Izzy Utterson’s 4-Step Confidence Method for People Tired of Starting Over

If January turns you into a “new year, new me” maniac, this Beyond the Mat episode is the course-correct. Host Bryony Basse brings back mindset coach Izzy Utterson for a confidence ritual built for real life—messy mornings, low-motivation days, and the kind of goals that usually die in your Notes app.

Izzy Utterson Shares Her 4-Step Confidence Mindset Shift

Step 1: Self-concept (identity first)

Self-concept is the “story of you” your brain keeps trying to confirm. If the story is “I’m behind, I’m annoying, I never follow through,” your day starts feeling like evidence-gathering for the prosecution. “Self concept is one of those things that I came across relatively recently as an idea, as a concept, and it’s really how we view ourselves, how we think about ourselves and the way that we describe ourselves,” Utterson says.

The fastest way to spot your default story is that quote she shares: “you’re not who you think you are, you’re not who other people think you are. You are who you think other people think you are.” If you catch yourself spiraling into “everyone thinks I’m a loser, everyone thinks I’m a pain, everyone thinks I’m annoying,” that’s not just a bad mood—it’s the lens you’re living through.

Her practical fix is small and strategic. “I’m really interested in the first and last five minutes of the day.” Those windows matter because “your brain is in alpha theta state,” and whatever you feed it tends to stick. At night, she wants you to swap the mental replay for something cleaner: “I’m waking up tomorrow in my highest timeline. I’m the luckiest person in the world.” In the morning, you set the tone with identity-led questions. “What am I going to do today? How am I going to show up today?”

The why behind it makes so much sense, too. “Your subconscious mind loves lots of things, but what it really loves is to prove itself right.” So if you wake up and narrate your flaws, your brain will go hunting for proof all day. If you give it a new script—loved, powerful, abundant—it starts scanning for that instead. 

Step 2: Visualization (make it familiar)

Visualization is where confidence stops being a theory and starts feeling doable. “Vision boarding and manifesting and all of those things without action is defunct,” Utterson states. Think of the value of visualization as preparation.

Your brain’s main job is safety, and it defaults to whatever it’s done before. That’s why new things feel so threatening. Utterson explains, “The reason people feel so much pullback and fear to do those things is because it’s new. Your brain hasn’t done it before.” To your nervous system, that unfamiliarity might as well be a tiger.

Visualization short-circuits that fear response by letting your brain practice ahead of time. You walk yourself through the moment—how you arrive, what you say, how you move—until the scenario stops feeling foreign. And brain scans show “the same neural pathways are activated as when you’re actually doing it, as when you’re visualizing it.” That’s why athletes and surgeons use it, not because it’s trendy, but because it works.

If you can’t bring yourself to act yet, Utterson says to visualize first. Do it daily if needed. Eventually your brain shifts from panic to recognition. “I’ve done this before. I can do it again.” 

Step 3: Habits (stack them, don’t white-knuckle them)

This is where most people burn out—trying to overhaul their entire life with willpower alone. It’s time to stop fighting your brain and start working with it. The goal isn’t perfection; it’s automation. “Our brain uses 20 percent of our energy every day,” Utterson says. If every habit requires a fresh decision, you’ll quit from sheer exhaustion.

Her solution is habit stacking—anchoring new behaviors to things you already do. “Everyone’s brushing their teeth at a very basic level,” she explains. You didn’t pop out of the womb flossing; it became automatic because it’s tied to a specific place and time. Once something is already on autopilot, you can layer onto it. Affirmations after brushing. Supplements next to the kettle. A podcast during your commute. The habit piggybacks on an existing cue, so it doesn’t feel like extra work.

The bigger mindset shift is letting go of all-or-nothing thinking. “Staying in the habit is more important than doing it 100 percent.” Two minutes counts. Laying out the mat counts. Showing up messy counts. That consistency matters because, as she reminds us, “your brain doesn’t know the difference between big and small. It knows repetition.”

Step 4: Track and reflect (proof beats hype)

This is the step that turns confidence into something you can actually trust. Utterson is big on proof—because motivation fades, but evidence sticks. Her favorite stat says it all: “When we write down our goals, we’re 42 percent more likely to achieve them.” Not think them. Not talk about them. Write them.

Tracking works because it creates a feedback loop your brain understands. When you see yourself following through, you build credibility with yourself. It’s strengthening habit formation and self-belief at the same time.

Reflection is where this gets strategic. Instead of vague goals, she encourages mapping the life of your future self in detail—“from the moment that person wakes up to the moment they go to bed.” Then you reverse-engineer it. What does that person do daily? Weekly? What’s realistic right now? You don’t add everything at once. You introduce one habit at a pace you can actually maintain.

This step also protects you on off days. When energy is low, the standard isn’t perfection—it’s avoiding the spiral. “I always talk about no zero days,” Utterson states. A walk counts, water counts, even just one page counts. Over time, those tracked moments compound into proof that change is already happening.

To hear Izzy Utterson’s full conversation, listen to Beyond the Mat wherever you get your podcasts.

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