As 2025 draws to a close, this episode reframes what real success looks like—especially for those feeling their year fell short.

Recorded on Christmas Eve, this honest, reflective conversation explores the kind of growth you can’t always see on the outside but deeply feel on the inside.

I unpack the difference between external achievements and internal growth, sharing what really shaped my year—from invisible identity shifts and courageous decisions, to redefining worth, boundaries, alignment, and self-trust.

Not all progress is visible, and some of the most meaningful years don’t shout, they whisper.

This episode isn’t about checking off goals; it’s about recognising the inner growth that often becomes the foundation for what comes next

It’s ideal for anyone approaching a new year, questioning what really mattered and wondering what’s ahead.

If you’ve found yourself thinking, “This year wasn’t big enough,” this episode offers a fresh perspective you didn’t know you needed.

Key takeaways:

o What really counts as a “successful year”?

o Why the most important progress often leaves no visible evidence.

o How inner alignment can reshape everything before results appear.

o Why feeling flat or deflated might actually signal growth.

o The unseen courage behind saying no, standing in your worth, and choosing yourself.

o What changes when you stop chasing what looks impressive and start trusting what feels true.

o How reflection connects dots you didn’t even know were forming.

o Why the year that felt smaller may be the one that set everything up.

As you listen, I invite you to reflect on your own year and notice the ways you've grown, even if no one else can see it.

Where to find me:

Website: Kim Payne

LinkedIn: Kim Payne

Instagram: @iamkimpayne

Facebook: KimPayneBiz

COURAGEOUS ME – THE BOOK - COMING 18 FEB 2026

Grab your copy of Courageous Me – The courage to turn someday into today.

COURAGEOUS SHIFT

Want to make the impact you know is possible without having everything figured out?

Get access now to The Courageous Shift – a FREE 90 min audio mini-series to work out your next move.

Want to get clear on your next steps in your business or career?

Book a FREE 45 min Call to Action to help you get to the starting line.

This episode was sparked while writing the acknowledgements for my book and realising just how many different people have shaped my life, my courage, and who I’ve become.

Through a series of simple but powerful “who” questions, I invite you to reflect on the people in your life and the roles they play.

This isn’t about judging relationships or finding the “right” answers.

It’s about awareness and recognising that we’re not meant to get everything we need from one person.

Different people support us in different ways, at different stages of life.

And that’s a beautiful thing.At its heart, this episode is a reminder of how much the right people add to our lives and how lucky we are to have them.

Key takeaways:

o What a simple “who” question can reveal about your inner circle

o Why it’s unrealistic to expect one person to meet all your relationship needs

o What it means when your answers shift over time and why it’s okay

o How to recognise the different roles people play in your life

o A powerful reflection on where you might show up in other people’s lives

Where to find me:

Website: Kim Payne

LinkedIn: Kim Payne

Instagram: @iamkimpayne

Facebook: KimPayneBiz

COURAGEOUS SHIFT:

Want to make the impact you know is possible without having everything figured out?

Get access now to The Courageous Shift – a FREE 90 min audio mini-series to work out your next move.

CALL TO ACTION:

Want to get clear on your next steps in your business or career?

Book a FREE 45 min Call to Action to help you work it out.

In this deeply moving episode, Amanda Thompson, financial adviser, single mum, Ironman athlete, and survivor, reveals how pivotal moments broke her down, challenged her endurance, and ultimately rebuilt her.

From big bank boardrooms to gruelling Ironman finish lines, from the quiet guilt of single motherhood to the hidden scars of domestic violence, Amanda shares the truth behind resilience that is real, raw, and earned.

Her story moves between triumph and trauma, discipline and depletion, purpose and pain—and shows how endurance isn’t limited to sport, but a way of living, healing, and choosing yourself again and again.

You’ll hear how a spontaneous high school elective rerouted her life, why she quit a “safe” job, the surprising way sport helped her rebuild her identity, and the moment she decided to reclaim her story after the kind of rock bottom most never speak aloud.

This episode is equal parts courage, heartbreak, and hope. It’s impossible to leave unchanged.

Amanda really is the Slay Queen of Endurance.

Tune in to hear why.

Key takeaways:

o What endurance looks like when life brings you to your knees.

o How Ironman training built the resilience needed for life’s curve balls.

o The link between high-performance sport and running a values-led business.

o What can be more satisfying than winning when everything’s on the line?

o How hidden scars shape our behaviour long after the bruises fade.

o What it takes to rebuild yourself after trauma steals what once felt unbreakable.

o Why legacy isn’t something you leave for later, it’s something you live now.

o How courage shifts from “push through” to “falling forward.”

o The defining moment she reclaimed her story - and everything that followed.

Get in touch with Amanda:

Email: amanda@endurancefinancial.com.au

Website: Endurance Financial

Instagram: @amandathompsonofficial

LinkedIn: Amanda Thompson

Facebook: Endurance Financial

Where to find me:

Website: Kim Payne

LinkedIn: Kim Payne

Instagram: @iamkimpayne

Facebook: KimPayneBiz

COURAGEOUS SHIFT

Want to make the impact you know is possible without having everything figured out?

Get access now to The Courageous Shift – a FREE 90 min audio mini-series to work out your next move.

Want to get clear on your next steps in your business or career?

Book a FREE 45 min Call to Action to help you get to the starting line.

In this warm and heartfelt conversation, we meet business owner and orange-obsessed powerhouse Kerri-Ann Hooper, founder of Carnelian Projects - a woman who has carried courage with her through joy, loss, rebuilding, and reinvention.

From getting braces at 51 and continuing to show up online despite the self-consciousness, to returning to the stage to dance after decades away, to leaving toxic workplaces, launching her own business, navigating miscarriages, watching her family lose everything in the GFC, surviving a contractor collapse, enduring public backlash and more - Kerri-Ann’s story is one of grit wrapped in heart, and hard-earned wisdom.

You’ll hear how her childhood passions quietly shaped her destiny, how she moved through the heartbreak of watching her parents’ world fall apart, and how she keeps building through the setbacks, detours, and unexpected turns.

This episode is a celebration of courage in all its colours and a reminder that courage doesn’t fade with age; it only gets stronger.

Key takeaways:

o Why courage sometimes looks like survival.

o The surprising places courage hides when you think you’ve outgrown it.

o How one simple decision can change your confidence at any age.

o What building (and rebuilding) through crisis teaches you.

o The unexpected link between childhood passions and adult purpose.

o How to keep showing up when the universe tries to stop you.

o Why your fifties are not the time to hold back, but to keep going.

Get in touch with Kerri-Ann:

Instagram: @carnelianprojects

LinkedIn: Kerri-Ann Hooper

Facebook: Carnelian Projects

Website: Carnelian Projects

Where to find me:

Website: Kim Payne

LinkedIn: Kim Payne

Instagram: @iamkimpayne

Facebook: KimPayneBiz

Want to make the impact you know is possible without having everything figured out?

Tune into The Courageous Shift – a FREE 90 min audio mini-series to work out your next move.

Get access now.

Want to get clear on your next steps in your business or career?

Book a FREE 45 min Call to Action to help you get to the starting line.

In this episode, I open the door to the emotional rollercoaster of coming close to something you’ve wanted for years, and the surprising mix of excitement, doubt, resistance, and raw courage that shows up right alongside it.

From writing 80,000 words of the “wrong” book to the turning points, the wobbles, the whispers, and the exact moment I realised why my manuscript sat unfinished for so long…

I share the inner journey that unfolds when a long-held dream suddenly becomes inevitable.

I unpack how the fear of success quietly sneaks in, why we suddenly start procrastinating at the finish line, and what it really means to take your own medicine when every insecurity decides to show up.

I get honest about my editing ‘meltdown’ in a car dealership, the emotional “oh my goodness” moment of seeing my publishing page for the first time and why getting close to something that matters deeply can feel both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.

This is a conversation for anyone who has ever stood on the edge of their next chapter and thought, “Who am I to do this?”

If you’re getting close to launching something, creating something, or sharing something that truly matters to you… this episode will feel like a deep exhale and a hand on your back reminding you to keep going.

Key takeaways:

o Why the closer you get to a dream, the louder the doubts become.

o What makes us consider abandoning something we’ve wanted for years.

o How to recognise when the fear of success quietly slips in.

o Why the “wrong” version of your dream may lead you to the right one.

o The surprising shift when you move from your head to your heart.

o How to tell if you’re procrastinating… or protecting yourself from being seen in a new way.

o The lesson in asking about the alternative to keep pursuing an important milestone.

COURAGEOUS SHIFT

Want to make the impact you know is possible without having everything figured out?

Get access now to The Courageous Shift – a FREE 90 min audio mini-series to work out your next move.

Where to find me:

Website: Kim Payne

LinkedIn: Kim Payne

Instagram: @iamkimpayne

Facebook: KimPayneBiz

Want to get clear on your courageous next steps in your business or career?

Book a FREE 45 min Call to Action to help you get to the starting line.

What happens when the life you’ve built suddenly falls apart… and then, against all odds, you rebuild it again?

In this breathtaking, emotional, and deeply vulnerable conversation, I chat with author, former attorney, and certified grief coach Stephanie Duran - a woman whose life reads like a novel filled with courage, devastation, reinvention, and the rare kind of love that changes you forever.

Together, we trace some of Stephanie’s journey from an idyllic marriage that slowly eroded, to the courage it took to walk away when the world didn’t understand, to rediscovering her confidence after 15 years out of the courtroom.

Then comes the love story that stops you in your tracks, the magnetic poolside meeting in Las Vegas, the whirlwind connection, the interstate move, the business, the dreams, and the unimaginable twist that followed.

Stephanie opens up about fighting for more time, what it means to love someone through terminal illness, the devastating courage of saying goodbye, and how she found her way back to herself, and eventually, to love again.

This episode asks big questions:

What do we do when life breaks our heart?

How do we rebuild when the story changes?

And what does courage really look like when everything is on the line?

If you need a reminder that life can take everything from you and still offer new beginnings - this conversation will stay with you long after you listen.

Key takeaways:

o How childhood moments can unknowingly plant seeds of courage.

o Why “good enough” can be the most dangerous place to settle.

o How to know when it’s time to leave something the world thinks you should stay in.

o What happens when you start over from scratch - career, identity, confidence etc.

o How an extraordinary love story can begin with one bold statement.

o The unimaginable courage it takes to let go when your heart wants to hold on.

o How opening your heart again can start a whole new chapter in your life.

Get in touch with Stephanie Duran:

Website: Stephanie Duran

Instagram: @stephanieduranofficial

LinkedIn: Stephanie Duran

Facebook: Stephanie Duran

Podcast: Weaving Happiness through Grief with Stephanie Duran

Get her book:

Because I Loved You: Surviving the Unthinkable by Stephanie Duran – updated version released 20 Jan 2026. See all places books are sold.

Audio version available now on all platforms. ie. Audible

Where to find me:

Website: Kim Payne

LinkedIn: Kim Payne www.linkedin.com/in/kimpayne9rok/

Instagram: @iamkimpayne

Facebook: KimPayneBiz

Want to make the impact you know is possible without having everything figured out?

Tune into The Courageous Shift – a FREE 90 min audio mini-series to work out your next move.

Get access now.

What happens when you stop hiding the parts of yourself you’ve been taught to dislike?

In this deeply personal episode, I share an unexpected conversation that began with a woman’s new hairstyle and turned into a raw exploration of self-perception, courage, and the unhelpful nuances we often carry over from childhood.

From teasing in the schoolyard to throwaway comments that stick like glue, I unpack how seemingly small moments can shape the way we see ourselves and how, over time, they can quietly limit how we show up in the world.

With honesty, humour, and a few confessions of my own, I invite you to consider your quirks - the imperfections, oddities, and habits you may have tried to hide, and see them for what they truly are - the most human, relatable, and beautiful parts of you.

If you’ve ever felt “not enough” because of how you look, speak, or show up, this episode will help you uncover how to turn those so-called flaws into your most endearing superpowers.

Key takeaways:

o How vulnerability can open a deeper sense of connection and courage.

o The limitations of holding onto comments made to us as kids.

o How past insecurities can shape subtle choices we make today.

o The surprising way our perceived flaws can become our most endearing features.

o The freedom that comes from owning your unique qualities and quirks.

o A behavioural science concept that shows how your bloopers can make you more appealing.

o The value of normalising our imperfections as part of being human.

Where to find me:

Website: Kim Payne

LinkedIn: Kim Payne

Instagram: @iamkimpayne

Facebook: KimPayneBiz

COURAGEOUS SHIFT

Want to make the impact you know is possible without having everything figured out?

Get access now to The Courageous Shift – a FREE 90 min audio mini-series to work out your next move.

Want to get clear on your next steps in your business or career?

Book a FREE 45 min Call to Action to help you get to the starting line.

In this episode, we meet Adriana Brusi, Managing Director at Crowds Now, in a follow-up conversation that delves far deeper than the first one we recorded (and never released).

This time, Adriana takes off the mask and gets real and raw.

What unfolds is an unfiltered exploration of what it really means to drop the façade of perfection, confront people-pleasing patterns, and reclaim your voice after years of living to meet others’ expectations.

From growing up in Hong Kong chasing achievement as love, to breaking free from a toxic marriage, rebuilding her life as a single mother, and launching a new business born from purpose…Adriana’s story is a masterclass in courage, authenticity, and resilience.

She reveals the paradox of being perceived as confident yet feeling unseen, the pain and power of learning through failure, and the surprisingly pragmatic tool she uses to move through heartbreak and hardship — one that’s as empowering as it is unconventional.

This conversation is for every woman who has ever held herself back, doubted her worth, or wondered what might happen if she finally let the world see the real her.

Key takeaways:

o What happens when you realise your “authentic” self has been performing.

o Why vulnerability and showing the cracks can make you even more endearing.

o The hidden ways high-achieving women trade boundaries for belonging.

o The red flags we don’t see, and how we can end up in places we never intended.

o An unconventional way to move through any emotional storm and why it works.

o The importance of learning to regulate emotions and give yourself space to reset.

o Reclaiming your power so you can turn any past pain into your superpower to serve.

Get in touch with Adriana or learn more about her business, Crowds Now:

Website: Crowds Now

Instagram:

@adrianabrusiofficial

@crowds_now

LinkedIn:

Adriana Brusi

Crowds Now

**COURAGEOUS SHIFT**

Want to make the impact you know is possible without having everything figured out?

Get access now to The Courageous Shift – a FREE 90 min audio mini-series to work out your next move.

Where to find me:

Website: Kim Payne

LinkedIn: Kim Payne

Instagram: @iamkimpayne

Facebook: KimPayneBiz

Want to get clear on your next steps in your business or career?

Book a FREE 45 min Call to Action to help you get to the starting line.