Show Notes
Imagine being fifteen years old and having your head teacher tell you straight to your face that you will amount to absolutely nothing. For years, Gina carried that heavy, wounding line with her, pouring her energy into a relentless, high-stakes, fifteen-year career in corporate tech and consulting—constantly striving, doing more, and trying to prove her worth. But after years of managing massive, multi-million-pound projects for major organisations like the NHS and Sainsbury's, her body and mind finally hit a breaking point. She realized that society's version of success was nothing more than a fast track to burnout, and she had to learn a completely new way to exist.
Together, Michelle and Gina unpack the psychology of overwhelm and how to outsmart it using simple, daily micro-steps. From treating your "future self" with kindness—like wiping down the kitchen sides before bed or packing with rucksack cubes—to her weekly ritual of "F*** It Thursdays," where she shoots for the stars to train her brain that it is safe to fail, Gina shares an actionable blueprint for mental freedom. They discuss why the word priority was historically only ever meant to be singular, why we must stop letting technology hijack our attention spans, and how to unpick our identity from our jobs so we can finally start living on our own terms.
✨ IN THIS EPISODE: 00:00 – Introduction: Meeting Gina, corporate tech consultant turned founder of Kind Too. 02:15 – Written Off at 14: Surviving her head teacher's rude prediction and forging a career in tech consulting. 04:15 – Directness as a Superpower: How living in Serbia forced Gina to ditch the email emojis and speak her needs in three words. 07:15 – Touching the Ground: Learning to live with the seasons from her Serbian in-laws and finding happiness in simplicity. 10:30 – Moving Millions: Working on high-pressure projects for the NHS and Sainsbury's while running from her past. 12:10 – The Packing Cube Shift: Managing transitional moments and the physical structures built to protect her future self. 16:15 – Compounding Kindness: Launching Kind Too and why taking three simple breaths is the ultimate act of self-care. 22:15 – The Singular Priority: Why "priority" was never meant to be plural, and the danger of running on 18 focus areas at once. 26:15 – The Overwhelm Trap: How Michelle battled a full-time workload schedule and why we must learn to strip things back. 30:30 – Object Permeability & Accountability: The whiteboard trick, why out-of-sight goals disappear, and how to use "body doubling" to conquer boring admin. 39:00 – Smaller Cycles: Building software, building lives, and why shipping the "scrappy blueprint" builds deep trust. 48:15 – F* It Thursdays:** How shooting for the stars trains your brain that it is safe to fail. 1:00:30 – Who Are You Without Your Job? Reconnecting with non-work hobbies and why Gina would tell her old teacher: "Thanks for the fuel."
💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER: On treating your future self with kindness: "Doing the smallest thing possible that will make future Gina a bit happier, or a bit calmer." On why priority must always remain singular: "Not everything can be a priority. Like priority is a singular word... Priorities wasn't added into the dictionary till like the 17 or 1800s... So, you only have one."
🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS: Sign up for the newsletter to get your weekly inbox dares: www.shewhodareswins.com Join the Dare Club community and eliminate self-doubt 🎙️ WANT MORE? Sophie Main – discusses audacity, the delusion needed to chase your dreams, and why showing up as a "human shit show" is far more powerful than perfection. Allie Bailey – discusses outrunning self-hate, separating identity from performance, and why we must align our daily choices with our core values. 💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE? Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more women discover these stories Watch all episodes on YouTube Join Dare Club Now
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