Jeanette Johnston has clients across eastern Ontario. Recently she was the guest speaker at a North Dundas Breakfast meeting held in Morewood, Ontario. Tinkess Photo

MOREWOOD – Have you ever wondered what prevents you from achieving the success you strive for, or even why you aren’t happy in the career you once thought was perfect? Have you ever been told that the solution could be neuro-linguistic programming? I’m willing to bet that most people haven’t, and that is where Jeanette Johnston and Mindset Coaching for Business comes in.

Johnston is the founder of Mindset Coaching for Business, and recently she gave a presentation at a North Dundas Business Breakfast entitled “Unleashing the Power of the Unconscious Mind.” She explained and demonstrated through short exercises some of the principles behind neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and how it can help turn chaos into clarity and remove some of the limitations that our unconscious mind places on us.

The unconscious mind, she explained, controls much of what we do, as much as 90-95 percent, and it tries to keep us in our “comfort zone,” repeating familiar patterns even when those patterns no longer serve us, or prevented us from achieving the goals we set.

Johnston continued describing the difference between a cause and an effect mindset. A cause mindset takes responsibility, taking responsibility for outcomes, for example while the effect mindset acts the part of a victim, blaming others for their circumstances. Moving to the more empowered cause mindset isn’t a guarantee of success, but it puts you in the driver’s seat, making decisions, taking action, instead of remaining stuck and feeling powerless.

It isn’t easy though; the unconscious mind keeps trying to drag you back, looking for proof of your negative thoughts.

“The question we always want to ask ourselves is what can I do next?” said Johnston. “I’d love for you to print it out on a big piece paper, put it on your desk.

So, when you ask yourself, ‘What I can do next?’ and take action and move to the cause side, then things get done. So, if the market is slow… think about where it’s moving a little bit faster. Where is your opportunity in the business that you have?

“Because in the unconscious mind, when we deliver those negative reels in our heads, then the unconscious mind goes and looks for proof of that. So, if you say the market is slow, I can’t go to my business. It’s going to go and look for proof of that.

It can seem like a big, scary step to make a change, which is why the biggest obstacle some people encounter is not their strategy, but themselves. They present the biggest hurdle.

“Yes, it can be with all the habits and patterns and decisions that we’ve made over the beliefs that we have, that served us then at that point,” said Johnston when asked about this. “They get in our way in the future because we hold on to them so tightly. We can let go of them, and be a bit more flexible, and be open to something new and different, and changing your patterns. Then we get out of our own way.”

Most of us can appreciate having a fear of failure, but how real is a fear of success? “I see it in my business, for sure,” continued Johnston. “When I work with business owners, they sabotage themselves, and they don’t even know they’re doing it, because they don’t know what success looks like.

It’s that patternistic piece of our own unconscious mind. It wants us to keep doing the same thing over and over again, so if we start to set off down this other path to success, it’s going to do things to bring us back.”

Mindset Coaching for Business offers a variety of services, both business and personal, which start with a free meet-up to explore what you need and what she can offer. You can contact her through her website (jeanettejohnston.ca) or on Facebook (www.facebook.com/jeanettejohnstoncoach/)

Then prepare to get out of your own way.

If you would like to have a light shined on your business, please contact us at: editor@etceterapublications.ca or call us at 613-448-2321.