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The Career Habit You Can Build on Your Morning Run
If you are training for the Gold Coast Marathon right now, or you are the kind of person who has a running playlist, a Strava account and opinions about which Brisbane river loop is best (and for the record, the best one crosses the Kangaroo Point bridge), this one is for you.
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Training works because you keep nudging the edge, going a bit further, a bit faster and a bit more uncomfortable than last time. Your career grows the same way, and I have found a way to build both on the same outing. You can keep physically fit and build career muscle together.
I have been thinking a lot about two kinds of walks. I write about them in my new book, Work Fame: Get the Projects, Promotions and Perks You Deserve, and they map neatly onto the mindset of anyone who already trains. So I want to share them with you here.
The Walk of Tame
The Walk of Tame is your default walk. You have your AirPods in, playlist on, head down, locked on a fixed destination. You are moving, you are getting the steps up and you are recharging. There is nothing wrong with this. I do it all the time. It is restorative and I recommend it.
The trouble is that most of us move through our working lives the same way. We keep our head down, focused on our own to-do list, our own team, our own metrics. We are delivering and doing good work. We are also doing it for an audience of one, usually our manager, while the opportunities we actually want are being shaped by relationships we have not built yet.
That was me, six months into what should have been my dream job at a global company. On paper, everything was right. In reality, every Sunday evening my stomach would clench at the thought of Monday. I felt completely unseen and under-utilised. I looked around at colleagues travelling, leading projects and getting pulled into work that looked far more interesting than anything coming my way.
A colleague on the train home said something I have never forgotten. “Leanne, the grass isn’t greener on the other side. It’s just another shade of brown.”
I laughed. Then I sat with it. And I realised the problem was me, or more honestly, the way I had been working. I had been doing a Walk of Tame at work, head down, plugged in, waiting for good work to be noticed. It never is, not on its own.
The Walk of Fame
The Walk of Fame is a different thing entirely. You are switched on, no playlist. You look around, notice things and stay aware of your own thoughts.
The move that makes it a Walk of Fame is one small, brave act. You say hi to the people you pass, whether you are walking or mid-run.
That’s it! That’s the practice.
When you do that consistently you start to build what I call your rejection muscle.
This morning, an elderly gentleman walked straight past my greeting without so much as a nod. For a couple of seconds, that familiar warm rush of social discomfort washed over me. Did I do something wrong? Is my face broken? The good news is that I got to literally walk it off.
That is the gift of practising outside, where the stakes are basically zero. You’ll feel the same level of discomfort the moment you decide to ask a senior leader for a coffee, raise your hand at a town hall, pitch yourself for a project you are not sure you are ready for or message someone you admire. However, if you’ve been practising on the footpath, you will have already built the muscle to push through it.
Think about it through a training lens. The Walk of Fame is your interval training for courage.
What This Looks Like at Work
The Walk of Fame does not have to stay on the footpath. Here is how to bring it into your working week:
- Take your headphones out before you hit the lobby and say good morning to the person on reception.
- Sit somewhere different at your next team lunch.
- Stop by someone’s office as you walk past, just to say hello.
- Take the lift to a different floor and see who is around.
- Send that message to the person you have been meaning to reach out to for months.
Every one of these is a small brave act, and over time, the accumulation of small brave acts is what creates a reputation that opens doors before you even knock.
Right now, somewhere in your city, someone is about to be pulled into an exciting project, invited to speak at an event or recommended for a role that was not even on their radar. The person putting their name forward thought of them because of a conversation that happened months ago: a coffee, a quick hello, a message out of the blue.
It is time to make sure that person is you.
About Leanne
Leanne Hughes is a Brisbane-based keynote speaker, consultant and the author of Work Fame: Get the projects, promotions and perks you deserve (Wiley, 2026). She helps leaders and teams get noticed, build influence and earn recognition for the work they are already doing.
Pre-order your copy today!
Pre-order your copy today and claim your star on the Wall of Work Fame: getworkfame.com