A client said something recently that captured a quiet leadership reality many people struggle to name.

She wants to be a useful, helpful and effective leader - and she cares deeply about being present with her team. What she didn’t expect was how difficult it can feel to switch out of deep, focused work when someone needs her, then switch back again and stay clear, present and effective in both.

This episode explores the hidden internal cost of leadership presence.

Not the visible demands.
Not the meetings or the decisions.
But the repeated internal switch leaders are required to make - often without warning - between deep, self-directed work and relational leadership.

You’ll hear why this switch isn’t neutral, why it quietly drains energy and focus over time, and why time management alone doesn’t address what’s really happening beneath the surface.

We explore leadership as an internal practice - one that requires skill in managing attention, presence and internal state - not just behaviour or output.

This is a conversation for thoughtful leaders who want to understand the real work of leadership, and how to offer genuine presence without losing clarity, momentum or themselves in the process.

I also share a Soft Strength leadership tool designed to help train this internal switch more cleanly and sustainably.

In this episode, we explore:

• The unseen internal labour of leadership
• Why presence has a real cognitive and emotional cost
• The difference between deep work and relational leadership, and why switching between them is demanding
• Why leaders often feel busy but behind, even when they’re highly capable
• Why time management doesn’t solve this part of leadership
• How leaders can learn to manage their internal state more skilfully
• A practical, embodied way to train this leadership switch

A Soft Strength leadership tool

If this conversation resonated, you may find the short visualisation and meditation I’ve created helpful.

It’s designed to support leaders in resetting after conversations, regaining clarity after interruption, and moving between depth and presence without carrying one into the other.

You can find it for free on the Insight Timer app, or CLICK HERE.

And, learn more about Janelle's work HERE.

This episode is a grounded, compassionate conversation about body confidence, self-acceptance, and building a healthier relationship with your body - without waiting for it to change.

In a culture that constantly tells us confidence, happiness and self-worth live on the other side of weight loss or physical transformation, this episode offers a different path.

Janelle Ryan explores how to love your body as it is today - whether you’re trying to change it, thinking about change or choosing not to. She shares her personal journey of decades spent disliking her body due to societal, generational and media pressure, and how inner work helped her move from control and punishment to strength, respect, and embodiment.

This is not a weight-loss episode. It’s about body image, body confidence and learning to feel at home in your body. Even in a world that tells you not to.

You’ll hear why loving your body and wanting change are not opposites, how inner work creates sustainable change, and 12 practical truths to help you build a kinder, more respectful relationship with your body.

Perfect listening if you’re navigating body image struggles, January body pressure, health changes, or simply want to stop feeling at war with yourself.

If this episode resonated and you’re ready to build a kinder, more confident relationship with your body, you’re invited to explore Exploring, Embracing, Embodying Body Confidence - Janelle Ryan’s self-paced, experiential digital course. This course helps you release shame, shift limiting beliefs, and feel truly at home in your body, without needing to change it first. You’ll receive lifetime access, including future updates, so you can return to the work whenever you need it. Currently 50% OFF - use code NEWYEARSPECIAL at checkout.
👉 Learn more and enrol HERE.

A new year doesn’t make us new people, and that’s not a problem.

In this episode, we explore why January is more symbolic than magical, and how this moment can still be a powerful pause if we choose it to be. I share a grounded reflection on the shift from the Year of the Snake (shedding and discernment) into the Year of the Horse (movement, momentum and direction), and why this is an ideal time to focus on intentional expansion rather than reinvention.

If you’d like to dive in with me, grab a notebook and reflect as you listen, or save this episode and return to it when you have space. You’ll be guided through two options:

• a quick, surface-level reflection for those wanting efficiency
• and a deeper series of journalling questions for those ready to dive inward and uncover real insight.

Take your time. Find the space. And let this be a conversation with yourself.

If you’d like to be the first to hear about Sky High Coaching's 2026 offerings, you’re warmly invited to join our email community by emailing janelle@skyhighcoaching.com.au.