Hi friend,
We’re 10 days into 2026, and I know what’s on your mind…
All the things you want to achieve this year.
Motivation is fresh, energy is high ✨
That’s why this is the perfect time to do what most people skip: lay a foundation for what truly matters... your mindset 🧠
I know the internet tries to sell a template of habits and routines that “all successful people follow.” But I’ve learned that none of that matters if it doesn’t serve
- who you are
- what you value, and
- what you actually want in life.
So, I’m not going to give you a generic list.
Instead, I nudge you to do the mental work to set the stage for everything you want to achieve with your money, career, relationships, and beyond.
This work won’t be flashy, but it will serve you.
Do it, and 12 months from now, you’ll be a different person with a different life.
1 / Learn About Abundance
Most of us grew up in a society that drilled scarcity into our minds.
- Resources are limited
- Success is a zero-sum game
- Other people’s wins are your losses.
- Hold tight, penny pinch, never let go.
This mindset keeps you small and traps you in a game you don’t need to play.
Abundance isn’t about magically having more. It’s about believing there’s enough to go around, that you can succeed, earn well, have freedom, and still celebrate other people’s wins.
Remember: There’s enough for all of us.
An abundance mindset kills envy, opens your mind, and keeps your focus on your journey.
Which brings me to the next most important thing…
2 / Find Your Ikigai
Not a trending career. Not the hottest skill. Not a path your parents or teachers prescribed to you.
YOUR purpose.
Something that makes you excited to get out of bed every morning.
I didn’t know mine until I started writing online.
Although I’d been writing since I was a kid, I didn’t realise it could sustain me - financially, creatively, emotionally - until I did the work to discover my ikigai.
Now, writing is how
- I have an impact
- live life on my terms
- earn well, and
- ensure I never have to go back to a corporate job again.
Your ikigai doesn’t have to fit the world’s definition of work... just yours.
“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” - Mark Twain
3 / Know Yourself, Then Lean Into It
You have to stop fighting who you are.
And make an active effort to get to know yourself - the one person you’ll spend your entire life with.
Becoming more self-aware lets you:
- Define who you are and who you aren’t
- Mould yourself into the person you absolutely want to be
- Lean into your unique gifts that no one else in the world has
Once I became self-aware and embraced who I am, my priorities became clear, work felt less like work, and relationships felt richer.
I realised I'm lazy AF, and need to create a lifestyle around my laziness instead of trying so hard to be hardworking 😂 Hence the 3 hour workdays!
I went from just another person alive… to Niharikaa truly living her life.
4 / Reframe Your Negative Beliefs
That voice in your head that whispers
- “You can’t,”
- “You’re not enough,” or
- “It’s too late”
Yeah… you have to stop listening to it.
Take it from me: I grew up overweight, awkward, and never the “smartest kid in class.”
I had a set of negative beliefs around my potential.
If someone hasn't been an 'achiever' all their life, they kind of settle for average. They're used to the average.
When I realised that I have control over my life and I can change things, I
- wrote down a set of beliefs that were holding me back
(e.g. I don't have great marks which means I will get an average pay and slowly climb the corporate ladder)
- reframed them
(e.g. I can pursue a completely different path, one I'm actually good at and strive to be better at, and I deserve to be financially independent).
The change is hard because your mind is used to believing the exact opposite.
5 / Prioritise Your People
You have one life.
Spend more time with people you love, they won’t be here forever.
I realised this lesson a little late...after my grandparents started passing away starting 2021 💔
Since then, family time is my number one priority.
Absolutely no meeting or event comes in the way of what I've planned with my loved ones. Even if it's a lunch with my mom.
“To the world you may be one person; but to one person you may be the world.” - Dr. Seuss
Finally
Transforming your mindset isn’t flashy. That’s why few talk about it.
But when you focus on these five areas, you thrive in every other part of your life
- health
- work
- relationships
- confidence
12 months from now, you won’t wish you’d started today. You’ll be grateful you did.
Love,
N