Clare Josa's work and research in the overlap between modern neuroscience and demystified ancient wisdom led her to create her much-loved microwins technique, back in about 2015.
Clare's research showed that 69% of people struggle with negative self-talk daily (from Clare's 2024 data). And most of them try positive affirmations, flipping the narrative, or challenging the thoughts, but her data showed this doesn't work.
That's where her microwins come in. It's a technique someone can use for just a few minutes a day that helps to rewire the automatic thought habits at source, rather than fighting them once the inner critic is in full swing. Her evidence shows this technique also rewires the nervous system, helping to turn the inner critic into a genuine cheerleader, without pretending.
She first shared microwins publicly, beyond one-to-one clients, in 2017, and there's a major section on microwins in her 2019 book - Ditching Imposter Syndrome - and her 2025 book - Coaching Imposter Syndrome.
Read on to explore this model in detail.
Sharing Policy For The Power of Microwins
Clare Josa is on a mission to free the world from Imposter Syndrome, so she encourages sharing the name and overview of microwins, to help others. Please follow these guidelines:
- Attribution: When sharing, credit "Clare Josa, author of Ditching Imposter Syndrome" and link back to this page, with the clickable text: The Power of Microwins
- Restrictions: Content may be used for personal or non-commercial purposes only, unless otherwise agreed and licensed. Sharing in free-to-view public articles, podcasts, videos, and social media posts is permitted, with proper attribution, but not in marketing materials, lead magnets, or paid programmes or client work.
Thank you for wanting to make a positive difference in the world, whilst also respecting Clare Josa's intellectual property rights.
The Power of Microwins
One of the hardest things about creating change is when we try to start with our thoughts, but those thoughts don't align with who we want to be - we're trying to use a mindset tool to do identity-level work. Clare's microwins technique helps to bridge that gap.
When someone is stuck in negative thinking, simply throwing in a few positive affirmations doesn't work, because the mind and body are linked - your body feels every thought you think. So the nervous system is primed for the negativity, fear, and worry - firing off the adrenaline and cortisol that trigger the fight-flight-freeze response.
When you try to 'wallpaper' a positive thought into that body-environment, it isn't going to stick. You first have to go through neutral. And that's the 'step zero' for Clare's microwins, as we'll explore shortly.
But wouldn't it be great if instead of having to use in-the-moment coping strategies to turn negative self-talk around, we had less of it in the first place?
microwins rewire your inner radio station
By focusing on our microwins daily, we rewire the bit of the brain that spots what we're doing well - or badly - and reward it for getting back into balance, which rewires what we pay attention to and how we talk to ourselves.
Clare Josa
It's far too easy to fall into the 'toxic positivity' trap when working with negative self-talk, and this video explains why it's such a big problem.
There's another important aspect to consider:
If a positive thought doesn't feel right to the body, the nervous system wins.
That's why it's much more effective to work to rewire the neurology that was triggering the negative self-talk than to wait until the critical thought pops up and go to war with it.
Clare Josa's microwins technique achieves this by working with both the brain and the body at the same time, whilst using the power of neuroplasticity to reprogramme the brain's filters for what it notices from the outside world, shifting the thoughts you think at the source, not the symptom-level.
But microwins aren't just about self-talk
The specific way Clare has designed microwins to work means clients easily - near-effortlessly - create shifts in who they see themselves as being, closing the Imposter Syndrome Gap.
The 'techy bit' behind this is retraining the Reticular Activating System to rebalance a person's internal referencing system; something Clare talks about in depth if you train with her to get certified in this work.
So microwins blend nervous system, neuroscience, and neurobiology to create lasting change, and all a client needs to do is to write down three things a day.
Microwins create identity-level shifts in just sixty seconds a day.
They harness neuroplasticity in a way that's fast, fun, and forever.
clare josa
The Key Elements For Microwins
write down three things you did well
At the end of each day, write down three things you did well - not things you're grateful for - your own actions.
And neuroscience shows that writing them down rather than just thinking them is powerful.
Make them specific and about you
Your brain's thought-habits might object and provide counter-evidence. By making your 'things' specific, the unconscious mind has to 'nod'. By making them about you and not a group or others, it creates identity-level shifts.
don't just think them, feel them
Once you're an old-hand at your daily microwins, it's time to shift up a gear and bring in the whole of your nervous system. Read through the list and pause on each one, feeling how it feels for about 20 seconds, then moving on to the next one.
Prefer to listen? Here's a podcast episode from Clare Josa on the power of microwins
And here's an episode that explores how microwins help specifically with Imposter Syndrome:
Microwins come with an added bonus
Writing them down in the same place each day creates a fantastic 'wins file' if ever you're having a tough day.
Love Microwins & Want to Share Them?
Clare loves to hear about your microwins! If you want to share them on social media, tag her and use the hashtag #microwins and she'll do her best to be your virtual cheerleader. And it's great for accountability, too.
Here's where to connect with Clare:
Want To Dive In With Solutions?
Here are some of the ways Clare Josa could help you to tackle Imposter Syndrome, including getting started with microwins today.
ditching imposter syndrome book
Section two of the book is great for this. It guides you through microwins in detail and shows you how to make them an easy part of your daily life, for near-zero-effort life-change.
Available in hardback, paperback, Kindle, and audiobook formats.
The imposter syndrome hacks™ app
Clare Josa's Imposter Syndrome Hacks™ app has a mini-training for microwins, and also an in-app diary for them.
It also has hacks for taming your inner critic, turning it into a genuine cheerleader, and waving goodbye to Imposter Syndrome, once and for all.
coaching imposter syndrome book
Written for managers, leaders, HR professionals, coaches and consultants, Clare Josa's 2025 book - Coaching Imposter Syndrome - includes a section on our latest research for how to bring microwins into your teams, not just for individuals, as a tool to shift workplace culture.
Want to share strategies with colleagues & clients?
Clare Josa teaches the deeper aspects of microwins, and then the tools needed for the identity-level work, in her coach certification programmes. She covers what teams most need to know about this in her keynotes and corporate workshops. Scroll down to find out about working with Clare.
Don't Know Clare Josa Yet?
Clare is considered a global authority in the fields of Imposter Syndrome, burnout and sustainable performance for individuals and teams. She has been an international keynote speaker for over 20 years.
Her research is cited in PhDs and taught on MBAs, worldwide, and she is the creator of the life-changing Safe to THRIVE™ and Natural Resilience Method® frameworks, which she teaches at Facilitator and Master Coach levels, as well as in the world's first Imposter Syndrome App - Imposter Syndrome Hacks™.
The author of ten books, a reformed engineer, and the former Head of Market Research for one of the world's most disruptive brands, she blends science-backed practical inspiration with demystified ancient wisdom, to help you create breakthroughs in ways that are fast, fun and forever.