As we step into a new year, forget lofty resolutions and hard-on-yourself goals, setting up for a great year is all about your mindset. With the right mindset, you can navigate whatever the year throws at you with serenity, or at the very least with the knowledge that you’re mentally strong and can adapt to whatever 2025 brings. In The Time Poor Series: Mindset, 30 global mindset leaders share their top mindset hacks and advice. Here are five of our favourite tips and mindset hacks from wise women featured in the book.
1. Embrace slow living
Modern life often feels like a race, but Gail Gibson champions the power of slowing down. We’re all in such a rush, it’s natural to get caught up in the race to nowhere, but she encourages us to cultivate mindfulness in daily activities. Things like savouring a quiet moment in nature or focusing fully on a task at hand can help you slow down and be present. Even something as routine as brushing your teeth can be an opportunity to center yourself.
Hack: Choose one simple activity each day to practice being fully present for five minutes. It’s a small step with big rewards for mental clarity and calmness.
2. Adopt the “I can do this” mindset
Joanne Green’s mantra, “I can do this,” highlights the power of resilience in overcoming adversity. After a life-altering accident when she was hit by a car as a pedestrian, she reframed her struggles as opportunities to grow. And in her year of recovery, she went from someone who was fiercely self-reliant, to someone who understood the importance of asking for help.
Hack: When facing tough times, your words and thoughts matter. Try to consciously replace negative thoughts with affirmations like “I’ve got this.” Pair this with reaching out for support. No woman is an island, and the people around you want to help.
3. Celebrate the small wins
It’s easy to focus on long-term goals and overlook incremental progress, but Cathay Jimenez reminds us that happiness thrives on frequent, small bursts of joy. Waiting for that one big feeling of pure happiness and achievement won’t come – we’re never truly done.
So breaking big tasks into smaller milestones and celebrating each achievement will keep you motivated, and help you find joy in the process.
Hack: Start a journal to track daily wins, no matter how minor they seem. Whether it’s completing a workout or sending an important email, these moments fuel sustained success.
4. Positivity to boost your brain
Dr. Helena Popovic is a big believer in the power of words and their impacts on the neuroplasticity of our brains. If you’re someone who always looks for the negative or thinks ‘I could never do that’, ‘I can’t do that’, or ‘that’s for other people, not me’, then actively reframing that self-talk can make a big difference.
Try eliminating the word ‘can’t’ from your vocabulary. Instead, focus on positive self-talk and build a practice of self belief, even if you’re the only person who can hear it.
Hack: Write down affirmations or deposit coins into a jar every time you think “I can’t” but persevere anyway. This visual cue will remind you of your capabilities and motivate you to take on challenges.
5. Cultivate confidence
Sinead Sharkey-Steenson believes confidence and self-belief are the cornerstones to achieving your full potential, but they can also be your biggest roadblocks. She believes confidence and self-belief can be built through simple practices, so that you can transform from being in a place of fear and self-doubt, to a place where you’re confident in yourself.
She suggests focusing on what you already have, rather than looking for the gaps, because when you focus on what you have instead of what you’re missing, you’ll build your inner self-belief muscle.
Hack: Reframe your fear. When you feel afraid or nervous, it means you care about the outcome and caring means it’s something important to you and worth paying attention to. So instead of focusing on the fear, recognise it as a message to pay attention, and to reframe those nerves as excitement instead.
For more mindset hacks, check out The Time Poor Series: Mindset at www.timepoor.me
