Let's Just Start Podcast with Laura Racky and Christian Cunningham

A terrible boss. A brilliant judge. A senior executive who had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. And an AI-generated email that nearly sent Laura over the edge. Welcome to another perfectly normal episode of Let's Just Start. This week we're talking about the lessons people teach us, sometimes deliberately, sometimes accidentally, and sometimes bad examples of how to behave. Christian learned that a strong relationship can get you through a meeting even when nobody in the room knows what's going on. Laura learned that the person constantly telling you you're not good enough might be the one who secretly relies on you the most. There's the deceptively simple rule about never putting recipients into an email until you've finished drafting it, the importance of taking ownership of your team, and why genuine authority doesn't require making other people feel small. Laura also reflects on her time working in the courts, where she watched judges demonstrate extraordinary patience and respect towards people who had no legal representation. Then Christian announces he's had something of an AI revelation. After seeing what people are building in just days, he's convinced some businesses are about to become dramatically more productive. Laura's less enthusiastic about receiving emails written by robots pretending to be people. And before we get there, Christian delivers a passionate economic address on inflation, interest rates and the Reserve Bank, while Laura does her best to keep him calm. Naturally, we end up discussing the great mysteries of marriage: why ice-cream spoons are so loud, how one kitchen can generate so many dishes, and why the word “buddy” is apparently unacceptable. In Short: Brilliant career lessons. Awful bosses. Leadership accountability. The power of relationships. Courtroom humanity. AI breakthroughs. Robot-written emails. The RBA. Marriage irritations. And the one word you must never call Laura. Find us here: Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast Laura Insta: @laura.racky Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

How many things in your life are making you miserable that you could actually do something about? The news you watch, the phone we can't stop checking, the people you keep comparing yourself to. The habits we know are making us feel worse, the commitments you don't even want to keep. And how much of your energy goes into all of that instead of the things you genuinely care about? This week, Christian and Laura are staging an intervention. For themselves, for each other and, apparently, for the entire Australian population. Five ways to get out of a rut without turning your whole life upside down. We talk about identifying what really matters, cutting off the things that drain your energy, and why choosing just one to three improvements is infinitely more useful than announcing a complete personal reinvention. We also get into the uncomfortable truth about change: the things that work best are often the most boring. Small decisions. Repeated consistently. For longer than you feel like doing them. Laura admits she's still fighting a two-year battle with her phone. Christian admits he gets more satisfaction from learning things than actually putting them into practice. And both acknowledge that knowing what to do and doing it are very different propositions. There's reading, exercise, food, a mouse with a block of cheese, and a rather revealing conversation about children's lunchbox chips. But the biggest idea is saved for last. Get small. When you're overwhelmed, stop trying to do everything. Work out what genuinely has to happen, put everything else aside for a few days, and give yourself room to recover. Because sometimes you're not stuck because you need to do more. You're stuck because you're trying to do too much. In Short: Getting out of a rut. Identifying priorities. Comparison and negativity. Building better habits. The boredom of consistency. Phone addiction. Learning versus action. Reading, food and exercise. Why doing less might be exactly what you need. Find us here: Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast Laura Insta: @laura.racky Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

Something feels off in Australia right now. People are agitated, businesses are hesitant, households are under pressure. And there's a growing sense that everyone's running out of patience. And we're hearing it from across the country. This week we start with the mood of Australia, why confidence matters more than people realise, and what happens when millions of small financial pressures start changing how we behave towards each other. Then we get into one of the great career traps: mistaking the prestige of your employer for the value of your career. Is working for a massive multinational actually better? Are you developing better skills, building stronger relationships and getting ahead? Or have you just got a fancy office, a recognisable logo and a very expensive breakfast buffet designed to keep you at work? And finally, marriage maxxing. Can you marry someone who doesn't share your ambition? What happens when one person wants to build an empire and the other wants to clock off at five? What happens when the woman is the high-flyer and the man isn't? And how much of the tension comes from what we actually want versus what we've been conditioned to expect? We get into ambition, insecurity, traditional gender roles, resentment, parenting, money and the conversations couples really need to have before their careers, and their lives, start pulling in different directions. Because the wrong career decision might cost you a few years. The wrong partnership decision could cost you a whole lot more. In Short: Australia's angry energy. The cost of losing confidence. Big companies versus small businesses. Career prestige and corporate vanity. The skills that actually matter. Career ambition in relationships. High-flying women and traditional gender roles. Marriage maxxing. Why you need to keep checking that you're building the same life. Find us here: Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast Laura Insta: @laura.racky Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

How many of the things stopping you are actually stopping you? This week we start with limitations, the real ones, the imagined ones, and how to find the space in between. Laura has a theory: before you call something a limitation, you need to work out whether it's genuinely impossible, an excuse you've built around yourself, or simply a choice you're not yet willing to own. Because “I can't do it” and “I could do it, but I'm not willing to pay the price” are two very different things. We talk about paper walls, turning over every rock, accepting the choices you've made without judging yourself for them, and why sometimes the healthiest thing is decide you're not going to do something, put it down, stop blaming yourself or everyone else, and get on with your life. Kochie takes on the RBA (and really the Government) David Koch has written an open letter challenging the RBA over inflation, government spending and whether the Reserve Bank should be doing more to explain what's actually happening to Australians. Government spending, inflation, interest rates, the independence of the RBA, whether Australians are being properly told what's going on, he quality of our political leadership. These are some of the topics we hit here. Then a trip to the local YMCA reminds us why we're arguing about Australia in the first place. Because despite these issues, we're extraordinarily lucky to live here. (This is why we have to defend it) In Short: Real limitations. Fake limitations. Excuses versus choices. Paper walls. Kochie versus the RBA. Government spending and inflation. Political apathy. Australia's squandered opportunities. And remembering how bloody good we've still got it. Find us here: Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast Laura Insta: @laura.racky Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

Say less. That might be one of the simplest ways to immediately sound more confident. This week we start with speaking confidently, and why trying to remove every “um”, pause or filler word probably misses the point. Confidence is a collection of cues. We talk about slowing down enough to let your brain catch up with your mouth, getting to the point earlier, preparing properly, using the conversation before the conversation to settle your nerves, and why sometimes the most confident answer you can give is simply: “I don't know.” We also get into some of the habits that quietly undermine otherwise capable people: pre-rejecting your own ideas, continuing to talk after you've already made the point, over-explaining, pretending to know things you don't and using 300 words where 30 would do. Then we move into something much bigger: fatherhood. What effect do good fathers really have? Not just memories, money or advice, but an invisible infrastructure that children carry into rooms you'll never be in. We talk about the values children absorb from watching their parents, the standards fathers model for sons and daughters, why telling children how to behave matters far less if you're modelling something completely different, and why good parenting isn't about appearing perfect. Your children are watching how you work, how you treat people, how you treat their mother or father, how you deal with pressure — and even what you do after you get it wrong. Some of those lessons might not show themselves for 25 years. But they'll be there. In Short: Speaking confidently. Saying less. Learning to say “I don't know.” Fatherhood. Modelling behaviour. Raising children without pretending to be perfect. The invisible infrastructure we leave behind. Find us here: Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast Laura Insta: @laura.racky Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

Nobody cares how stressed you are. Harsh, but true. This week we answer a listener asking how to detach from a stressful job. We talk about the difference between being a serious professional and carrying responsibility for everything that happens around you. How to push back on impossible targets without sounding like you’re making excuses. How to make trade-offs visible. And why accepting an unrealistic expectation without challenging it can leave you carrying stress that was never yours to begin with. But we also turn the question back on ourselves. Sometimes the company isn’t creating all the stress. We are. We wear exhaustion like proof that we matter. We replay conversations at home, worry about problems we can’t currently solve and sacrifice time with people we love for an imaginary audience that isn’t watching. If the job is broken, or the career is wrong, you can change it. If you’re the one creating the problem, get your act together. Then we lighten things up with books, discover just how high our screen time actually is, argue about whether every book needs to make you smarter or more successful, and talk Seven Powers, Joan Didion, Frank Body, branding, entrepreneurship and reading simply because something is worth reading. Professional at work. Present at home. And occasionally, put the damn phone down. In Short: Work stress. Unrealistic expectations. Taking responsibility without carrying the whole world. Knowing when to put the problem down. Seven-hour screen times. Books for work. Books for pleasure. And remembering who actually deserves the best parts of you. Find us here: Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast Laura Insta: @laura.racky Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

We’re back after a mini hiatus, answering your questions. First up, is there a growing trend of senior people being iced out at work until they eventually resign rather than being made redundant? We look at why companies might do it, the complexity of Australia’s industrial relations system, why good employee protections can still become overly complicated, and why some senior leaders would rather slowly exclude someone than have an honest and difficult conversation. More importantly, how do you know when it’s happening to you? We break down three places to look for the warning signs: below you, beside you and above you. Are your team hiding information? Have your peers stopped asking for your opinion? Are senior leaders making important decisions without you? Because sometimes you don’t need to be told you’re being iced out. The behaviour around you is already telling you. Then we tackle a brilliant question, what do you do when your career has no direction because you haven’t taken responsibility for it? Our answer is somewhere different. Before asking how to take control of your career, work out what you actually want from it. What does work mean to you? How important is ambition? What are you good at? What kind of life are you trying to build? And perhaps most importantly, are you even on the right ladder? There’s nothing wrong with wanting to reach the top. There’s also nothing wrong with deciding work simply funds the life you actually care about. The problem is never making the decision at all. In Short: Getting iced out at work Australian IR Difficult conversations Career drift Ambition Finding direction Figuring out whether you’re climbing the right ladder in the first place. Find us here: Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast Laura Insta: @laura.racky Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

Marriage is not just about finding the right person. It is also about having the conversations that most couples assume they will 'work out later'. In this episode, we talk through six areas that couples should discuss before marriage, before children, and then revisit as life changes: • Money • Kids and parenting • Day-to-day life • Ambitions and dreams • Values • Extended family How much do you want to save? What kind of life are you actually trying to build? Do you want children? What does parenting look like when both people work? Whose career takes priority when opportunities collide? How involved will extended family be? What are the values you simply will not compromise on? The point is not that couples need identical answers. The point is that resentment grows when expectations remain unspoken. We talk about the assumptions people carry into relationships from childhood, traditional roles, money fears, family dynamics and previous experiences, and why some of the most important conversations in a marriage are MISALIGNMENTS in expectations. Because it is much better to have the difficult conversation six years before the problem arrives than six weeks after. In Short: Marriage maxxing. Money, parenting, careers, ambition, lifestyle, values, extended family, resentment, expectations and the conversations that make a relationship stronger before life puts it under pressure. Find us here: Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast Laura Insta: @laura.racky Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

Nobody cares about your career as much as you do. That might sound harsh, but it's one of the most empowering lessons you can learn. In this episode we discuss why so many people spend years working hard without ever clearly defining what success in their role actually looks like. If your company hasn't set meaningful KPIs, how do you know whether you're succeeding? How do you demonstrate your value? How do you build a case for a pay rise or promotion? Waiting for someone else to create the framework is often a mistake, and taking ownership of your own performance can completely change the trajectory of your career. We then tackle one of the trickiest workplace situations of all: reporting to a weak leader. Not every poor manager is the same, some are simply inexperienced or overwhelmed. Others are political, self-serving or willing to protect themselves at your expense. Understanding the difference dictates how you will approach. We discuss how to build influence, protect your reputation, navigate organisational politics and make decisions that keep your career moving forward, even when your manager isn't. Career maxxing, building your own KPIs, negotiating promotions, identifying weak leadership and taking responsibility for your own career progression. In short: Career maxxing Why most companies don't define success well Building your own KPIs Creating meaningful performance measures Demonstrating your value Preparing for pay rise conversations Promotions and career progression Weak managers versus dangerous managers Building influence outside your reporting line Organisational politics Protecting your reputation Paper trails and accountability Long-term career strategy Find us here: Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast Laura Insta: @laura.racky Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

If someone handed you a blank notebook and asked you the 5 traits you need to be crystal clear about as a successful leader, what would you say? In this episode, Christian opens the "magic book" to share the five leadership principles he believes separate good managers and leaders from the average, and it can change your trajectory. We discuss perception, understanding your vulnerabilities, knowing your values, developing commercial awareness and deliberately building relationships over the course of your career. None of these happen by accident, and all of them are within your control. We then discuss the very tricky world of how we make difficult decisions together, particularly in a marriage. Should you take the promotion? Move cities? Prioritise career progression? Spend more time with your children? How do you weigh money family, ambition, presence, or opportunity? When you know who you are and what matters most to you, what you actually VALUE, many of life's hardest decisions become much clearer. In Short: The five traits of respected leaders Why perception matters Identifying and managing your vulnerabilities Building values that people can trust Commercial awareness and business thinking Relationships that shape your career The "magic book" framework How to make difficult life decisions Career versus family Money versus integrity Parenting and long-term priorities Building a decision-making filter Why values come before choices Find us here: Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast Laura Insta: @laura.racky Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

We start with Anthony Albanese’s comments about Kylie Minogue, his wife, and the Japanese Prime Minister, and why it raises a bigger conversation about judgement, leadership, respect and the way people in positions of influence choose to present themselves. Was it just a joke? Was everyone overreacting? Or do small moments sometimes tell us something bigger? We also get into something almost everyone has experienced: Walking out of an interview and immediately replaying everything you said. Did I answer that correctly? Did they like me? Should I follow up? Why haven’t they called? We talk through what to do after an interview, including reviewing yourself honestly, learning from what you could improve, positivity maxxing the things you did well, and then moving forward instead of sitting around waiting. Fun episode. Find us here: Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast Laura Insta: @laura.racky Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

Competing Top 5 Lists (List Maxxing)!! Who wins, Christian or Laura? What happens when reality doesn't match the story we've been telling ourselves? We with a discussion about respect. The signs that someone may not value you as much as you value them, the people who only call when they need something, the colleagues who undermine you in front of others. The friendships that quietly drift out of balance. From there, Laura shares her Top Five Things That Shock You After You Have A Baby (Career Edition). Not the LinkedIn version, the real version. How your priorities can change overnight. Why your tolerance for workplace nonsense suddenly evaporates. Why people view mothers differently, whether they admit it or not. And why the person who returns from maternity leave is often not the same person who left. The conversation then politics, public debate and modern Australia. Why has public discourse become so angry? Why do so many conversations revolve around what should be taken away from somebody else? Why are we so focused on dividing the pie rather than growing it? We cover empathy, accountability, opportunity, growth, national confidence and whether we've forgotten that the people on the other side of these debates are still our neighbours, colleagues and fellow Australians. In short: The subtle signs someone doesn't respect you Workplace respect and personal relationships Five things that shock you after having a baby Why your tolerance for workplace nonsense collapses Identity, confidence and adjustment Political discourse in Australia Empathy, accountability and resentment Growth versus division National confidence and leadership Find us here: Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast Laura Insta: @laura.racky Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

How do other people experience you? It's a simple question, but one most of us rarely stop to consider. In this episode we discuss the gap between intention and perception, why people can have a completely different experience of us than the one we think we're creating, and why understanding that difference can change careers, relationships and leadership outcomes. We talk about confidence, reputation, first impressions and the reality that perception often shapes opportunity whether we think it's fair or not. We also explores interviews, workplace dynamics, body language, reception areas, leadership blind spots, social awareness and the importance of understanding how your behaviour lands with other people. We also cover unusual feedback from an aura reader, real-world examples of perception shaping outcomes, and why some people unknowingly make themselves harder to approach than they realise. The episode finishes with a broader discussion about risk, opportunity, backing yourself and a simple idea that sits underneath many of life's biggest decisions: Don't die wondering. In Short: Confidence versus intimidation Leadership blind spots First impressions Interview preparation Reception staff and hidden assessments AI taskforces and workplace change Self-awareness and social awareness Risk, opportunity and backing yourself Why most people wait too long Don't die wondering Find us here: Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast Laura Insta: @laura.racky Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

What does it actually take to build a successful life? Not just financially or professionally. A genuinely successful life. In this episode we discuss the five foundations that we believe sit underneath long-term success: Commitment Health Family Faith Purpose The conversation explores why talent eventually runs out, why commitment matters more than motivation, how health underpins everything else, and why people need a tribe around them if they want to thrive over the long term. We also spend time on one of the more difficult topics, faith. Not necessarily faith in religion, but faith in something. Faith in yourself, your family, your future, your community, or the belief that tomorrow can be better than today. We discuss starting a business, overcoming fear, volunteering, building purpose when you feel lost, a new study into anxiety, Court of Unpopular Opinion, open-plan offices, government spending, boredom, social media and why modern life seems increasingly designed to keep us distracted. We are always surprised how much ground we cover. In Short: Entrepreneurship and risk Commitment and resilience Health and performance Family and community Faith and belief Purpose and meaning Volunteering and contribution Anxiety research Open-plan offices Economic challenges Technology and attention Modern life and fulfilment Find us here: Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast Laura Insta: @laura.racky Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

We start with Birkenstocks end with leadership, impulsivity, artificial intelligence, Genghis Khan, reputation, career advice and simple rules for avoiding unnecessary problems. We talk about impulsive decisions, why some people repeatedly find themselves dealing with the consequences of avoidable mistakes, and how to deal with it. We cover emotional reactions, delayed decision-making and why a small pause can change the trajectory of a conversation, a relationship or even a career. The conversation then moves into artificial intelligence, the future of work and whether people are focusing on the wrong part of the AI revolution. Technology may continue to accelerate, but human beings still need meaning, purpose and connection. We also discuss leadership, first impressions, starting a new job, building credibility, asking better questions, and the behaviours that damage trust before people even realise they are doing it. Somewhere in the middle we end up talking about Genghis Khan. Pretty standard episode, really. In short: Why impulsivity is rarely the real problem The gap between reaction and action The seven-day email rule Delayed decisions and better outcomes AI, work and the search for meaning Why human beings need purpose Leadership mistakes people make early First impressions in a new role The fastest ways to damage credibility Questions that build trust across teams Genghis Khan, Temujin and long-term thinking Birkenstocks and unnecessary purchases Find us here: Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast Laura Insta: @laura.racky Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

Another Fast Five. Five questions, no preparation, and wherever the conversation goes is where it goes. This episode goes from secret competitiveness and teenage expectations into free will, parenting, ageing, irrational fears, spiders, boxing, skydiving, piano lessons, filing cabinets, and whether “Lawyers Ding Dong” should become a legitimate sporting event. The five questions were: What are you secretly competitive about? What would 16-year-old you think of you now? What’s the best part about getting older? What’s your most irrational fear? What’s one thing you wish you’d done, but probably never will? Along the way we talk about: Secret competitiveness and internal pressure What 16-year-old you would think today The calmness and self-knowledge that comes with age Free will, parenting and modern uncertainty Why younger generations face more paths but less certainty Irrational fears and imagined problems Stoicism and managing anxiety Spiders, Mike Tyson and fear responses Piano lessons and unfinished ambitions Professional fighting and “Lawyers Ding Dong” Filing cabinets, libraries and workplace nostalgia A thoughtful episode hidden inside complete nonsense. Find us here: Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast Laura Insta: @laura.racky Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

This episode starts with Brian Eno, creativity, obsession, and what it actually takes to produce world-class work over decades. We discuss the trade-offs behind highly successful creative lives, whether elite performers need complete immersion to operate at the highest level, and why many of the world’s best artists, athletes and founders often require someone else managing the practical realities of life around them. From there, the conversation shifts into public speaking: nervousness, preparation, storytelling, confidence, pacing, silence, mistakes, audience psychology and why your personal style matters more than copying somebody else’s. We also discuss: Top public speaking tips! The trade-offs behind ultra-success The Laffer Curve and Australia’s tobacco excise disaster Whether social media has tipped into a net negative Annual performance reviews LinkedIn Leadership Accountability And finally… “chip creep.” Somewhere between serious and ridiculous, which is usually where these episodes end up. In Short: Creativity, obsession, public speaking, social media, leadership, Court of Unpopular Opinion, and chip creep. Find us here: Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast Laura Insta: @laura.racky Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

Another Fast Five. Five quick questions, no preparation, and wherever the conversation goes is where it goes. This episode moves from memorable meals and funny stories into family, near-death experiences, parenting, ugly dogs, work, relationships, and what it actually means to feel present in your own life. The five questions: What is your most memorable meal? What is the best moment of your life (outside the kids)? What is something you would steal from each other’s wardrobe? What was the last thing that made you properly laugh? If you had to swap jobs, what part of the other person’s work would you enjoy most? In short: The meals and moments we’ll never forget Becoming a lawyer and making your parents proud Pre-GFC corporate chaos and made-up songs Near-death experiences and their effect Parenting, memory and self-perception Why ugly dogs are objectively funny The difference between freedom and structure at work Swapping careers and hidden workplace envy Truth-telling, leadership and discretion Joy maxing and cry maxing A bit more emotional than we expected. Find us here: Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast Laura Insta: @laura.racky Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

We start with the federal budget it leads us to aspiration, ambition, confidence, workplace tactics, Steven Spielberg sneaking onto movie sets, and why Australians need to stop apologising for wanting more out of life. We break down the major themes of the budget, including tax cuts, negative gearing, capital gains tax changes, deficits, infrastructure spending, small business pressure, and the cynical spinning of 'helping' young people, while really pulling up the drawbridge. The conversation looks at whether current policy settings are encouraging growth, risk-taking and business creation, or slowly discouraging people from trying to build anything at all. We also get into practical workplace tactics, how to QUICKLY change the way people perceive you inside an organisation, building authority without formal power, and why timing, initiative and proactive behaviour matter far more than most people realise. Then somehow we end up talking about Steven Spielberg sneaking onto the Universal lot as a teenager, James Cameron going from truck driver to Terminator, fake it till you make it, confidence, leadership, and “love maxxing.” Probably favourite so far. xx In Short: The federal budget and why reactions have become so tribal Tax cuts, deficits, negative gearing and CGT changes Whether Australia is discouraging aspiration and risk-taking Why fanning resentment toward ambition is a mistake The psychology of aspiration vs cynicism Why it’s okay to openly want success again Workplace tactics that quietly change how people see you Building authority without formal power Fake it till you make it… properly Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and acting before you feel ready “Aspiration maxxing” and “love maxxing” Find us here: Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast Laura Insta: @laura.racky Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

Five fast questions, no preparation, and whatever answer came out first was the answer. We ended up talking about the small things we genuinely look forward to every day, the books that have stayed with us, what we would eat forever if calories didn’t exist, and the things people misunderstand about us. Then the conversation shifted into relationships, what actually makes them work over time, and why becoming the best version of yourself matters more than trying to get something from another person. Some of it is serious, some of it is ridiculous, and some of it probably says more about us than intended. The Five This Week What is one thing you look forward to every day? What is your favourite book? What would you eat every day if there were no calories or health consequences? What is something about you that would surprise people? What is your best relationship advice in one sentence? Find us here: Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast Laura Insta: @laura.racky Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co