Your success depends, above all, on your state of mind.

I often say that success happens in our head first! This usually makes people laugh, but we know it’s true.

What’s stopping us from moving forward? Why don’t we get the results we want? Why do we procrastinate?

This is our mindset.

It’s not a question of know-how, because 99% of the time, we know very well what we should do: stop doing tasks outside our zone of genius, call this potential client, let go of that client who doesn’t fit our ideal client.

We know, intellectually, what we should do. But we don’t do it.

You may or may not know this, but I am an NLP (neurolinguistic programming) coach, and I’m fascinated by human behaviour: what makes one person take action and another not? Why do two people with equal skills not achieve the same level of success?

The study and understanding of human behaviour help me to better guide my clients. Because you can have the best business strategy, if your mindset is not aligned with your goals, the strategy is worthless. You will sabotage yourself; you will procrastinate.

I spoke with Anick Lapratte, a passionate neuroscience and a human potential expert, to explain how to use our brain as an ally to reach our goals.

Sara – We think we have one brain, but we actually have four. Can you explain?

Anick – Indeed, we have only one skull, but four brains. Studies have shown that in order to be successful, you have to use all four brains:

1. Left brain: This is the brain of rationality, of analysis – the brain of numbers, of logic, the brain of memory, of the practical. People who are very “left brain” will make plans, grids, charts, checklists, etc.

2. Right brain: This is the brain of emotions, of dreams. Many great leaders are right-brained because they have a vision – sometimes a big vision – of what they want to create. Very right-brain people will read people’s non-verbal queues and feel what a person says – intuitively. They’ll be able to know if there’s a lack of alignment between the words used and the emotion experienced.

3. Cerebellum: This is the brain of action, of impulses (positive and negative). People whose dominance is the cerebellum take action very quickly: they have already taken action when an idea comes into their head (do you recognize yourself?).

4. Midbrain: This is the brain of pleasure, of our inner child, who loves to laugh. Midbrain people are the ones who bring the muffins to the office, who think about the comfort and happiness of the people around them. They are the ones who likes to organize happy hours.

Those who solicit the different parts of their brain without using the midbrain are not successful, because they do not have pleasure. They will reach burnout before they reach pleasure, they tend to fall into hyper performance.

S.G. – According to your research in neuroscience, what is the recipe for success?

A.L. – It’s using all four brains AND having more fun! 

We all use our four brains, but there is one predominant and one secondary. The ideal is to have people on our team whose strength is our blind spot, our area of improvement.

For example, if you’re very right brain and cerebellar, make sure you have someone who is more left brain and midbrain so you can better plan your projects and have fun – while working to develop all four of your brains.

Here are the three ingredients necessary for our brain to become our ally in achieving our goals:

• A vision of our business idea and to project ourselves into this vision as often as possible.
• Having a detailed plan to achieve the goal in a fun way.
• Take action with pleasure.

S.G. – In your training program, you present questions to develop the four brains. Can you share them with us?

A.L. – Absolutely! Before starting a project or a business idea, ask yourself these four questions in order to optimize its success and to get better results (always with pleasure!):

1. What’s the vision of my realized goal (right brain – creativity)?
2. What’s my plan to achieve my goal (left brain – plan)?
3. What will I do to make it pleasant, enjoyable, comfortable (mid brain – fun)?
4. What do I start with what and when (cerebellum – action)?

I ask myself these questions before starting any project, and I can assure you that it changes everything. I’m very right brain (creativity) and cerebellum (action), and since I’ve started taking the time to ask myself these questions, my projects are better planned…and I have more fun along the way.

Go ahead, test it yourself and let me know how it goes!

It’s always a pleasure to read your comments. You can always reach me here and keep in touch via social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube and now Instagram.

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