Mindset Hacks for Success: 4 Hacks to Rewire Your Brain & Supercharge Your Life (Ep. 2)

Stuck replaying past mistakes or letting negative thoughts take over? These powerful mindset hacks for success can transform your life.

In this motivational episode from Daring Breakthroughs, author and speaker Jenn Landis shares powerful, science-backed mindset hacks for success to help you develop a success mindset, tap into your personal growth, and build the habits of successful people. She shares 4 success mindset techniques to rewire your brain.

You’ll learn how to activate your brain’s “focus filter”—the Reticular Activating System (RAS)—and train it to filter for positivity, opportunity, and momentum. These practical tools are perfect for anyone committed to self-improvement, building a growth mindset, and developing high-performance habits that stick.  

Whether you're stuck in a cycle of self-doubt or just need to add new growth mindset hacks to your toolkit, these techniques will help you change your focus, reframe negative thinking, and unlock mental strength—one intentional habit at a time. 

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⏰ Timecodes ⏰ 

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00:00 Welcome to Daring Breakthroughs: Evicting Stuck Thoughts

00:46 From Walmart to Wall Street: Jenn's Journey

01:05 Beyond Impostor Syndrome: The Danger of Looking Back

03:00 The "Rearview Mirror" Trap: A Powerful Analogy

04:47 Understanding Your Brain's Focus Filter: The RAS

07:00 How Your RAS Filters Information: Real-World Examples

08:45 Training Your Brain: Intentional Focus is Key

12:15 Tool 1: The Power of Gratitude Practice

14:50 Tool 2: Pick Your Word & Write Your Affirmation

17:50 Tool 3: Sabotage Yourself with "Pops of Joy"

21:30 Tool 4: Your Personalized Mindset Shift

22:45 What's Next: Mental Strength with Jenny "Adrenaline" Milton

23:18 Connect with Jenn Landis & Daring Breakthroughs

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🔗 RESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED:

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 ► Get your FREE “Pops of Joy” Checklist: https://yourbreakthroughguide.com

 ► Beat Impostor Syndrome with our Fill-in-the-Blank Affirmations: https://yourbreakthroughguide.com

 ► Order Jenn’s book, Break Up. Break In. Breakthrough!: https://www.jennlandis.com/book

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💡 ABOUT THE DARING BREAKTHROUGHS PODCAST:

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Daring Breakthroughs is a podcast that celebrates stories of those who dared and offers strategies for those who will! Each week, we deliver practical strategies, inspiring stories, and motivational tips to help you gain confidence, get clear, and change your focus toward what truly matters. Hosted by Jenn Landis—author, speaker, C-Suite leader, and breakthrough strategist—this channel equips you with tools to reframe your mindset, build success habits, and achieve lasting professional growth.

⭐️ New episodes posted weekly.

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Ways to Work with Jenn

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🎤 Hire Jenn to Speak at your next event: https://www.jennlandis.com/speaking

✨ Get your breakthrough FASTER! Join The Breakthrough Club for Women:   https://www.jennlandis.com/membership

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Let’s Connect! 

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LinkedIn: ➡︎ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennlandis/

IG: ➡︎ http://instagram.com/ASKJENNLANDIS

X: ➡︎ http://x.com/askjennlandis

FB: ➡︎https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61567176982476

Transcript

0:00

What are you focusing on right now? Are negative thoughts taking over? If so, it is time my friend, to evict the thoughts that are keeping you stuck. In today's episode, we're going to rewire our brains for success with a few simple hacks. Let's go. Welcome to Daring Breakthroughs, the podcast that is obsessed with helping you build unstoppable confidence, gain crystal clarity, and create powerful networking connections that create a competitive edge. We are all about sharing practical strategies and inspiring stories from daring people who have achieved remarkable breakthroughs. I know that if you can see it, you can be it, because I've navigated my own career from Walmart to Wall Street and my friend, you can too. I'm Jenn Landis, your host and the author of Break Up, Break In Breakthrough. In our last episode, we talked about impostor syndrome and how to flip the script to unlock mental strength. Today, I'd like to continue that conversation with a twist, by expanding beyond impostor syndrome to directing our focus and limiting negative thoughts. Are you like me? Do you have this tendency to replay past mistakes? Maybe conversations that didn't go quite the way you expected them to, or situations you found yourself in and you walk away thinking, "Ah, I wish I would've said this," or "I wish I would've done that." I have this remarkable talent of fixating on things in the past that I wish I could redo. I want to hit a button and rewind time so that I can try again. And I tell myself, or for years I told myself, that the reason I was fixating on this was that I'm just trying to improve. I almost treated it like it was a noble thing that I was doing for myself by beating myself up and by continually just being really, really hard on myself. As I evaluated over and over and over again those moments that I wish I could redo, I kept telling myself, "Yeah, but with every time I rethink about it, I'm learning. I'm learning something new, and I'm, I'm figuring out what I'm not got to do next time." Anybody else out there, or am I the only one? Yeah, it was a problem. And I, I didn't realize how big of a problem it truly was until someone held up a mirror and said,"Jenn, what you're actually doing is, let me pause here for a moment. I'm a big, big, big believer in using your community to help you see things that you are blind to, and I call that holding up a mirror. So that you can reflect back to the people in your community, or when they're doing it for you, like my friend and coach did for me, she was holding up a mirror and allowing me to see clearly, really for the first time, what I was actually doing. And what was I doing? I was looking backwards. Her, her comment to me was so poignant.

This is what she said: 3:48

"Jen, you're spending all your time looking in the rear view mirror. How in the world can you do that and still have the energy you need and the strategic brain power necessary to look ahead, to plan for the future and to get ready for what's coming down the pike? You're too busy and distracted looking in the rear view mirror." Which, she was right. And it just created this powerful visual for me of driving down a highway going 70, 80 miles an hour, but having my attention constantly focused on the rearview mirror. That's not only dangerous, it's completely counterproductive to what I was trying to do. So it, it just doesn't work. So if my story resonates with you, let me tell you, there is a better way. There is a better way, and it starts with understanding how our brains naturally function and then leveraging that to get ourselves out of the trap of fixating on the rearview mirror. Today, I'm going to share those techniques with you, and I'm got to help you understand what I didn't understand when I had that conversation, and that's how to prime your brain and expand your focus so you can achieve your goals faster. Alright, let's dig into this. I would like to introduce you, or maybe reintroduce you, to your brain's focus filter. It's your reticular activating system, or RAS. And I'll tell you, I have a hard time saying that. Whether I say the whole thing or I truncate it, I tend to trip over my words. So fair warning, you may hear me do that in this episode. Your RAS is a bundle of nerves that live in your brainstem, and it serves a number of really important, critical functions in your body. But for today, we're really got to focus on one of its primary functions, and that's as a filter. It determines what comes into your brain and what you pay attention to. It really filters all of your sensory data. So I've always heard this referred to as almost like a bouncer at a club. It stands there and it decides who gets in and who gets out. At its core, it is just filtering all of the data that is coming and bombarding your senses, or rather, bombarding your brain, coming from your senses, and it needs instruction on what to pay attention to. Another way to think about this is it's almost the Google for your brain. And perhaps in this day and age, it might be better to say that it's your AI for your brain, because the better you train it, the better it is. So when you tell it exactly what you want it to focus on, guess what it lets through your filter? Yeah, the things that you want to focus on. Let me give you another example. Years and years and years ago, my husband and I were approached by a company that had, it was a multi-level marketing company, and they were talking to us about this investment opportunity and perhaps working with them. We chose not to do so. But during this period of time, we were really thinking a lot about, huh, could this be a part-time gig? Could it be something we do on the side that would help bring in money? Because that was actually during the period of time when I was working at Walmart, so we were scrambling and looking for ways to improve our lives and our situations. And so as we were looking at this particular product, I remember walking through the Walmart parking lot on my way in, and I, I looked down and I saw through the mirror, excuse me, through the window of a car, some CDs. Yes, I'm dating myself, but some CDs put out by this company and I'm like, how random is that? We're talking about it and all of a sudden we're seeing these CDs and I walked a little further and I crossed an aisle and I looked down and sure enough, there's another vehicle. And guess what I found? Yeah, I found a product by that company. I felt like that company was chasing me everywhere I went, because everywhere I turned, I saw flyers or CDs or products with this company's name on it. It was everywhere. That's an example of my RAS at work because we were spending so much time talking about it, thinking about it, debating it. That's what my brain was letting in to, or rather, that's what my RAS was letting into my brain. Those things. So how do you give it instruction? Because the same thing sometimes works when you get that song stuck in your head and you just can't let it go, or that thing that's bothering you and you just keep thinking about it over and over again. How do you tell your RAS what to pay attention to? How do you train the AI of your brain? Well. Yeah, you train it by what you focus on, which means that you have to insert intentionality on what you focus on, what you look for. You find, and here's the thing, your RAS is an equal opportunity filter. It doesn't care whether you're focusing on negative or you're focusing on positive. It simply returns the result that you're telling it to focus on. Just like the AI tools we are often using in our lives and our work today, it doesn't create a value judgment. It simply delivers. And your RAS does the same thing. So when you're really upset and you're angry and you're frustrated, guess what you're filtering on. Yeah, those things. If I'm sensitive about something my husband has said to me and I walk away and then I come back in the room and he makes a comment, guess what my filter is set to. Yeah. If I look for offense, I will be offended whether I'm doing it purposefully and consciously or not. Similarly, if I look for positive things. Then I find positive things, and the same thing holds true for neutrality. I actually write about the RAS and these techniques that we're talking about in my book breakup Break in break through. And in my book, I wrote about it at a time when I was sitting down actually writing the chapter on this topic. And as I was writing, um, I was focused solely on my, the research that I was reading and what I was trying to say. And so I was very, very inwardly focused. What I did not hear was the clicking of my keyboard and my nails. As I typed, I did not hear the birds singing outside my window. I did not hear the music playing softly in the background. I was not paying attention to my dog, Gracie, that was laying at my feet. None of those things existed for me because my focus was very, very intent on what I was trying to say and write in the book. Now, as soon as I stopped paying attention to what I was so focused on. All of a sudden, yeah, I could hear the music, I could see and engage with the dog. I could hear the birds outside, and I heard my clacking keyboard. Your RAS is powerful, and when we understand that this is how it works, we can use that power to shift our focus or change our focus and change our lives by setting our filter on the things that are going to help us. Forward. So taking our eyes off of that rear view mirror and instead firmly planting them on the horizon ahead and doing so with a positive mindset. I want to share four tools that I use that have helped me retrain my RAS. And by the way, just to be really honest, this is something you have to do continually. It does get easier with practice, but there are still many times I find myself stuck looking at the rear view mirror or attempted to look at the rear view mirror. In fact, it happened right before I got on air today to record this podcast. It happens. So we also have to practice a little grace with ourselves as we are implementing these tools and strategies. But you just keep working at it. You keep trying. So the four tools I want to share with you first one is a gratitude practice. It is really, really hard to be focused on your own problems and on your worries when you are expressly thinking about the things that you are thankful for. And I know it sounds cliche because there's a lot of talk about it, but I think the reason there's a lot of talk about it is because it works, because it, it works with our brains and natural chemistry, the way our brain naturally functions. It works. So don't knock it. The way I practice gratitude is through a gratitude photo. Um, I also do some journaling, but honestly, I like the photo better because I just have my, my camera with me at all times in my pocket, because it's on my phone. And I had a friend that introduced me to this idea of finding a, an image every day that you're grateful for, that represents what you're grateful for, and you just snap a quick pic. And she, at the end of the year, put together a collage of 365 of her gratitude photos. And I just thought that was the coolest idea, just the neatest thing. I, my practice has evolved as will yours, for what makes the most sense for you. So there are. Some days when I'll take 2, 3, 4 pictures and there are some days I don't take any. That's not great, but that's my reality. And at the end of the month, I don't wait for a year. At the end of the month, I put together a photo album of all of my specific gratitude images, and I just sit back and I just look at everything that I was able to capture for, from a gratitude perspective for that month. And man, I'll tell you, it makes me feel amazing. I, it just puts me in this really, really positive head space. It's something I can share with friends and family, and it's something that then at the end of the year, I've got 12 of these slideshows that I can go back and look at, and it's actually turned into a way of documenting my year as I go through it. The second tool that I want to share with you is picking a word that you focus your attention through. This is, um, along the same veins as the affirmations that we talked about in the last episode when you're dealing with impostor syndrome. And if you haven't caught that episode, I'd encourage you to do so. But it's, it's this idea that you pick a word, a lot of people pick a word for the year. I usually pick a word for the year, and then I write an affirmation that defines that word for me. It defines how I'm going to evaluate my ability to live out that word or to intentionally engage in the way that my affirmation is written. So in past years, I've used words like blessed. I've used words like joy, I've used love, I've used, um, belonging. I've used, uh, intentionality or intention, so I've used a lot of different words depending on what I wanted to work on that year. As I've started this business and I started writing my book, I've actually found that I'm using different words at different periods of the year because I'm shifting on what I'm focusing on as I work through. So I have a tendency. I really like working in 90 day sprints, so I will have a 90 day focus, and I'm sure we'll end up talking about that at some point in the podcast. But for that 90 days, there's something I'm really, really focused on. And so I will often pick a word and write an affirmation for that short period because it really helps me focus. So how do you use the word? And that's really the key. You have to use the word and the affirmation that you've written, or it doesn't do any good, right? Again, it's about intentional focus. You have to put it in front of you. So it's something that I try to do every morning. When I'm getting ready in the morning, I will state my word and my affirmation, and I do end up memorizing both of them so that I can pull them out whenever I need them and I recite it to myself in a mirror. I'm telling you mirrors are powerful tools. So I state in the mirror looking myself dead in the eyes, and then I wrap it up with a little Mel Robbins High Five Habit and I give myself a high five in the mirror, which always makes me giggle and starts the day off on a pretty high note. So that's one way you can do it. You can also do the sticky notes on your planner or wherever you you work. I would encourage you though, if you do a sticky note, move that sticky note around, because if you don't, it can turn into white noise and you'll stop seeing it altogether. You've got to engage. With that word and affirmation, if you're going to use it to help you focus your RAS. The third thing that I love to do myself is I sabotaged myself with what I call pops of joy. There was a period in my corporate life when I was ensconced in an environment of, of intense negativity. There was negativity around me. It was high stress. The business was having a difficult time. The employees were having a difficult time as the senior vice president and chief HR officer in the company. My job was culture and it was, um, helping people navigate all of these things that the company was facing, both internally and externally. And in order to do that, I needed to be, if not a cheerleader, I at least needed to walk the halls with confidence in a positive mindset. And I was finding that really hard to do. So I went to, um, the Dollar Store and Hobby Lobby and those kinds of, of stores, and I found these little silly things that just kind of made you smile. Sometimes it was, a funky pencil or it was a bookmark with a pompom on it that reminded me to be a cheerleader for our employee team. Um, sometimes it was, um, a noisemaker, like one of those New Year's Eve party kind of things. Just random things. You get the point. Random things that did not have high value and that were really inexpensive. In fact, I could get a pack of'em of five, five of them for a, a buck, something like that. And I then took them home and I put'em in some good old brown paper bags, randomly put these little. Uh, they were almost like the equivalent of Cracker Jack's surprise toys. Remember those? Again, probably dating myself, but it was just you, you, there's a, a little something in there. You didn't know what it was, but it was a grab bag that you knew was just got to give you a smile. And I put some quotes in each of the bags that I thought were particularly inspiring or, or helpful. Maybe it was something funny my husband had said, etc. You get the point. And I wrapped them up and I stapled them shut and I shuffled them around. So I didn't know what was in what. And then I, I went about my day. I put some of them in my car. I put some of them in my office. I gave some to friends. Who were in this fight with me and we were all struggling to be positive and we peppered them around. And when we had a tough day or a tough meeting or we knew we needed to go out and do something and be in front of people and and talk and engage, and we just weren't feeling energy, we could grab one of these pops of joy. Open it up and it would bring a smile and that smile, that moment, that reminder that I get to choose how I feel, how I engage, what I think about was usually enough. Just that little thing was usually enough to shift my mindset to, to break me loose of the negativity that I was feeling and to bring a smile to my face. And then that enabled me to bring smiles to other people's faces, and it reminded me of my mission and took my focus off of me and how I was feeling and put it where it needed to be on the people that I was serving. I still do pops of joy. I still have these little things that I will sometimes, um, stick around my house or my office or whatever. Just an idea for you. The fourth tool that you can use is something that you are already doing. And I don't know what that is, but I bet you do something or have done something that helps you shift your mindset when you're feeling that negative moment. Could you be intentional and do more of that? So the fourth item on my list is a fill in the blank. What are you doing today that works for you that you could just do more intentionally? For this week's episode, I have put my pops of joy checklist together in case you're interested in creating your own pops of joy and you want to, uh, an easy button for doing so. So if you're interested in that, please make sure you check the show notes today because, uh, we'll put a link in the show notes to, so that you can get that free pops of joy checklist. And if you didn't already, you might want to check out the previous episode. There's a link there for the fill in the blank affirmations to beat impostor syndrome, which can also be helpful with the work that we're talking about, both with impostor syndrome and with your RAS to bring you mental strength. In our next episode, we're going to talk to a master of mental strength. Her name is Jenny Milton. She goes by the name Adrenaline, and let me just tell you, you don't want to miss it. I mean, it is a phenomenal interview with her stories and she's just so incredibly inspiring and her story is one you will never forget. So please tune back in. You don't want to miss it. And with that, I'd like to say thank you. Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of Daring Breakthroughs. Please don't forget to check out the show notes for the free tools and the links related to this episode, as well as some of the sources for some of the material that we talked about. If you found value in this episode, and I sure do hope you did, I invite you to review to like, and to subscribe because I don't want you to miss the next episode. While you're at it, let's connect on social media. I'd love to hear from you. Give, tell me what you want to hear more of in these episodes and we'll work them in. You can find me nearly everywhere with the handle. Ask Jen Landis. That's Jen with two ends, and if you need a speaker for your next event. I'm your girl. Check out my website at jenlandis.com. That's J-E-N-N-L-A-N-D-I-S.com for all the ways that we could potentially work together. Until next time, please share an insight you gained today with a friend, and then apply that insight by making one bold, daring move. I dare you.