I recorded this episode late.

All year I’ve been disciplined. Daily episodes. Even from Nepal with poor internet And yet here I am, back home, beachy, relaxed, watching eight hours of cricket… and suddenly a three-minute podcast feels heavy.

That’s the bit I wanted to call out.

It’s not that the work is hard. It’s that the perception of effort ramps up when you’re in soft mode. When you’re already moving, working, exercising, creating, the extra thing barely registers. When you’ve gone full couch, everything feels like a task.

I talk about why the last stretch of anything feels harder, just like the final kilometres of a run. Same effort, louder brain. And how habit stacking and timing matter more than motivation.

The takeaway is simple. Don’t wait to feel ready. Change the context. Do the thing while you’re already in motion.

Because once you start, it’s fine. It’s the thinking about it that’s exhausting.

key ideas I unpack

Why the last leg of the year feels heavier than the rest
Effort vs perception of effort and why your brain lies
Soft mode vs motion mode and how context changes everything
Why doing the thing is easier than gearing up to do the thing
How habit stacking saves you from yourself

questions to sit with

Where are you blaming fatigue when it’s really a context problem?
What task feels big purely because you’ve stopped moving?
What would change if you did that thing earlier, faster, or mid-motion?

Sign up for free for my best articles every week: Work Fame.

Show notes for every episode at https://podcast.leannehughes.com

P.S. Ready to take things up a level? Here are some ways I can help:

Watch My Speaker Reel: Let's energise your next event.
Get My Book: Design your workshops fast using The 2-Hour Workshop Blueprint.

Let's connect on all the channels:

Leanne Hughes on LinkedIn

Leanne Hughes on Instagram

Visit my website: leannehughes.com

Email me: hello@leannehughes.com

Would you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

How I Made It: Sean Blanchfield’s journey to the top of tech and his new AI startup, Jentic

The Big Tech Show

From Forrest to Demonware: seeing multiplayer's opportunity

The AI-powered Podcast Player