CounterPunch Australia

28/09/2026

What is one uncomfortable habit you stick to because you know it brings results?

28/09/2026

Do you think boxers genuinely want to get up at 5:30 AM in the freezing cold to do laps? No, but they do it because they link that miserable task to a higher value: wanting to win the fight. There will always be things in this life that you do not enjoy doing. If you only rely on feeling inspired, you will never take action. The secret is connecting the hard work to a goal that sits high in your personal value system. Link the uncomfortable task to the ultimate win, and the discipline and motivation will naturally follow.

Learn more: https://counterpunch.com.au/

24/09/2026

Motivation is not the ticket in. It is what you pick up on the way home.

Almost nobody feels like training before they train. Most people feel good about it after. That order never changes, and everyone keeps expecting it to.

So if you are waiting to feel inspired before you start, you are waiting on something that only turns up once you are already moving.

Discipline is not grinding your teeth. It is just a decision you made once so you are not renegotiating it every afternoon when you are tired.

Pick the days. Pick the time. Then stop asking yourself if you feel like it.

The feeling will meet you there.
https://counterpunch.com.au/

22/09/2026

Nobody ever got fitter by understanding fitness.

Most teenagers can already tell you exactly what they should be doing. Sleep earlier. Get off the phone. Stop snapping at people. Knowing it has never once changed anything on its own.

Progress does not start with the plan. It starts with the smallest thing you will actually do tomorrow.

So pick one thing you are doing right now that is not working. Change one piece of it. Do that same piece again tomorrow, and again the day after, until it stops being a decision and starts being a habit.

That is what real progress looks like. Small, repeated, unglamorous. Same as learning to keep your hands up.

What is the one thing you would change first?
https://counterpunch.com.au/

22/09/2026

The first thought of the day is not one you chose.

You wake up and something is already sitting there. You did not put it in. It came up on its own, and it is rarely a good one, because the default setting is fear.

Here is the bit most people miss. That thought is not a fact about your day. It is just a thought, and the feeling that follows is downstream of it. You feel heavy because of what ran first, not because the day is heavy.

You cannot always stop the first thought. You can absolutely choose the second one.

Catch it. Name it. Put something in on purpose.

That is a trainable skill, and it is a big part of what we teach at CounterPunch.
https://counterpunch.com.au/

17/09/2026

"We need to talk" has ended more conversations than it has ever started.

Sit a teenager down, face to face, and start asking direct questions. It does not land as support. It lands as an interrogation. The silences get longer and the answers get shorter.

Nothing is wrong with the kid. The setup is wrong.

Put them beside you instead of across from you. Give them something to do with their hands. Let the talking happen in the gaps.

That is the whole design at CounterPunch. Pads, rounds, real effort, and then the things they were never going to say at a kitchen table start coming out on their own.

Change the setup and you change what they are willing to tell you.
https://counterpunch.com.au/

17/09/2026

Congrats to our CounterPunch facilitator company Together We Can International Pty Ltd -TWCI and CEO Cathrine on their well deserved international recognition for the incredible work they do! It's a pleasure to work with you 🙏👏

OFFICIAL TWCI ANNOUNCEMENT 🌎

We are absolutely over the moon to share that Together We Can International Pty Ltd -TWCI and our Founder & CEO, Cath Durney, have been recognised as finalists on the world stage.

being named 2026 international Stevie® Awards finalists across not one… but THREE (yes 3!) categories. 🤯

🏆 Achievement in Diversity & Inclusion
🏆 Women-Run Company for Social Good
🏆 Social Change Maker of the Year – Disability — Cath Durney

Recognition as finalists on an international stage, alongside extraordinary organisations and humans creating change around the world, is already an incredible win for our little South Australian organisation. 🌎

Thanks to the absolutely wonderful Annette Densham, Cath will have the opportunity to share the TWCI story through an editorial AND…A headshot on a billboard in TIMES SQUARE. 🤯🗽

Yep.** THE Times Square.**

If there was ever a pinch-yourself moment, this might just be it!

TWCI has never been about fitting people into systems that weren’t designed for them.

It’s about changing systems.

It’s about recognising ability before disability, creating genuine belonging, challenging what employment and inclusion can look like, proving that different thinkers can do BIG things when backed by wonderful humans doing amazing things.

We started wanting to do better.

Then came people who trusted us.

The families who backed us.

The team who believe in the vision.

The partners, employers and TWCI community who work alongside us every day, and a whole lot of wonderful humans who have helped turn one belief into something far bigger than we ever imagined.

So yes, we’ll wait until 16 November to find out whether we bring home a gold trophy. 🏆

But today?

We’re celebrating this.

💙 3 x international finalist nominations.
🧡 An editorial telling our story.
💚 A TWCI face in Times Square.
💙 A South Australian organisation recognised on the world stage.

That’s already pretty unreal.

Thank you Annette Densham for believing this story deserves a bigger stage, quite literally. 😂

And to every single human who has been part of the TWCI story:

This belongs to you too.

Apparently, “International” isn’t just part of our name anymore. 🌎

Where different thinkers do big things.

Really, really big things. 💙🧡💚

15/09/2026

Starting is easy. Day three is the problem.

Your brain is built to protect the version of you that already got through yesterday. So the moment you push at the edge, it starts negotiating. You are tired. You will start again Monday. This was never really your thing.

That voice is not proof you are weak. It is resistance, and resistance shows up right before the change does.

So the job is not to feel ready. The job is to go one round past the point you wanted to stop. Do that often enough and the edge moves.

That is the part we train at CounterPunch. Not just the punches.
https://counterpunch.com.au/

13/09/2026

Ask a kid what they are worried about and they will give you a list.

Ask what the best case scenario looks like and most of them go quiet. Nobody has asked them that before.

That one question is the whole drill. Coaches, it is yours to use on Monday.

Environment over conversation.

11/09/2026

Stepping into the ring or facing a major challenge in life brings a massive flood of emotion. If you get too overwhelmed by nerves, your performance suffers, but if you lack excitement, you lose your edge. The key to high performance is finding that exact sweet spot: remaining calm, composed, and genuinely excited so you can operate at your absolute best.

Learn more: https://counterpunch.com.au/