Leanne on Demand Daily with Leanne Hughes

If you’re feeling pressure to make 2026 bigger, faster, cleaner, or more impressive than last year, this episode cuts through that noise quickly.What you’ll hear in this episodeWhy New Year’s resolutions create unnecessary pressure and disappointmentThe difference between patience and procrastination, and how fear shows up in bothWhy changing expectations is a strength, not a character flawThe “mercy rule” we all need for projects, careers, and goals that aren’t workingHow smart people know when to push forward, go around, or stop completelyWhy plans shouldn’t lock you in and why empty space in your calendar mattersThe problem with bucket lists and comparison-based successWhat’s being overhyped right now, and what’s quietly undermining progressWhy flexibility isn’t flippancy, it’s judgementA simple way to rethink success without lowering your standardsOne question to sit with after listeningWhat expectation are you protecting out of pride, not because it still makes sense?Sign up for free for my best articles every week: Work Fame.Show notes for every episode at https://podcast.leannehughes.comP.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 LinkedInLeanne Hughes on InstagramVisit my website: leannehughes.comEmail me: hello@leannehughes.comWould you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

This is it. Episode 365. The last time I open the podcast with those words.This episode isn’t a neat bow or a highlight reel. It’s a real reflection on what it actually takes to show up every single day for a year, without fireworks, without drama, and without pretending it was always fun.I talk about why documenting the year mattered more than “performing” it, and how most of the work happened quietly in between the milestones. The Everest Base Camp analogy still holds. You get there… and it’s just another step. The meaning lives in the repetition.I share what surprised me most. – Why batching sounded smart but killed the point – How finding a story in the ordinary became the real challenge – What outsourcing production changed forever – Why audio still wins for me, hands down – And how this project sharpened my ability to think out loud, even when energy was lowI also talk honestly about the limits of the format. The quality dipped at times. Some episodes were rough. That’s the cost of consistency. And I’m okay with that.This project ends so I can redirect the bandwidth into the next big thing, my book with Wiley. That trade-off matters. Finishing well sometimes means stopping cleanly.If you listened to one episode or all 365, thank you. You were part of this, whether you ever told me or not.This feed isn’t dead. It’s just paused, repurposed, and ready for whatever comes next.No episode tomorrow..!THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!Sign up for free for my best articles every week: Work Fame.Show notes for every episode at https://podcast.leannehughes.comP.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 LinkedInLeanne Hughes on InstagramVisit my website: leannehughes.comEmail me: hello@leannehughes.comWould you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

This is the second-last episode of this daily podcast project, and honestly, I didn’t come in with some big, profound lesson lined up.I just wanted to share something that happened.On Sunday, Chris and I were out driving his 1979 Trans Am. Black. V8. Screaming chicken on the bonnet. Full Smokey and the Bandit vibes. A bird decided to do its business right on the hood, so we pulled into a servo to wash it off.As we were about to leave, we noticed eight to ten American classic cars parked nearby. Chevys. A Knight Rider replica. The works. One of the guys waved us over and said, “I thought you were with us.” We weren’t. They were heading to a car meet about ten minutes away and invited us to come along.We followed the convoy. Told ourselves we could peel off if we wanted to. We didn’t.We grabbed a coffee, hung around for nearly an hour, met some great people, and Chris walked away with tips, parts advice, and new groups to join. All because a bird crapped on the car.Here’s the twist.If that bird hadn’t done that, none of those events would’ve happened.I also posted a quick 13-second Instagram Reel. No planning. No strategy. Just a point-of-view clip of accidentally ending up at a car meet. It’s now the highest-performing video I’ve ever posted. Higher than Everest Base Camp. Higher than anything I’ve carefully thought through.It’s a real-time reminder of how interest-based media works.The people watching it aren’t my audience. I’m not getting clients from it. That wasn’t the goal. But it shows that attention doesn’t belong to the most meaningful or effort-filled content. It belongs to what people are interested in, right now.Followers still matter for credibility and social proof. But reach today is driven by interest, not loyalty.And that’s actually encouraging.It means you don’t need a big platform or years of momentum to get cut-through. You just need to put something out that people want to look at.That’s it for today. Tomorrow, I’ll wrap up what this daily podcast project has taught me.Sign up for free for my best articles every week: Work Fame.Show notes for every episode at https://podcast.leannehughes.comP.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 LinkedInLeanne Hughes on InstagramVisit my website: leannehughes.comEmail me: hello@leannehughes.comWould you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

Only three episodes left in this daily podcast experiment. In this episode, I’m sharing a deceptively simple icebreaker I picked up at a Brisbane rooftop event that involved good wine, smart people, and an afternoon of intentional pour choices.During a conversation with Niha, she described a workshop activity called The Animal Game. WHere’s how it works.You choose three animals, one at a time, without overthinking it:For each animal, you note two traits that feel accurate.The twist in the debrief.Sign up for free for my best articles every week: Work Fame.Show notes for every episode at https://podcast.leannehughes.comP.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 LinkedInLeanne Hughes on InstagramVisit my website: leannehughes.comEmail me: hello@leannehughes.comWould you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

Today I sat down with Jan Keck (a self-proclaimed “community addict”) whose tagline is “Let’s have conversations that matter.” Jan created Ask Deep Questions, which started as a deck of cards to help friends connect on a camping trip and has since grown into a global tool for facilitating meaningful conversations.We talked about the real stuff: loneliness in a hyper-connected world, how to build belonging without forcing it, and how to hold space when things get awkward or emotional, especially online.What we coveredWhy we still feel alone even with endless ways to connectJan’s definition of a close friend: who could you show up to at midnight with a bottle of wine and they’d let you in?The moment a personal goal-setting retreat changed Jan’s path, and why belonging hits different when you feel accepted as you areThe difference between:connecting based on shared history (where you’re from), andconnecting based on shared direction (where you’re heading)Whether “belonging at work” is real, and why it’s harder when people didn’t opt inThe concept of challenge by choice (the pool metaphor) for vulnerability and participationHow Jan “holds space” by designing the right container and community agreements, so the group carries the space, not the facilitatorThe awkward truth about virtual events: the instant drop-off when you hit “Leave”, and why Jan now builds in an informal hangout after sessionsJan’s Campfire Formula for engagement: you don’t light a big log first, you build momentum with micro-actionsThe three levels of Ask Deep Questions cards:Curious: “What are you most grateful for in your life?”Brave: “If you could relive a moment of your life, which one would you pick?”Vulnerable: “How do you want to be remembered?”Scaling connection in large groups using breakout rooms, structure, and clear instructions (plus the link to the bystander effect)Confidence on camera: why Jan credits improv (and repeating discomfort) for killing perfectionismA line I’m stealing: Presence over perfectionPractical takeaways I’m sitting withIf you want depth, design for depth. It doesn’t “happen naturally” on Zoom.The “closing” matters. Virtual events need a deliberate debrief runway.For groups bigger than about 6–7, you need structure or you’ll get silence.Don’t ask for vulnerability first. Earn it.About today’s guestJan Keck Creator of Ask Deep Questions Mission: helping people feel less alone through meaningful conversations and experiences.LinksAsk Deep Questions: askdeepquestions.comJan’s site: jankeck.comSign up for free for my best articles every week: Work Fame.Show notes for every episode at https://podcast.leannehughes.comP.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 LinkedInLeanne Hughes on InstagramVisit my website: leannehughes.comEmail me: hello@leannehughes.comWould you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

Today’s guest is Tim Ferguson, CEO of Audience, joining me from Switzerland. If you’ve ever walked into a workshop and felt your soul quietly leave your body, Tim is one of the people trying to stop that from happening.This conversation is a masterclass in what great facilitation actually looks like when it’s done properly. Tim doesn’t treat “engagement” like a nice-to-have. He treats it like the job.We talk about Tim’s wild career pivots, starting as a day camp counsellor, then theatre school, then a PhD track in religious studies, and somehow ending up running a global company that designs better corporate meetings and coaches leaders to present well. None of it was planned, which is both annoying and reassuring.A huge theme in this episode is audience-first design. Tim and his team start with who’s in the room, not what’s on the slide deck. He even asks clients to imagine cancelling the event and selling tickets instead. If people had to pay with their own money and time, what would make it worth it? That question alone is enough to expose how much corporate stuff is built backwards.We also get into:Why facilitation is a marathon, not a sprint (and why that matters if you want to do this work long-term)How to handle the moment someone calls your workshop “a waste of time” without getting defensive or foldingA practical reset method (1-2-4-All) for turning tension into something usefulTim’s preparation routines, including how he memorises names and builds trust fastWhat it actually takes to work internationally (spoiler: relationships, reliability, and zero entitlement)The two underrated skills for new facilitators: presence (body language) and listening for what’s not being saidIf you run workshops, lead meetings, or present for a living, you’ll steal ideas from this one immediately.Sign up for free for my best articles every week: Work Fame.Show notes for every episode at https://podcast.leannehughes.comP.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 LinkedInLeanne Hughes on InstagramVisit my website: leannehughes.comEmail me: hello@leannehughes.comWould you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

I’m recording this on Christmas Day, full festive mode, about to eat and drink everything in sight. But first, I squeezed in a proper workout. A 45-minute Peloton bike bootcamp with Tunde that absolutely cooked my legs.After that, I did something very on-brand for me. I impulse-bought a $29 USD online course off Instagram and gave it a crack straight away.It was an intro to shuffle dancing from an account called Shuffle Mums. If you’ve seen shuffling before, you’ll know it’s fast footwork, cardio-heavy, and way harder than it looks.I spent about 15 minutes learning three moves:The running manThe double running manA heel kick variationThe teaching style was solid. Break the moves down, then stitch them together at slow, medium, then fast pace. I made it through slow, half-held medium, and completely fell apart after that.Here’s the honest part. Watching myself in the mirror, I looked stiff, intense, and nothing like the instructors who look chill and effortless. Brow furrowed. Upper body rigid. Very “trying hard” energy.Which is exactly what learning looks like.Will I stick with it? No idea. There’s every chance I won’t. And I’m fine with that.I’m not journalling my why. I’m not blocking time in my calendar. This isn’t a new identity. It’s a 10–15 minute finisher after a workout that’s fun, different, and forces my brain to focus.That’s enough.What I loved most was how mentally absorbing it was. The coordination, the footwork, the rhythm. It reminded me of hiking in Nepal, where every step required attention.I also went down a rabbit hole and learned that shuffling came out of the Melbourne rave scene in the 1990s, dancing in circles, no mirrors, no performance mindset. Just movement, music, and freedom. That context made it even better.So I’m giving it a go. No pressure. No overthinking. Just movement for the sake of it.If in a few months I can post a progress video without cringing, that’ll be a bonus.What this episode is really aboutTrying things without overcommittingLetting fun be the reasonHabit stacking without making it a life philosophyUsing movement to wake up your brainBeing bad at something and not quitting immediatelyWhat’s one thing you could try for 10–15 minutes a few times a week without turning it into a self-improvement project?Sign up for free for my best articles every week: Work Fame.Show notes for every episode at https://podcast.leannehughes.comP.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 LinkedInLeanne Hughes on InstagramVisit my website: leannehughes.comEmail me: hello@leannehughes.comWould you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

In this Christmas Day episode, I’m recording fresh off a humid Brisbane hike and a lot of thinking time.I expand on yesterday’s conversation about media and platforms, and get specific about two things I’m genuinely prioritising in the year ahead.First, private podcasts. I break down what they are, why I’ve been using them for years, and why I think they’re one of the most underrated tools for client delivery, learning on the go, and building trust without spraying content everywhere. I share how I’ve used them for coaching, webinars, and even my own learning, and why I’m planning a short, locked-down mini series as my primary email sign-up.Second, the book. I talk about the behind-the-scenes decision to trial PR for the first time, what I’ve committed to around the launch window, and why locking this in early is changing how I’m thinking about angles, writing, and visibility. This is very much an experiment, and I explain what I’ll be watching to decide if it’s worth the investment.I also share a simple but sharp exercise I’m using to shape content and offers next year: What does my audience want more of, and what are they desperate to reduce or remove? No hype. Just practical clarity.This episode is less about Christmas cheer and more about direction, focus, and choosing fewer things that actually move the needle.Sign up for free for my best articles every week: Work Fame.Show notes for every episode at https://podcast.leannehughes.comP.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 LinkedInLeanne Hughes on InstagramVisit my website: leannehughes.comEmail me: hello@leannehughes.comWould you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

In this episode, I walk through the social media platforms I actually use, why I still use them, and what’s staying or shifting as I head into the new year.Earlier this year, I published a deep dive on my $11K tech stack. This conversation is the companion piece, focused purely on social and media platforms. The question I’m asking myself is simple: Why am I here? And is it still doing the job?Here’s the rundown.LinkedIn This is my main business platform. It’s where I share ideas, test thinking, meet smart people, and build momentum for the book. It’s staying. No debate. If my work is business-focused, this is non-negotiable.Instagram This is behind-the-scenes, fitness, travel, and real life. It’s lighter. I’ll sometimes delete the app on weekends or holidays to give myself a break, but I like the entertainment value and the people I stay connected with here.Facebook Still useful, but mainly for groups, Messenger, and local community updates. My Facebook group exists, people still join, but it’s no longer a growth engine for my business. And that’s fine. Not everything needs CPR.WhatsApp Not really social media, but it’s where a lot of my real conversations happen. Group chats, side chats, logistics, and friendships all live here.TikTok This one’s intentional curiosity. I’m using it as a listening tool for Gen Z and emerging leaders, because that audience matters for the book I’m writing. I’ll start creating content here, but I’m realistic. I may need help to make that happen properly.It’s also brilliant for travel, venues, and local recommendations. The algorithm is sharp, and it rewards curiosity.Strava Surprisingly motivating. I’m paying for it. Kudos matter more than they should. Even stretching feels rewarded.Substack This is a big one. Weekly writing, clearer thinking, and a strong entry point into the book. This is where longer ideas live first, before they get repurposed elsewhere.Podcast + YouTube I’m not continuing daily episodes next year. The feed stays. The episodes stay. The name and artwork will change. Expect fewer episodes, more depth, and tighter alignment to the book themes. YouTube will continue as a distribution channel for the podcast.Big picture: One strong weekly article becomes the pillar. Everything else supports it.Sign up for free for my best articles every week: Work Fame.Show notes for every episode at https://podcast.leannehughes.comP.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 LinkedInLeanne Hughes on InstagramVisit my website: leannehughes.comEmail me: hello@leannehughes.comWould you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

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 unpackWhy the last leg of the year feels heavier than the restEffort vs perception of effort and why your brain liesSoft mode vs motion mode and how context changes everythingWhy doing the thing is easier than gearing up to do the thingHow habit stacking saves you from yourselfquestions to sit withWhere 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.comP.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 LinkedInLeanne Hughes on InstagramVisit my website: leannehughes.comEmail me: hello@leannehughes.comWould you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.