Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing Niels Johnson-Lameijer, Corporate and Life Mastery Coach.  I met Niels a couple of weeks ago at a Catalyst Santa Barbara event where he spoke.  I was very intrigued by his talk and his outlook on life…very inspiring. I approached him after his talk and asked if he would be open to letting me interview him for the Web Marketing Therapy blog, to my excitement he agreed!  I met him the following week at a local coffee shop and he shared some of his amazing ways to look at life.  Below is part one of our interview.  Sign up for our RSS feed and keep following our Wild Web Woman blog for part two of our interview…

Kaili Hawley: Why did you choose your current career and how did you get started?

Niels Johnson-Lameijer: I came to the U.S. early 2006 because my girlfriend, now wife, is from here and we decided to build a life in the US. In moving to the US, I had the opportunity to completely reinvent myself, the career I had in Holland was not focused on what I really wanted to do. I asked myself which elements of my previous career did I truly like and how could I weave them in my new career and new life.

I did a lot of brain storming and talked to a lot of people. One element that surfaced was my passion for helping people figure out their visions, help them solve their problems, and help them break through challenges and blocks. People started pointing me in the direction of coaching, I looked into it and immediately fell in love with it. I went to an internationally accredited coaching school for training and officially transitioned my long time passion for empowering others into a full time career.

K.H. If you had to describe yourself in three words, what would they be?

N.J.L. Great question, those three words would be; passionate, empathic and goal-oriented.

K.H. Do you have a personal mantra that you would like to share with other Web Marketing Therapy readers?

N.J.L. I have multiple ones like:

1. Your Focus Determines Your Reality (which we’ll talk about later)

2. I have one that I picked up on my travels to South Africa, which is “Alles Sal Regt Kom”. This basically means; everything will be fine. What it means to me is that everything is exactly the way it is suppose to be.

3. NOW! So often we forget that we live now. There is no tomorrow, there’s no yesterday, there’s only now. Think about what you’re doing right now, that’s what life is right now.

K.H. One of the things that I’ve heard you say and that has stuck with me is, “Your focus determines your reality.” Could you explain a little bit more about this and how this works?

N.J.L. This is a quote from the movie Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. What it means in my opinion is that when you think about something consistently you’ll start to see it in your life. An example: let’s say you want to buy a certain car and you have one particular kind in mind. All of a sudden you start to notice them all around. It’s not because there’s more of them driving around it’s because you are more aware, you focus is on that car! Whatever you think about appears in your life. If you think about negative things don’t be surprised if they show up in your life.

When you realize that your thoughts determine your reality there are two things you can do about the negative thoughts 1. Beat yourself up over it or 2. Say “hey if that’s the case from now on I better focus on the things I really want to have in my life.” This is the route I like to take in my life! If there’s something in your life right now that you want to change, choose what you want it to be focus on it and then (and this is really important)  remind ourselves of what we want to change.  When you think about something new, you can be all excited but after a while you can feel yourself slipping away into old behaviors. This is why it’s helpful to create physical reminders that help you remember your new focus (post-it notes are great). You have to physically shift your thinking; you’re retraining your mind and your thinking.

K.H. Please share a professional phobia or obsession….confession session!

N.J.L. My mission is empowering millions. I’m really, really, really passionate about my coaching profession, speaking, seminars and trainings. It is fantastic that at the end of my day I have usually been able to help people be more happy in life, be more empowered, to be more able to live their full potential in their life. That’s just fantastic and that passion is fueling me to help people move forward with their lives.

K.H. What is your favorite word or phrase?  Why?

N.J.L. Favorite word is “passionate.” Favorite phrase, well actually quote is from Nelson Mandela “There is no passion to be found in playing small  – in settling for a life that is less than what you are capable of living” That’s something that’s really true for me. We are settling for less a lot and we tend to push our own passions away every day, and in the end that’s not serving anyone. If you are  not taking good care of yourself you can not take care of others. If you do take care of yourself you are 100% yourself and when your 100% yourself you can be the best for everyone else.

K.H. What do you believe successful traits are?

N.J.L. I think very successful traits for you are 1. To be able to keep yourself on track, set goals for yourself and the ability to stick with them. 2. A very good listener and open and tolerant to others and 3. To be very honest to yourself.

K.H. How do you indulge yourself (every once in a while!) to stay healthy and balanced?

N.J.L. I love that question, how I indulge myself is there are two things I love 1. Being out in nature, going for a walk, going to the beach, being in nature, just love that and 2. Going for a bike ride, I experience that as very meditative for me.

K.H. What are the top three ingredients that have helped you become the professional you are today?

N.J.L. Three words that come to mind are visionary, goal-oriented, open and curious. I’ll explain them a little bit, visionary means I love and I’m really good at seeing where I want to end up, what it is that my goals and dreams are, where do I see myself?, I love doing that for myself and others and  it has  helped me to be where I am right now.

Goal setting is very tightly connected to visionary because it is about breaking down the vision into little steps.   What is it that I can do today that will help me realize my goal or vision. Open and curious, what I mean by that is being very open to learning new things, be very curious. If people say things wondering why they say that? Why in a very non-judgmental way, for me there is no right or wrong, there just IS.

Stay Tuned for Part Two of my interview with Niels Johnson-Lameijer!!

Niels thank you for letting me interview you, it was very inspiring to hear and see the passion you have for people, your clients and your work!!

Web Marketing Therapy Related Links:

• Featured WMT Postive Role Model: Niels Johnson-Lameijer (Part Two)
• Featured Wild Web Woman Positive Role Model: Margie Z. Fisher
• Featured Wild Web Woman Positive Role Model: WMT Interviews Ann Levine to Learn Tips for A Successful Entrepreneurial Career (Part Two)
• Featured Wild Web Woman Positive Role Model: WMT Interviews Meryl K. Evans For a Healthy Dose of Web Marketing Inspiration