set. There is no reason why you cannot be great at 3-things! Having Allison on the Roberta Style Lee podcast was a great honour and 30-minutes of pure gold. We talk about what confidence means, looking good and feeling good and why embracing your femininity is empowering. 

In the interview we talk about the importance of planning and how a positive mindset is essential for success. We discuss the good times, the bad times and Allison share's her tips on mindset and how to make a comeback after a near career ending injury.

I've always been  interested in the way athletes think and that curiosity is totally founded. Allison reveals a fundamental difference in her mindset. In order to be different and achieve great things you have to be willing to work hard and be super committed to the end goal! 

I know you'll love this interview as much as I did. 

Enjoy!

Roberta x 

You can find the all of the podcast interviews on iTunes, Soundcloud and YouTube 

You can find out more about Roberta Style Lee over on the website at www.robertastylelee.co.uk 

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6-Steps To Use Your Story To Build Your Confidence

On Saturday the 10th of December I hauled my butt over to West London for 9.30am (after less than 6-hours sleep) to attend The Fearless Speaking Academy -Self Development Event of the Year. It was the best £20 I have spent on myself all year. No joke. 

I was moved. I was really moved to the point where I made a plan and took action in less than 24-hours on something I didn't realise I needed to do. I shared my story on my personal FB page today 11.12.2016 (and just as I expected it was uncomfortable)  I did it because that's what real growth is about - getting comfortable with being uncomfortable... 

I wasn’t the confident coach you normally see empowering women to love themselves though; I unlocked the box and let the little vulnerable version of me out - the one who had been silenced and shamed into thinking her story and previous life made her a disgrace and a failure. A person she'd almost forgotten about. 

Your past creates you and shapes you but it doesn't dictate who you can become 

When you are a child, you do what you need to in order to survive. I carefully chose my words there. Because I had to survive my childhood.
I was born to a teen single mother with mental health problems who had low-self esteem and was in the pattern of dating abusive men. I was very young when my brother and I were  removed on a court order from our home for our own safety. I bounced around in care from one foster family to the next for all of my teens, until I was 15 and became an independent minor.  I never got to experience stability or unconditional love. The only family I had was a half- brother who was adopted by another family and after many years we lost touch. He no longer wanted me in his life and after some time, I realised trying to get him to stay in my life wasn't fair - we didn't make each other happy, we had become totally different people. I often wondered if I reminded him of the life he wanted to forget. I had to respect that. I was on my own.

It’s never too late to change 

It took me twenty-five years to pluck up the courage to leave my old life and take responsibility for my own destiny. I stopped allowing my circumstances to keep me in one place.

When I talk about it being ‘no joke’ and that I had to build my confidence up from literally nothing, I am deadly serious. I faked it for so long, on the inside I was crushed, yet I continued to let people people take advantage of me for many years.  I just couldn’t break the cycle. I kept going back to toxic situations and allowing myself to be treated terribly, it’s all I really knew. 

But I was able to break free from it all. 

For me it was about the Feng Shui;  I wasn't in a place that was bringing me peace or happiness, just constant pain, sadness and disappointment, living in the darkness and hiding in the shadows of my secrets. I had to reposition myself and get to a place where the light could enter my life and I could grow. 

I moved away, I started a new life, one where I was in control. I thought I had escaped it all, but your story and your past doesn’t disappear - it stays with you. Habits are formed out of the life you've lived. We don’t always realise what we are doing until it’s too late.  This is why self-development and personal reflection, life coaching, taking care of your mind and body and learning to love your imperfect self is LIFE CHANGING!  

I had to go through all of this before I could become a coach - but even after all that, I still continue to learn and peel back layers from the onion. 

FSA Event Key Takeaway 

The one thing that has always held me back is my story. I’ve never wanted to tell it or use it to help gain an advantage or solicit sympathy. 

I realised yesterday that there is a big difference between seeking sympathy and generating empathy through deeper connections, being vulnerable and being honest.  Once you own your story and use it for good, it no longer owns you. The irony is you are set free from the shackles of your past, the moment you start to tell your story. You can finally be true to yourself, true to others and start to live the life you were destined for. 

The more I share the less of a burden the past becomes.  As a life-long learner, I realised that yesterdays event wasn’t about becoming a public speaker or a story teller, it was about confronting my own edited story and allowing people to see the real me, the real me that I didn't think I needed to reveal.  I need to expose more of my imperfections, more of my insecurities and start embracing my vulnerabilities - after all this has made me who I am. 

Self Development Exercise 

After attending the FSA event I was inspired to take action and push my own personal development to the next level. I created this simple 6-step exercise which I did this morning. 
It will take between 10-15 minutes and a further 5 minutes to complete the final exercise. 

This exact exercise and these steps helped pushed me to post a hugely revealing video about myself onto my FB page. After doing this I could feel a pivotal shift in myself, I realised I had just let go of something I didn't even realise was holding me back. A life changing moment occurred of me - I was set free from my past. 

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View my video on Facebook 

My goal in this blog is to lead by example and demonstrate that even the most confident of women have an ‘edited story’ - head over to my FB page - take a look at the video I posted. I bet you never really expected me to reveal that, look at how now nervous I was!! 

We all have our stories.  

And finally, my second point would be that you should never put yourself through anything in this life if it doesn’t make you feel great. Life doesn’t have to be a battle, you don’t have to hang onto the past, you don't need to fear judgement - just surround yourself with people who respect you. You deserve more out of this life, if you want it you have to reach out and take it. 

As a woman I no longer feel the need to apologise to other women or men for wanting to feel confident in my own skin, to look good, to feel good or live a great life. As long as you are working on what matters on the inside and not hiding behind all the exterior stuff, who cares. It's your life, live your life on your own terms it's too short to do anything else. 

And forget about the past you don’t live there anymore - it’s about the now - the today - your future. 

Roberta x 


Update 18 March 2017

I wanted to give Victoria Baldwin a guest on my podcast show a mention, because in fact she had inspired me before this event to start owing my story. I always kept my past ad childhood in care a secret and I realised I was being selfish and could do more to help people by sharing... so THANK YOU Victoria for inspiring me. x

You can find out more about Roberta Style Lee over on the website at www.robertastylelee.co.uk 

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When Style Meets Ethics And Women Join Forces - Power Poses and Confidence

On Saturday the 3rd of December I headed over to the Sapellé showrooms to support the co-founders with a new personal styling partnership. I was on hand to offer shoppers personal styling advice and to style a few lucky ladies for the day. We decided that this would be a good test to see how we'd work together and for me to showcase my 'sustainable styling skills'.

Why Sapellé? 

Well, for starters they are a unique lifestyle and fashion brand that sources ethical goods from Africa. If you follow my blogs you'll already know I am an ambassador for ethical and sustainable brands. So this was a no brainier for me.  Sapellé are an online retailer with a small showroom in West London - (where they display a selection of their online goods) and this is where we hosted the styling event.

Everything in the showroom is responsibly sourced and very vibrant and the co-founders are able to talk through each piece. I walked into the showroom and was drawn to the colours of this headpiece, which when teamed with my black leather jacket injected some much needed colour into my overall look. I just loved the way this simple headband transformed my look.

Every item they have has a story, that's one of the things I really love; hearing where the things I buy come from and how they were made. Sapellé have really tapped into this and they provide a wonderful narrative throughout their online and physical store.

Women Working In Partnership  

Based on mutual values, a shared respect for one another and a desire to support other women, in addition to the obvious 'a passion for ethical fashion' - we were excited to join forces and host a  personal styling day. We worked very quickly to pull together the event and based on how well it went, we have decided to throw some more styling events in 2017.

Highlights Of The Day 

All of it! Seriously it was so much fun! The funky shop, the vibrant colours, the awesome graphical prints, the funky beats blasting out over the sound system - and of course the wonderful energy of the Sapellé co-founders.

My Wonderful Client 

I was very lucky to have a wonderful client who was kind enough to let me share these snaps of her mini-makeover. She bought in with her 3 items that she wanted to re-style and bring up to date with some African inspired prints and colours.

Clients own items: The black jumpsuit and the denim shirt dress.

Items from the Sapelle Showroom: The purple dress, the white T-shirt with detail on the neckline, the necklace and patterned clutch, the peplum top, the red and gold beaded necklace.

Stylists items: black leather clutch and black leather belt

Drinks and Power Poses 

After a few glasses of wine towards the end of the day the Sappellé  'family and friends' were all in the Christmas vibe, we were relaxed and chatting - got somehow got onto the topic of confidence... then the power posing began! As a confidence coach I was demonstrating the power of power poses. We all started demonstrating our poses and I showed off a few of mine. One hand on the hip and a gentle tilt of the hip with a bent knee, is my go to ;relaxed but confident pose' - what's yours?
I'd love to see it!

The really fascinating thing about a slight tweak in body language is that it can dramatically affect the way you feel and how others see you. Try it out at home look in the mirror and say "I'm great!" play around with poses and see how you look and feel, discover the move that's right for you! Check out this great YouTube video on Power Poses by Amy Cuddy.

It was the end to a lovely day and the start of a beautiful new partnership.

If you have any questions about personal styling, coaching or the clothing or accessories featured in the blog just let me know.

Stay fab.

Roberta x

You can find out more about Roberta Style Lee over on the website at www.robertastylelee.co.uk 

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