Dear Diary

I messed up, got called out, flew for status, and found clarity. All in one week.

Hi readers,

Bit of a gear change this week. Just diary entries from my week - the stuff that challenged me, surprised me, and sometimes embarrassed me.

Hit the heart ❤️ if this format lands. And if anything here made you think, cringe (ha ha, that’s ok!), or quietly nod, drop a note in the comments.

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The four words that shut down a collaborator

• Wednesday 28 May | Oura sleep score: 92 | Readiness score: 78 | Nepal training: 45min Peloton low impact ride, 2km jog, 30min weighted vest walk

Dear Diary,

Today I had to face the uncomfortable truth that I'm not always the empathetic person I think I am.

We were working on a program together. She was asking a lot of questions (risk, backup plans, worst-case scenarios).

In my head, I’m thinking, We’re fine. I’ve done this a hundred times. Even if our plan didn’t work, I don’t mind pivoting in the moment.

But what came out of my mouth was a shrug and these four dismissive words: “It’s no big deal”..

I could tell by her reaction that she was taken aback.

Everything went smoothly but I'm left wondering if I learned anything at all?

Ugh…How do I stop getting frustrated without steamrolling the people I’m working with? How do I balance moving fast with bringing people along?

Maybe I need to set expectations upfront instead of just saying something to the effect of "trust me"?

Because telling someone to trust you is like telling them to calm down.

It never works.

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The “gym” I use to strengthen my speaking game

• Thursday 29 May | Oura sleep score: 83 | Readiness score: 66 | Nepal training: 45min leg strength workout, 30min walk

Dear Diary,

Wow, okay, quick sidebar: I watched the latest Mission Impossible last night. Tom Cruise - I mean, come on. The guy’s hanging off choppers at 60+. I don’t get why people don’t LOVE him?

Anyway…

Just finished a live stream with Alan Weiss, chatting about Virtual Assistants, but really it turned into a bigger convo about time, energy, and what we choose to hold onto.

We chatted about his approach to subcontracting almost everything - finance, legal, travel and more. Alan's unwavering belief that "you cannot make another minute" really resonated.

And here’s some more gold I want to reflect on.

I’ve figured out why live-streaming is such powerful practice - not just for me, but for anyone who needs to show up strong in front of other humans.

• You’re live.

• You’re fielding comments.

• You’re reacting to curveballs.

• You’re keeping the energy up while steering the ship.

If you want to get better at communicating, influencing, facilitating, this is the ultimate gym.

Note to self: Keep putting myself in situations where I can’t edit or do do-overs. It’s the ultimate rep builder.

(Oh btw, join our next livestream on 12/13 June: How to get paid to be yourself).

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Roasted by friends, and I needed it

• Friday 30 May | Oura sleep score: 83 | Readiness score: 66 | Nepal training: 45min leg strength workout, 30min walk

Dear Diary,

Why do my best insights always come when I'm slightly buzzed with good friends (not complaining)?

Champagne and chips aren't official "brain food" but hey, they worked perfectly for today's friendtor (thanks

❤️ Jenny Blake

for the phrase!) session with Petra Zink and Maike Neuhaus.

Q2 “Toast and Roast” session. Toasting each other’s success, and Roasting each other’s blind spots.

Every quarter(ish) we get together to ideate and now “Toast and Roast” (i.e. Celebrate and also give each other frank feedback).

The trust we've built over the years means we can do this without anyone storming off (although, after one bit of feedback, I did have to remind myself to breathe deeply and just say “Thank you”…)

The thing that hit me hardest was this idea about identifying your dream life and building the business that supports that - not the other way around.

Here’s some of the chats I want to remember:

• Exclusivity is a choice. I keep forgetting I can just decide what I want to be exclusive about.

• That 4-word phrase I said earlier this week - "it's no big deal" - might actually be a clue to where my biggest strength lies. The girls think my ability to stay calm under pressure and trust that things will work out is more valuable than I realise?

• You’re not your own market (just because it feels basic to you doesn’t mean it’s not valuable to them).

We got into some wild trends like "conscious unbossing" and the "lying flat" trend in China where Gen Z is literally embracing lying down/sloth mode because traditional success feels impossible to reach.

This was exactly the reset I needed.

Sometimes you need friends who’ll gently call you out while topping up your bubbles, and a small dog on your lap to take the edge off.

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Why I paid $500 to fly nowhere

• Monday 2 June | Oura sleep score: 88 | Readiness score: 79 | Nepal training: 45 min Peloton ride, 10 min jog, 5 mins skipping, 30min walk

Dear Diary,

I did my first status run today.

I flew from Brisbane to Newcastle and back the same day just to maintain my Qantas Gold status. Yes, really.

I had 5 days left to earn 50 points. And listen, the Gold/Silver difference is not small: Lounge access to partner airlines (hello, Emirates), priority boarding, better seats, more points.

So I did what any efficiency-obsessed travel nerd would do, I asked Manus AI to find the cheapest, shortest flight route that still got me over the line.

The result? 8am flight to Newcastle, had to leave the airport and come back through security, back on the same plane (thank goodness the flight crew changed), then back to Brisbane by midday. Four hours total.

Fuelling up for the 4-hour round trip. It tasted better than it looks!

I carbon offset the ticket and used the time to actually connect with people and create a proper task list. Sometimes being 40,000 feet in the air is exactly the perspective you need.

I could have gone somewhere cool like Vanuatu, but life's hectic right now. Quick and dirty status run it was.

Now I need to restart my morning routine and pretend I didn't just spend half my day on a plane trip to nowhere for 50 loyalty points.

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The quote that used to inspire me… Now it just triggers me

• Tuesday 3 June | Oura sleep score: 82 | Readiness score: 74 | Nepal Training: 45min leg strength, 5min skipping, 30min walk

Dear Diary,

My Achilles flare-up is annoying and I read in a Reddit thread that Shockwave can help. I’m home from the physio and while it sounded like someone jackhammering my leg…I think it’s actually healing my tendons (everything crossed!).

Okay, I need to rant about something that's been bugging me.

There's this post that keeps circulating: "If you get a job done in 60 minutes, it's because you spent 10+ years learning how to do that in 60 minutes. They owe you for the years, not the minutes. Charge accordingly."

Ugh. This quote always seems to resurface every few months.

I used to agree with this. Now it just irritates me.

This whole narrative of "I deserve more because I sweated more" is self-serving.

No one owes you for your years - you chose to invest that time.

It doesn't matter how long it took you to learn something. What matters is whether it gives the client the result they need.

There are people sharing AI prompts right now that they learned in five minutes, but the value is incredible. Meanwhile, you could spend 20 years mastering something that's completely irrelevant to today's client needs.

The marketplace is reality. Charge based on the value you're providing, not your personal journey to get there.

This belief system actually hurts us. It makes us think harder work automatically equals better outcomes, when we should be asking: "Is this solving a real problem that’s actually worth something?"

Note to self: Stop charging based on the past.

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What Jimmy Fallon taught me about commitment

• Wednesday 4 June | Oura sleep score: 95 | Readiness score: 68 | Nepal Training

  Training: 40min weighted vest walk

Dear Diary,

I was out on my weighted vest walk, Airpods in, listening to Steve Bartlett interview Jimmy Fallon, and this one part got me.

Jimmy said he’d written in his journal that he was going to make it on Saturday Night Live (SNL) by 25.

Steve asked, “What if we were having this conversation and you were 50, and it still hadn’t happened?” And Jimmy just said, “That ‘s not an option. It wouldn’t happen. I was always going to get it. Even if I had to break into the building and sneak on stage.”

And it made me stop and think:

Hmm…Do I have that kind of conviction about any of my goals right now?

What I loved about that conversation was this: Jimmy didn’t know how he was going to get onto SNL. He just knew he would. The belief came first. The method came later (or not at all…he was prepared to break in if he had to).

It made me think about something I’ve been wrestling with lately:
We obsess over the how before we’re even clear on the what.

Take my goal of Everest Base Camp. If I’d started with how - the hills, the altitude, my dodgy Achilles - I would’ve backed out instantly.

I hate hills. I’ve got no elevation experience. My leg strength is… a work in progress. Oh and I have a massive fear of heights.

But I didn’t start with that. I started with the what - the goal. The decision.
And now? I’m watching videos, comparing hiking poles, reading about nasal breathing.

I’ve been slowly collecting my Nepal gear. This week I bought some thermals. But I’ve got a sneaky dual purpose: they’ll come in handy for the Red Carpet Campout too. I can’t wait to host that and brainstorm with founders around the fireplace.

Anyway, I don’t have it all figured out. But I’m figuring it out because I committed.

Note to self: Don’t wait until you’ve got a plan. Decide what you want, then trust yourself to mobilise.

(Oh, and please don’t follow me for wellness advice. I do my workouts before I check my Oura Readiness score…because if I knew my score was low, I’d probably skip them. I know that’s the point but…!!)

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Thanks for making it this far.

If you’re into behind-the-scenes thinking, life experiments, and real-time rants, tune into Leanne on Demand Daily wherever you get your podcasts.

🌴

Leanne “charging my Oura ring” Hughes

p.s. Fancy a last-minute adventure 90 minutes from Brisbane? There’s one last luxury outdoor spot available at my Red Carpet Campout on 16-18 June. If you’ve been lurking on my stuff and thinking “maybe…” - this is your subtle nudge. Just hit reply with “dets pls.”

p. p.s. If you enjoy reading this post, click the heart ❤️ button on this post so more people can discover it 🙏