Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin

Episode: Mimi Bouchard on Rewiring Your Brain for Success and Confidence with Activations

Release Date: November 5, 2025
Podcast Host: Nicole Lapin (with Money News Network)
Guest: Mimi Bouchard, founder of Activations app

Episode Overview

In this energizing episode, Nicole Lapin sits down with Mimi Bouchard to demystify the concept of “manifestation” and reveal the science behind rewiring your mindset for greater confidence, financial success, and well-being. Mimi, creator of the Activations app, shares her transformation journey from financial scarcity to entrepreneur and explains how “activations”—her audio-guided visualizations—can reprogram your self-image through neuroscience-backed techniques. The discussion is both pragmatic and inspirational, packed with actionable takeaways for listeners at all stages of their self-development and financial journeys.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Money Mindset Rooted in Childhood

Timestamp: [04:20]

• Mimi’s Experience: Raised in a financially-stressed household surrounded by “lack,” fighting, bankruptcy, and negative attitudes toward wealth.
• Impact: Early exposure led to insecurity but also became her “biggest motivator” to build a different future:

  “It was the biggest motivator for me growing up to create my own future because there was such a negative context around it.”
  — Mimi Bouchard [05:34]

2. The Limits of Conventional Self-Help

Timestamp: [06:25]

• Mimi hit “rock bottom” across five pillars: “mental, physical, financial, social, spiritual.” She tried popular tools like journaling and meditation, but they felt too slow, overwhelming, or impractical for her busy life.

• Turning Point: She created her own audio “activation”—a motivating, cinematic, guided visualization—layering affirmations and motivational music.

  “I want something active that can also take advantage of visualization and all these different practices that really help you reprogram your mind. But I just wasn’t resonating with meditation.”
  — Mimi Bouchard [08:01]

3. Science-Backed Transformation: Neuroplasticity & Self-Image

Timestamp: [11:08]

• Mimi describes how listening to activations during daily routines (habit stacking) can create rapid, lasting change.

• Classical Conditioning: By pairing activations with routines (e.g., walking dog), motivation and confidence become automatic, rooted in “classical conditioning” (Pavlov’s dog framework).

• Visualization Retrains the Brain: Changing your “future self” self-image changes your actual behaviors and outcomes—“be her now” to attract desired results.

  “When you become the self image of your future self, you literally, subconsciously, without even realizing it, become that person.”
  — Mimi Bouchard [12:56]

4. The Two-Step Formula for Personal Transformation

Timestamp: [15:50]

• Step 1: Clarity: Define exactly who your “future self” is and how living as them would feel, emotionally and physically.
• Step 2: Becoming: Start “being her now” in daily micro-moments. This process leverages the brain’s Reticular Activating System (RAS), which filters reality to align with your beliefs.

  “If you have the belief, I was destined to be rich... you are going to start seeing opportunities all around you that were always there that you just didn’t notice before.”
  — Mimi Bouchard [18:55]

5. Breaking Down the ‘Woo-Woo’ Barrier: Universality of Mindset

Timestamp: [20:19]

• Mimi reframes manifestation in universally relatable terms: “An atheist will call it the placebo effect. A psychologist will call it self image psychology. A scientist will call it quantum physics. A Christian will call it prayer. A spiritualist will call it manifestation or the law of attraction... it’s the same thing in a different language.”
• Focus is on pragmatic results, not magical thinking; change is possible for anyone willing to shift their beliefs and identity.

6. Habit Stacking and Mental Rehearsal

Timestamp: [22:09]

• Habit Stacking: Pairing positive, identity-shifting habits (activations, learning) with routine tasks (walking, laundry) for effortlessness.
• Mental Rehearsal: Visualizing success and comfort with abundance conditions the mind for new financial possibilities.

  “With activations, you don’t even want to add it to your to-do list because it’s like just having your morning cup of coffee... it feels good to feel good.”
  — Mimi Bouchard [23:17]

7. The Money Thermostat Concept

Timestamp: [27:05]

• Financial identity operates like a thermostat: “Until you change that set point of your identity, you are always going to get back to that level no matter what.”
• You’ll subconsciously return to your comfort zone unless you consciously “turn up the dial.”

8. Energy, Money, and Manifestation—With Realism

Timestamp: [28:49]

• Mimi emphasizes that everything—including money—is energy (supported by quantum physics), but resists magical thinking.

  “I don’t believe in the movie The Secret where they try to emulate someone just thinking about a car and it pops up. That’s too woo woo for me.”
  — Mimi Bouchard [29:15]

9. Relationship, Success, and the Power of Specificity

Timestamp: [29:38]

• Mimi describes recording a relationship-focused activation—and meeting her future husband the very next day. She ties this back to being “ready” in mindset, not desperation or lack.

10. The Role of Emotion—Aliveness vs. Numbing

Timestamp: [45:44]

• Mimi took eight months off social media to regain “aliveness”—the feeling of being present, energetic, and in love with life, as opposed to “numbing” through distractions like doomscrolling.

  “Numbing, which is the opposite, is what I want to feel less of... The opposite is aliveness.”
  — Mimi Bouchard [46:32]

11. Compound Effect and Investor's Mindset

Timestamp: [39:36], [41:04]

• Success is about consistent, incremental improvements:

  “It’s just about small incremental changes and showing up for yourself imperfectly in those little moments... being the compound effect to massive transformation.”
  — Mimi Bouchard [39:55]

• Mimi applies an “investor’s mindset” to all life areas—making small, smart choices for long-term gain.

12. 10x vs 2x Principle in Business

Timestamp: [41:53]

• Focus on actions that could potentially “10x” your impact or revenue, rather than spreading energy across many “2x” tasks.

  “If you just focus on the 10x things that have the potential to 10x your business and you forget about everything that could 2x, that's the way that you're going to grow easier than ever, faster than ever...”
  — Mimi Bouchard [41:53]

13. Mirror Activations and Self-Image

Timestamp: [34:22]

• Deeply reprogram self-image by doing mirror work: look yourself in the eye, intentionally practice seeing yourself as more confident, beautiful, magnetic. Results come from micro-moments of self-recognition.

  “Transformation happens in the small moments… it happens with consistency.”
  — Mimi Bouchard [36:06]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“Your bounce back rate... is the rate at which you get back on track after falling off. So perfection shouldn’t be the measure of success—your bounce back rate, how quickly you can get back on track, that is the measure.”
— Mimi Bouchard [24:29]

“When you identify as the type of person that is wealthy, you’re going to feel weird if you don’t wake up and work on your business… That's the shortcut to transformation.”
— Mimi Bouchard [50:07]

“It's not magic. You have to work for it, you have to listen.”
— Morgan Lavoy [50:04]

“Aliveness. That’s the word of the day.”
— Mimi Bouchard [50:41]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [04:20] Mimi’s money mindset origin story
• [06:25] Rock bottom and early experiments in self-help
• [11:08] Science behind activations, habit stacking, and shortcutting transformation
• [13:57] Explaining neuroplasticity; “neurons that fire together, wire together”
• [15:50] Two-step formula: clarity + becoming
• [20:19] Redefining “manifestation” from a scientific perspective
• [22:09] Deep dive on habit stacking & mental rehearsal
• [27:05] The “money thermostat” explained
• [34:22] Mirror activations and the role of micro-moments
• [39:36] Compound effect and investing in yourself gradually
• [41:53] Business philosophy: Only do “10x” activities
• [45:44] Social media, numbing, and cultivating “aliveness”
• [48:42] Mimi’s final actionable tip: Get comfortable with the wealth you desire to reset your financial identity

Offer for Listeners

• Mimi offers a two-week free trial and a special discount for the Activations app at activations.com/moneyrehab

  “We’ll do the two week free trial and like a big discount on that link. If you guys want to try it.”
  — Mimi Bouchard [33:07]

Final Takeaway

For listeners:
To experience more confidence, success, and financial ease, intentionally reprogram your identity by aligning small habits with your desired future self. Use science-backed visualization and conditioning techniques like “activations.” Show up imperfectly but consistently; you’ll watch your self-image—and your reality—upgrade naturally over time.

(End of summary)