That Home Loan Hub

From Bagpipes To Boardrooms With James Laughlin

• Zebunisso Alimova

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0:00 | 47:28

Money stress, burnout, and constant noise are not personality flaws, they’re often just untrained habits and inherited beliefs. We’re joined by Christchurch-based high performance coach and author James Laughlin, whose work spans everyone from elite athletes to CEOs and public leaders, to pull apart what “high performance” really looks like in everyday life.

We start with James’s journey from Ireland to New Zealand, where a world champion drumming background turns into a broader mission: teach repeatable habits that help people perform under pressure. From there we dig into money mindset and the “BS” we all carry, meaning belief systems. If you grew up hearing “money doesn’t grow on trees”, you may be running a scarcity script without realising it. James offers a more useful model: the money tree is your mind, and when you keep learning and adding value, opportunities show up.

We also talk financial literacy through a Kiwi lens: why mortgage structure can matter more than the headline interest rate, why “Uncle Bob at the barbecue” isn’t a strategy, and why dropping your ego is often the fastest path to better outcomes. James shares his MEDS check-in (Mental training, Exercise, Diet, Sleep) as a simple monthly snapshot to spot what’s dragging your energy down, plus three coaching questions that cut through shiny object syndrome and frustration: what do you want, why do you want it, and how much are you willing to suffer for it.

If you’re trying to build wealth, improve your health, or get clear on purpose and direction, this chat gives you a practical roadmap and a push to act. Subscribe for more conversations like this, share it with a mate who needs a reset, and leave us a review with the one habit you’re committing to this month.


https://www.jjlaughlin.com/

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