...Human in Progress.

NEWSLETTER Edition #1. Human in Progress. Beginnings • September 26 Hi Reader, The first of September. Spring has sprung! I love this time of year. The mornings are getting lighter, the days a little longer, and there’s the promise of summer and warmer days to come. Spring seems to put a little pep in your step. Suddenly we're walking in the mornings again, getting back to the gym. Or perhaps it's spring cleaning, clearing out cupboards, sorting out the garden, opening the windows and making...

Resting Bitch Face? Your First Impression Starts Before You Say a Word I had always assumed a first impression started when we began speaking. “Hi, I’m Ash.” What I recently discovered is that by the time you open your mouth to speak, you are already well into the first impression. Research says impressions of unfamiliar faces happen lightning quick. In one well-known study, people made judgements about things like trustworthiness, competence and likeability after seeing a face for just 100...

Listening. How to Get 1% Better Every Day Mel Robbins interviews James Clear I come back to James Clear’s work on habits again and again. His book Atomic Habits is one I’ve referenced many times, including in my own work, because his approach to behaviour change is practical, realistic and not based on willpower alone. In this conversation with Mel Robbins, they dig into how habits work and how to make change stick long term through tiny, consistent improvements. They talk about identity...

Why Wine Culture Makes Drinking Harder to Question I know what Chardonnay I like. I've drunk enough of it over the years to know the regions I prefer, the style I'm looking for and the minerality I enjoy. I can pick up a bottle, read the label and have a pretty good idea whether I'm going to like what's inside. I even know what sort of glass I prefer to drink it from. There is pleasure in knowing about wine. And that's part of the problem. Wine isn't just alcohol anymore. It's food. Travel....

What happens to a wine person when they stop drinking wine? I think this is one of the harder parts of changing our relationship with alcohol that we don't talk about enough. Because for many of us, wine isn't just something we drink. Over the years, we invest in it. We learn what we like. We develop a palate. We know the regions, the wineries, the restaurants and what to order. We plan weekends around it. We build rituals around Friday nights, long lunches, holidays and catching up with...

Watching. Ted Lasso Seasons 1-4 | Apple TV THE ROBIN RATING ★★★★★ Ted Lasso is a rare offering in many ways. It's one of those shows that I think only comes around a couple of times in your lifetime. On the surface, it's a funny, feel-good show about an American football coach who moves to England to manage a Premier League team. It has great characters with story arcs that are both fun and poignant. But it is so much more than that. What makes it unusual is its ability to offer so much more,...

Reading. This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews THE ROBIN RATING ★★★★★ I've read everything Ilona Andrews has published, so a new book release from them is a big deal for me and their fan base, affectionately known as the “Horde”, or BDH, short for Book-Devouring Horde. Not only is this a new release, it's the first book in a new series for them, which is an even bigger deal. Weirdly, knowing it was a new series, a new world, filled me with both trepidation and anticipation. On one...