In this solo motivational talk, Christoffel Sneijders shares the evolution of his personal framework for living one’s potential, distilled into nine sequential steps. He begins by highlighting how most people operate on "automatic pilot" and lack awareness of their satisfaction levels. He stresses the importance of grounding—physically feeling the earth through the feet—and cultivating a belief that change is possible and resources are available. Sneijders introduces the neuro‑biological concept of three brains (head, heart, gut) linked via the vagus nerve, explaining how each stores memories and influences decisions. He then guides listeners to recognize that old emotions, beliefs, and habits were once survival mechanisms that may no longer serve them, and that feeling safe to change is crucial, especially for those with trauma or PTSD. The next steps involve consciously releasing outdated patterns, deliberately installing new, supportive beliefs and habits to avoid a harmful void, and finally, embracing enjoyment of life. Throughout, he weaves personal anecdotes, references to hypnotherapy work, and practical reflections, presenting the nine steps as a flexible, self‑assessment scale applicable across life domains.
Chapters
How can you live your potential? Actually, what you say, your potential. And it took me a long time to get— I think almost 30 years— to get an insight on what are now really the steps to get there. And every time I think I know, I change them. So this is the most current state I have. Every time you learn, you become aware of something. Oh, there's so much more. But I have now the idea— that's why I dare to do also these presentations— I have somewhere the idea how it works based on success I had with people. And so I'm now a little more courageous to say, yes, I know. It doesn't mean I know everything, but I know at least to get people really there. And like always, it is creating an awareness of how satisfied or unsatisfied are you actually. Because 95% of our life We live on automatic pilot. Just think about yourself in your average day. You wake up, you set your alarm, you take your shower, you have your breakfast, you brush your teeth, you take on your— you put on your clothes, or whatever kind of sequence you choose, and you leave your home, go to work, go to SIS, do whatever. And it's almost always the same. We have the same breakfast. I think most people will say, yes, I have the same breakfast almost every day. We don't change those kind of things. So we're not aware actually how we are because we just, we don't have time to reflect. Especially now, if you look at the business world, always if you ask, how are you? Busy. I see 2 people saying yes. Now we're busy, so we don't have time to sit down. In a moment, just imagine you sit down. Yeah, you have your own company, so you can, but you sit down with your feet on a chair and you look for your half hour thinking like this. Your colleagues will come from I do nothing. If you say, I am reflecting, we don't have time to reflect. Work! Like reflecting is not working. It's so amazing. And actually, also become aware, what do you actually do and how does it make you feel? So it is from an analytical state, what do we actually do and how does it make you feel? Because most people are not in touch. Yoga, chiropractor, no, we are not in touch with our own body or with our feelings. If I ask people, what do you feel now? Are you aware that your bum is on the chair? Most people really have to think, oh yeah, my bum is on the chair. If I ask people, how many feet are on the— how many of your feet are on the floor? People have to think about it because they are not connected anymore. I was in Perth. I do this on my bare feet because I love to be grounded. But Teresa said a couple of times, this is Spain, so we dress up. So I have leather shoes. At least I feel connected. Yes, because if people— grounding, feeling the energy of the world, of the Earth, is rather important. We don't touch it now, but the Earth has a vibration, has a hertz, and you can feel it. And you have to connect with that somewhere. And then you have to create an awareness that you can change. That it is possible and that you have the resources. Because a lot of people think, yeah, it's possible for Marcello but not for me. It's possible for whomever but not for me. Yes, of course, and they have a reason why it's possible for other people but not for them. Or they don't believe in themselves, or they think they're not worth it anymore. Those are the worst, almost. Now after that, after an awareness, we have to get an understanding. And understanding really in the head how the connection with the head, heart, and gut brain is. I'll touch on that later a little bit. But research showed we have 3 brains. A head brain, we know all. Doesn't mean we all use it, but we have it. We have a heart brain, 90,000 to 150,000 brain cells, if we would use that word, in our heart. So the heart has a memory. And the gut has 500 million brain cells, the size of an average cat brain. And via the vagus nerve, it's connected with your brainstem, so it goes up. All the connections are there. So we know the stories. In English, we have a gut feeling. I cannot digest this. That's actually really true because we can have an emotion we cannot digest. I have a broken heart. Just listen to the music. Half of the songs are about broken hearts. The other half is about falling in love again. Now, 10% is about whatever. That's more than 100%, of course. And then also understanding why the old emotions, beliefs, and habits are not needed anymore. Because we once learned everything we do for a reason. The moment we learned it, it made sense in the past. If you were once bullied like me, it made sense to become rather physical. Because then you could get less bullied. Now in this age, it is not meaningful anymore to have to be physical because I don't get bullied. The reason for being physical is not anymore what it was 35 years ago or 40 years ago. In that moment it was survival, now it is more about— if I would use reason— looking good. But if I still use the old reason, I will not change. So become aware, hey, it's not needed anymore. What we once learned was extremely good then, but now not anymore. Because if you really look, and that's what I love in my profession, at trauma, or PTSDs, or depressions. Most people are not aware that it is the last step. It is now safe, and you are safe to change. Most people who have a trauma experience, whatever trauma means, don't believe it's safe to change because that fight-or-flight response they had, that safety survival mechanism, keeps them somewhere stuck. And they stay in that emotion subconsciously, not on purpose. Why did you stay there? And change to benefit you. After that, then life becomes easy. Now, I would say letting go of the old emotions, beliefs, and habits. Install new beliefs or habits. Because a lot of people say, let's get rid of this. But if you don't install new ones, that void will be filled up by who knows whatever. It doesn't mean always better. Most people who stop smoking with me as a hypnotherapist— I will not hypnotize you, I promise that— are afraid of starting eating. So you have to work on those people that if they stop one thing, they will not replace it by another unhealthy habit. And that they are safe to change. And the last one, enjoy life. Those are the steps, and people sometimes are on that scale somewhere. And you can, in different parts of your life, you can be in different stages, in different roles. 9 steps.
