Human Design For Self Expression with Nicoline Huzinga – Episode 39

Nicoline Huizinga is a certified business mentor, Human Design coach, speaker and author of the book series ‘Flick the F*ck It Switch’ based in the Netherlands. She ignites the fire in entrepreneurs by helping them to tap into their core, embrace their unique skills and talents and to take action so that they are able to run a successful business on their own terms. With her 12+ years experience as a business owner, her creative mind and strong intuition, Nicoline always has an answer to any question that business owners may have. Nicoline loves reading, cold water swimming and enjoys James Bond movies as a guilty pleasure. Apart from her native tongue Dutch, Nicoline is fluent in English, German and French, and studies Spanish.

Connect with Nicoline

Website:  nicolinehuizinga.com

Instagram:  @nicoline_huizinga

Facebook: @nicolinehumandesigncoach

LinkedIn:   linkedin.com/in/nicolinehuizinga

YouTube:  youtube.com/c/NicolineHuizinga

00:03 Welcome everyone. You’re listening to The Resonate Podcast with Aideen and my guest today is Nicoline Huizinga coming to us all the way from Netherlands. Thank you Nicoline for joining me. Thank you. So happy to be here. Let me tell you all a little bit about Nicoline. She is a certified business mentor, a human design coach, speaker and author of the book series Flick the Fck It Switch. As I said, she is based in the Netherlands.

00:30 And she works with entrepreneurs by helping them to tap into their core, embrace their unique skills and talents and take action. So they’re able to run a successful business on their own terms. She has over 12 years’ experience as a business owner and with her creative mind and strong intuition, Nicoline always has an answer to any question that business owners may have. Thank you so much for joining me, Nicoline and for being here.

00:58 Yeah, thank you so much for inviting me. It’s I’m really excited. So the interesting thing was we connected because you had applied to be a speaker on the Voice and Song Summit, which is an event I run every year. And all my speakers work in singing or music. But you have a unique way of helping people to find their voice through human design. So even though you didn’t fit in with the speakers I have from my

01:27 Summit, I was really interested to speak with you about how people can find their voice using that tool of human design. You’ll have to probably explain what human design is because I know many people have never heard of it. Yes, absolutely. So first of all, human design is a great tool to get to know yourself. Basically what you get when you start using human design is you get your own user manual, you get your own blueprint of how you’re wired.

01:56 how you take decisions, what you’re sensitive to, what your unique talents and skills are, and how you can use them. And for those who do not know, human design is based on four spiritual learnings and one science element, and that’s where it becomes really interesting, I think, because the four spiritual learnings are modern astrology, the I Ching, the Chinese I Ching, the Kabbalah,

02:25 and the Hindu Brahma Chakra work. And the science element is quantum physics because energy, you know, everything is energy, but energy is something that we can measure, right? So, and human design is all about energy. And with that combination, you get a unique blueprint based on your date of birth, time of birth, and place of birth. And you basically get

02:56 your blueprint, how you operate, how you’re wired, how you take decisions, what you’re sensitive to, how you can use your voice, et cetera. And that’s why I was so excited to be on your summit. Although I completely understood, of course, that since I’m not a singer, even though I love singing, but I’m not a singer, but it’s a different…

03:21 angle to look at voice and how to use the voice and how to use our uniqueness. So I’m absolutely thrilled to be here on the podcast instead. I know from speaking to you in the past that when you discovered human design, it really resonated with you. Um, how did, you know, when, when we find the thing that we’re passionate about, that we really align with is it adds a new dimension to our work. I know it did for me when I.

03:51 realize what I wanted to do. Can you tell us about the beginnings of that for you and how you realized how impactful human design was and how passionate you were about it? Yes, absolutely. Because, you know, I’ve been an entrepreneur now for almost 13 years. And with, as many entrepreneurs do, I think we start our business and we’re just so passionate about running our own business and about our own topics. And we just wing it.

04:19 and we just go with the flow. But at some point I had reached, I don’t know, a kind of level where I was like, I need something else, I need something more. But I was continuously investing, of course, in myself, in my own development, in working with business coaches. And at some point I started doing exactly what those business coaches were telling me when it comes to selling and launching and all of that.

04:49 and I did everything that was planned and mapped out, but none of it worked. And I was like, what’s happening? Why isn’t it working? Why isn’t it bringing in the clients that I was looking for? And then it was more or less simultaneously, I got my human design read to me. And at first I was like,

05:16 Hmm, yeah, interesting, but it didn’t really resonate yet anyway. And after a few months of, well, obviously licking my wounds of having a failed launch and not having been able to monetize all the things that I had learned in the masterminds and group programs, then I started reading my human design again. And that’s when the penny dropped and I was like, Oh my goodness.

05:45 I am what’s called in human design, one of the five energy types. I’m a generator and my strategy is waiting to respond. And the one thing that I didn’t do when I was launching was that because I launched something out of the blue without checking because I was just so passionate about the topic. So I didn’t wait, nor did I respond. So it was an initiative.

06:15 And as a generator, I’m not supposed to initiate without responding to cues that I get. And when I saw that, and when I finally got the message, like, oh my goodness, I need to respond, and I started doing that, and that’s when things really turned around. And that’s when I was like, oh, but this, it can be so much easier, and it doesn’t have to be so much hard work.

06:44 and, you know, doing all the stuff that people tell you to do, like running a challenge, you know, sending hundreds of emails to your list, doing a masterclass and having bonuses and all of that. When you follow your design and when you really follow the strategy, it’s so much easier and running a business becomes like a flow.

07:14 it’s not effortless, but it’s so much easier and it’s fun. And all of a sudden I saw that, oh my, this is the way I should be running my business. And that’s when things really started to shift. And that’s now five years ago. Amazing. It’s just so exciting when we find that. How do you think human design could apply to someone who perhaps wants to sing? So first of all, what I think is important.

07:44 when we look at our human design is, first of all, know your energy type. So there are five energy types and each of the energy types has his or her own strategy. So there are two quite large energy types that need to follow their strategy. So the generators, I’m a generator and we need to know that this is the biggest…

08:12 group of people, it represents 37% the entire population. And generators need to wait to respond. So generators need to look out for cues that they can respond to. So when it comes to singing, it’s really important that they don’t just initiate stuff out of the blue, but they look for cues and signs that basically invite them to sing, to start singing.

08:41 And the same goes for the second energy type, that’s the manifesting generator. They both share the same strategy, and that’s for manifesting generators, they represent 33% of the entire population. So together, 70%. So it’s incredibly important that generators and manifesting generators wait to respond. So when singing, it’s really important that they dare to wait to respond.

09:11 Many people always honor the principle of the Nike slogan, just do it, but that’s not made for generators or manifesting generators. That’s only made for manifestors, and manifestors are only 9% of the entire population. Amazing. They can initiate out of the blue, they can do whatever they want, but generators and manifesting generators need to wait to respond, so they need to look out for the cues that they get.

09:41 And the cues could be really easy, like an invitation from someone like, Oh, I heard you sing the other day. That’s great. Would you like to come and sing at my wedding, for instance? Or it could be that they watch a number of videos that they really feel strongly about to respond to, like, okay, but I can do this better. For instance, Oh, I saw a person audition.

10:09 to, I don’t know, on a TV show, I can do that better. That is waiting to respond. So it doesn’t have to be a particular person asking you to come and do the open mic. It could be something that you see in your environment that you’re kind of getting that pull or that, you know, you’re kind of going, oh, I like that idea. But what we are saying is if we just come up with it in our own minds, because I’m also a generator, that that…

10:35 that we shouldn’t move forward until we see that there’s fertile soil there to plant it in, right? Yes, and the fertile soil could be, you know, just an announcement like what you do in your group when you announce the open mic night. That could be a cue that I can respond to. So when I would love to learn how to sing and I see an announcement like that, I’m like, oh, that’s a cue that I can respond to.

11:04 Or it could be an ad in a newspaper or it could be an article that I read online about how to sing or I see a post from you on LinkedIn that explains something about the technique behind singing. When I get cues like that, those are, you know, invitations for me to respond to. And then I’m like, OK, now I need to take action. OK, well, it makes a lot of sense to me because I remember

11:32 when I started to promote my own gigs and things like that, I always felt like I’m just pushing against the tide here. And then there was there were a couple of occasions where I was invited to audition for a show. And of course, I got the lead roles in those shows. But it was almost like they just I needed to be known or available or something. And it was interesting. It was two different people and the shows were 20 odd years apart, which was interesting as well.

12:03 Um, yeah, that’s, that’s, that’s so unusual. So that, this is a good point, but I’m wondering also if you’re trying to figure out where, what your voice is, or if you’re just wanting to learn to, you know, how the voice works, does human design help you in that regard as well? Yes, absolutely. Because when we have our human design, our body graph, as it’s called,

12:30 When we look at it, we see a kind of body image with nine squares and triangles, and those are called centers, energy centers in human design. And we have, like the chakra system, we have a throat chakra. And in human design, the throat center can either be white in the body graph, or it can be colored. And when a center is white, it means that we are receptive.

13:00 to other people’s energy. And we don’t have our own consistent energy there. Now when we do have a defined or a colored throat center, it means that we have a consistent energy and we don’t need anyone else’s energy. Now when it comes to discovering your own voice, it’s really important that you know whether or not you have a defined throat center. For instance, I don’t have a defined throat center.

13:29 So I need other people’s energy in order to speak or to sing for that matter. So I really need to, again, wait to respond and then I’m very able to speak. But if I have to speak or sing first, it’s a nightmare because I don’t have the consistent energy there. Now, when you do have a defined throat center,

13:57 It’s very, well not very easy, but it can be very easy for you to speak or sing first, because you don’t need anyone else’s energy. So there are people who are very capable and it’s very easy for them to just sing or speak first with initiating, even though they respond to something. But being the first to speak or to sing is very easy for them.

14:26 And it doesn’t mean that if you have an undefined throat center that you cannot do it. But it’s like you said, you know, it’s like it’s very hard. It costs you a lot of energy. It’s not that you’re not able to do it, but it’s very hard and it costs a lot of energy and you feel like exhausted by the end. Can I ask then, here’s a question for you. So I have an open throat chakra center in human design. Yeah.

14:57 So I’m wondering, is that part of the reason why I can sing in different styles depending on the group? So say, for instance, I went to a rehearsal, I was invited. Yes, I didn’t make, I didn’t start all myself. And I responded to it. I actually, I think one of the key things I’ve learned is what I was doing in the past was I would see invitations to respond and I would decide.

15:25 no to them because they weren’t my idea first. I had this this mistaken way of thinking that if it came from me, it was the right thing. If it came from someone else, then they had an agenda or they didn’t have my best interest at heart. So since learning about my human design and seeing that I have to respond, I’ve been a lot more careful to notice those opportunities and to not

15:53 kind of talk myself out of them for any reason. Like, give it a go. Like, I’m really more interested now in trying it out, like, trying it and seeing rather than making a decision based on what’s going on in my own mind. But this particular band, just to give everyone a context, I went in because they knew I was Irish and they’re like, oh, sing the Fields of Athenry and da da da da da. So I went in with all of those songs, even though I’ve never really gigged in that genre much before.

16:22 And then they said, oh, we also do jazz music. And the next thing I’m doing jazz music with them and they’re all delighted because I’m very experienced with the jazz style. So do you think that finding your niche with your voice? Because a lot of people ask me this. So I have a friend and she’s like, oh, I think I’ve figured it out. I’m an R&B singer. Right. And I don’t know if she’s open or closed, but could something like understanding your

16:51 you know, whether you’re defined or undefined help. Sorry, now let’s just clarify, open and closed and defined and undefined, do they mean the same thing? Yeah, well, it’s defined and undefined. Let’s stick with that. There is a difference, but it’s very technical, but whether it’s colored or white, that’s, I would say, the main. So mine is undefined. I should use that term. Okay, sorry, everyone. Okay, I’ll let you answer the question now instead of keeping blabbing.

17:18 Is that because I’ve got this undefined center that I’m a blabberer and keep talking? No, it’s, so to answer your question, with the different styles, so you have an undefined throat, which means that you are able to adjust the way you speak or sing to whatever people ask you to do. But there is another element that’s at play here in your…

17:46 so when I look at your body graph, there is another center that’s undefined and that’s your G center and the G center is all about personality and basically who you are as a person. So in your case, your G center is undefined. Same for me. I have an undefined G center. So that doesn’t mean that we don’t have a personality. It’s that we are flexible in who we are. So we are kind of chameleons.

18:15 And together with an undefined throat, it means that we can be or do whatever people ask us to or what we feel like we want to adjust to. And that’s a great advantage. So you’re very versatile when it comes to style, when it comes to the way you communicate, whether it’s speaking or singing. But it’s also that you’re very easy to adapt and adjust to the environment that you’re in.

18:45 And that’s, I would say, a great talent to have when you’re so able to adjust to styles, to environment, to people, to occasions, to basically anything. The downside of it is that you don’t or may not necessarily have a very significant sound that’s typical you because you’re so versatile.

19:13 and easy to adjust. And same for me. I mean, I could be around, I don’t know, French speaking people and I could be like, you know, the whole energetic French person. I could be around American people, be, you know, very, very American. But I can also be very British when I’m around British people. So it’s and that’s the way I adjust. And that’s in my design. And that’s the same for styles, for singing, for genres.

19:43 But I think that’s the most important thing when people are looking for style, and especially when you have an open throat and combined with an open G-center, like, you know, test and try a lot and see what feels good and just feel what feels good. Yeah, and there, I mean, there is a case for…

20:06 considering your voice as any instrument. So someone who plays guitar could play in a jazz band and then could play in a rock band and then could play in different situations. And for my, obviously from what you know about my human design, I have that capacity where some other singers might be more defined and they will stick to one style of singing and one genre for their whole life and be more known for specializing in that.

20:35 Yes, absolutely. And that happens when people have a defined throat, and especially when it’s combined with a defined G center. They are quite consistent in their energy, in their personality, in their, well, I would say their signature songs and their signature way of being basically. So do you think someone with the, oh, with the, sorry,

21:01 undefined throat and undefined G could be a little bit more confused about or where do I fit in? Absolutely, absolutely because that’s what happens a lot with people with an undefined throat and an undefined G that at the end of the day they are so able to adjust to people, environment, to styles, to basically anything that it’s very hard for them to figure out like who am I?

21:29 Really? What is my, what is my signature style? What is typical me? And the answer is you being so versatile. That’s typical you. Well, you know, it’s interesting. I’m also interested in, you know, in how I dress and in my own, like, when you say style, I’m thinking of what to wear because.

21:53 I realized I don’t, I’m like looking at my wardrobe and of course with COVID. Now this is, I know we’re coming off topic here, but we do express ourselves through what we wear. And, and I was really finding it tricky because over COVID everything was gym gear. You know, it was like leggings and sweats and everything. And as soon as I wanted to travel somewhere, I didn’t have anything to wear. I didn’t have shoes to go with my nice things. Everything was like.

22:21 I had a top here and a bottom here and nothing matched. And so I’ve been on a bit of a mission to try and figure out what my style is. And now what you’re telling me is that this is natural for me to be this confused and I just need to keep, keep looking until I come up with it. Um, so how do people find out their human design? Like what’s the process? So what they can do, they go to my body graph.com.

22:49 It’s a free website. It’s not mine. Um, it’s from the original founder of human design. And what they need is their date of birth, time of birth and place of birth. And when they insert that into that system, they get the outcome. And it’s quite detailed. I would say, I think you do need someone to interpret. Yes. It’s not that easy to interpret because there’s a very.

23:16 technical aspect to it. Just the other day, I spoke to one of my clients and she said, oh, it’s like learning a complete new language. And in a way it is but when you do get it interpreted, it’s makes so much sense. And I’ve never encountered a tool that is so spot on as human design. And, and like you said, it’s not just for the voice, but it has so many elements like

23:46 when it comes to style, when it comes to dressing. Just the other week, I spoke to an image stylist and we’re gonna bring human design into her work as well, so people can discover their own style because she’s very amazed at how some people are really clear on, okay, this is who I am, this is what I want when it comes to being as a person but also the way they dress.

24:13 And for some people like you and me, because I also have an open G, I can be, you know, in gym wear, I could be in very comfortable in jeans, but I absolutely love dressing up in my, in a fancy dress and high heels as well. I have the whole range. Well, you like Cinderella then, you know, we can do it all. And that’s, and that’s our strongest point that we can do it all. And that’s.

24:43 for as many people, like instead of being confused, this is our strong point, that we can do it all. And it’s up to us. How do we feel? Do we feel like dressing up? Do we feel like being in gym wear? What do we actually feel? Because that’s waiting to respond. Waiting to respond to what internally your, the notion with it, like kind of, yeah.

25:09 I have a, because the reason I set up my business was because I felt I got a divine inspiration. I made a request. I said, dear God, universe, whoever, I want to spend more of my time doing music. And within a few weeks, I had this thought come in my head, do a singing workshop for adults. And I knew I didn’t want to do that because my mother was the teacher, the music teacher in the family. I didn’t want to be like her. I wanted to be a performer. So I knew it wasn’t, I knew it was coming from somewhere else.

25:38 But thankfully that was one of the first times that I, I responded to something, even though part of me has always wanted to be the one who makes the decision. And that has been my nemesis, Mike Achille-Seale, especially now that I know my human design. So before we kind of start to wrap things up, you and I have something in common. My business is around building confidence and you’ve written a book on courage.

26:08 Flick the Effort Switch Courage. Tell us a little bit about this book and how people can find it and what it’s about. Yes. So the book is all about the very moment where we decide to just start doing it, no matter what, because so many people are stuck, are overwhelmed or…

26:32 feel like, no, perhaps I should wait a bit more. I shouldn’t be doing this. And during my years as an entrepreneur, I met so many people, amazing people, who can be so much more than they actually are showing to the world right now. And I was like, okay, let’s do it. You know, so that’s why I invented the effort switch and I’m gonna say the entire word. But.

26:58 Then I thought over a number of elements that we need, that I think we need. And the four elements are our power, and that’s our talents and skills, that’s our focus, like what are we focusing on? It’s our passion, what we love doing, and it’s the courage to actually start doing it.

27:24 And what I did basically shared a lot of my own stories in the courage, especially in the courage book that helped me to actually flick the effort switch and to start doing what I absolutely love doing. And the second book in the series is the focus book. And that’s already more about how human design helped me and my clients. And then I have two more books that will be coming out.

27:52 the passion book and the power book. And that’s of course, you know, all about the elements that make passion or what passion is, what it’s not, and about power and our talents and skills. And that’s where human design fits in really well. So the courage book is really about examples of the things that hold us back. So it’s perfectionism, it’s procrastination.

28:18 Um, it’s, um, the, the, the limiting belief of, Oh, it’s, it’s not good enough. You know, all these stories are all in the book and they’re very personal. So it’s feel like, you know, kind of naked in the book, but it’s, it’s very personal. And, and I, if I only inspire one person with this book, my job is done. Well, I was really interested because you’ve a small, a section at the end where you talked about going zip lining and.

28:48 One of the things I really want to do is go zip lining. So I’m like, yes, I’m going to flick the effort switch and go. Absolutely. And that was the, I still remember when now you, you just mentioned the word zip lining and I’m still, you know, that moment of being on that 18 meter, uh, uh, uh, height being a very afraid of heights. And then the moment that you have to jump and you have to take the leap of faith.

29:17 so to speak. And I was like, okay, I wrote a book. I wrote a book about this. I wrote a book about this. I need to flick the effort switch. Just do it. Yes. Yeah. And I think that when I work with singers and we get into the point of, you know, singing at a party or singing at a small event or recording their voice, when we take those steps into those things that are unknown and a little bit daunting.

29:47 It increases our self-belief. So that first time that we decide, oh, I’m going to be courageous here and I’m going to do it, there’s a payoff. There’s a literal change then in your ability to do that again. Yes, absolutely. And I fully recognize it, especially with singing, because as I told you, I’m not a singer, but I love singing. So last year I took a course with one of my clients who is a vocal coach.

30:15 So I took a few lessons and then at some point we had a kind of open mic night. So we had to perform and I’m very used to being in front of a group and presenting and doing training and workshops and all of that. I’m absolutely fine with that. But singing in front of a group is a very different story. And I was so nervous and then I was constantly reminding myself, you know, click the F to it.

30:43 Yeah, that’s right. But it was so wonderful to have done it and to see other people doing it, to watch the video of me doing it and singing and absolutely loving it. So it’s what you said, it’s so true. The reward is just amazing when you do the things that are daunting, are, well, a bit scary. And when we actually do it, it feels amazing.

31:13 It really does. Well, I hope to follow in your footsteps and get my first book out this year also. And so you’ve been, you’re inspiring me. You’re like a few steps ahead of me on the author road. And, but I really wanted to thank you for your help with my business, because you’ve been able to help me with my own human design and how I relate it to my marketing and things like that. And so interesting.

31:39 to hear that little bit extra about how my human design relates to how I sing, how I dress. There’s, I mean, we could have another two hours of a conversation to go through all of that. So I hope that our listeners are curious about how human design might be able to help them also. And if they are, if you are and you’re listening, please consider contacting Nicoline. She is fabulous at what she does.

32:06 She’s full of love and full of a big heart. And I think that she’s one of my favorite people. So I would love to recommend her. My testimonial is she’s awesome. So respond to this podcast and do something about it and find out more. Thank you so much for these lovely words. I’m actually I’m blushing. I cannot see or listen, I cannot see, but I’m blushing. It’s wonderful. Thank you.

32:32 So is there anything else that you’d like to say to our listeners before we sign off? I would highly, highly recommend for people to check their human design because it gives you so many great insights. And when, especially when you have like repeating patterns of things that you encounter on your journey in life or in business as a singer, when you encounter the same problem, like over and over again.

33:01 have a look at your human design and have someone explain it to you. It doesn’t have to be me because there are so many great people out there who do the human design work, but check your human design because when you know yourself, it’s so much easier to make the world a better place. And I highly recommend anyone to do that. Absolutely. I love that idea of knowing your human design helps us to make the world a better place, because what you’re doing is where

33:30 we’re using our own talents and our gifts in a way that actually fits who we are. And there’s ease in that, right? Yes, absolutely. And it’s such a relief for so many people when they get their human design and they feel like, oh my goodness, I’ve known this all my life about myself. But I always thought I was a bit crazy or a bit weird or I didn’t fit in. And when you get your human design, you understand.

34:00 how it works and why you have that feeling. And when it’s explained correctly, it helps you to turn all the flaws that you see in yourself, to turn them into strengths and to make that your unique power. And that’s what I really wish for anyone who’s listening. That’s absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much, Nicoline, for joining us. We are so honored.

34:30 that you’ve been listening and we hope to see you again another time. Bye. bye.