Creating Impossible Futures - Johannes Metzler

Amy, thank you for tuning in to The Ultimate Coach podcast, a companion to the transformative book The Ultimate coach written by Amy Hardison and Alan D Thompson, each conversation is designed to be a powerful wake up call, reminding us of what's possible for you and your life. So if you're on a journey to expand your state of being, this podcast is for you. Welcome back to another episode of The Ultimate coach podcast, I'm one of your hosts, Meredith Bell, and today I am very excited to welcome Johannes Metzler as our guest. Hi Johannes

Hi Meredith. So nice to see you.

I am so thrilled to have the opportunity to bring you and your wisdom to our listeners today, I'll tell the listeners a little bit about you, but first, I just want to say I was drawn to a post that Johannes wrote. I won't go into the details of what it was, but it just caught my eye, and I was inspired by his calmness and his demeanor in talking about a situation that could have been very emotionally volatile, and it just in reading it had a calming effect on me. And I thought, I want to get to know this man. I like the way of being that he is displaying, and I was reinforced in that Intuit, intuitive thought when you and I first talked, and I'm really looking forward to exploring things today. Let me just say first, Johannes is an executive coach from Berlin, Germany. He has a PhD in economics with a business background as a strategy consultant, an executive and as a founder, and today, he works with entrepreneurs and executives to help them thrive and create impossible futures in all areas of their lives, while enjoying the ride. And I'm looking forward to exploring that impossible future idea with you, Johannes, but first, let's back up and start with a description of how you came to discover the being movement, the ultimate coach. And Steve Hardison,

Oh, that's that's a great question. And of course, that was a wonderful exploration for me. So, you know, you just mentioned my business background, and there was a point a couple years ago where I was basically looking for the next thing, which was kind of my pattern at the time. You know, every two years I was looking for the next thing, the next learning curve, the next job or role. While I was being an executive for strategy and HR in a company. It was 20/21, year of COVID, and, you know, all sorts of like training and learning started to go virtual. And I, like, literally stumbled across, or was guided to, I would say, randomly or guidedly to a coach named Jamie smart in the UK, who is coaching from an understanding of the three principles as formulated by Sydney banks, which probably many of the listeners will be familiar to. And I had never wanted to be a coach, and I was so drawn to Jamie to this message, to how he was talking about the mind and the power of thought and so on. There was such a deep resonance that I really got into coaching, into training with him, into being coached by him, into the three principles understanding. And that was sort of my that was my jump, my journey into the coaching world. And through the three principles, I, at some point, was looking for my next one on one coach. And I was thinking, okay, like, who, who am I? Like, what should that person, you know, give me? What should that person bring? And I was really looking for someone who would combine a deep grounding the three principles with an a deep understanding of the prosperous coach approach. And through that anchor chain came into my world. I had already been kind of not, not even familiar, but I had noticed the ultimate coach community at that point. I had noticed it through the first version of the ultimate coach when it was this, this draft version for Steve's birthday. A couple years ago, I'd read it. I was really fascinated by it, but honestly, I didn't read it about me. I read it about him at the time, and maybe there wasn't even the instruction at that time, I'm not even sure, but I definitely didn't read it about me. And so I hired Ankush as my one on one coach, who we all know is being. Coached by Steve. And so basically, I ended up with this magical combination of someone who could really help me get a deeper understanding of the three principles, the prosperous coach approach and being and so I came across the book. I came across the community at the beginning, to be perfectly honest, with a lot of skepticism and hesitation, because the beauty of what I had seen in the three principles was the subjective nature of it, seeing, you know, of our true essence, beyond our thoughts and feelings, and a true understanding of how the mind works that really led me towards a, what I'm calling like a subtractive direction. Basically, I had a history of coming from, like a personal development background where I was just adding stuff all the time. I was like, adding books. I was adding models and frameworks and thinking tools and so on. And it still felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. I was kind of getting better, but there still was this, this void inside of me that wanted to be filled. And so I feel like I found peace and fulfillment and my own wisdom through the three principles. And when I first came across the ultimate coach and things like the document, for example, I was afraid that this was going to be another kind of like additive tool in my toolbox, or additive understanding that would draw me away from the beauty and simplicity and the possibility that I had seen in in the three principles. So there was a healthy bit of skepticism in the beginning, and I could not be happier through my work with anchors and, you know, getting more and more involved in the community, going to ultimate coach events through my own work on my document. That you know how I have seen, you know, how perfectly combinable, how perfectly non contradictory, you know, this understanding is and actually think that my understanding of the three principles really enables my my understanding of being and the possibilities that my document hold for me. So that was a long way of saying how I, not only, you know, found the community, but I guess, like also grew fond of the community after, you know, an initial phase of hesitation.

No, I think there's a lot of wisdom in questioning things up front and not just accepting and jumping in. And it sounds like you went through a process of that evaluation and reached a point through your own experience, yeah, of being that helped you see how integrated and congruent all of it is, yeah,

And I am so I'm so glad, and I feel so lucky to also have gone through This journey and in this sequence, because I believe that, because of that, I am not using the document as a tool, but as something you know, like, deeper, more foundational, like, as as an expression of my true essence, rather than an affirmation or a tool that I'm using in order to convince me of something that I'm not really convinced of.

Oh, talk about that distinction that you're making there. I think that's interesting and will resonate with folks here who have created their own document. What do you mean by what you just said?

Yeah, well, I had a long phase of following Tony Robbins, who, you know, was the exact like, the right teacher at the right time for me. And so I've been, you know, familiar with affirmations or incantations in the past that looking back never really worked for me. And I think why that never really worked for me was because I was trying to use them in order to convince myself of something that I wasn't really convinced of, that wasn't part of my embodied understanding of who I really am. And so, you know, the way I see it right now, I basically created, for example, limiting beliefs about myself, and then I was looking to either find evidence of why they weren't true or to try to overwrite them with something else. And you know, as many of you know, they may have heard it or read it in the ultimate coach, you know, Steve talks about, you could build the prettiest house, but if the foundation isn't right, you know, at some point, the house will crumble, so the foundation needs to be right. And you know, in the past, with those affirmations or incantations, the foundation wasn't in place. It was basically a pretty house built on a really bad Foundation. And you know, the way I see the document differently, based on the understanding that I have right now, is that I have come to see the magnificence of the creative power. Power that we have, like truly, how our world, how our life, how our reality, our experience of reality, is created inside of us, through thought, through the power of thought. And so basically, when I was working to clean those limiting beliefs or unhelpful judgments that I had about myself in the work of creating a document, I was coming from an understanding that they really weren't true. It wasn't that they weren't true, and then I was trying to find something else to override them. It was like I was coming from an understanding that I had created them, but that they weren't true. They were basically formless energy that I just had, you know, thought often enough that they seemed really true, but actually they weren't. And from that understanding going basically to the source of all our creative potential, where all of our reality is created, I would say I was, I was enabled to, you know, create something else from that source, rather than having created something that I then needed to, you know, change or override. That makes sense.

Yeah, I think that's a really important distinction. And there was a process, I'm guessing, that you went through that people often go through in creating that document. And did anchors help you in the that whole development? Because I know he's worked so closely with Steve in creating his own document, and so with you coaching with him, what were some of the things that you took away in terms of insights that he shared that helped you with the creation of your own document.

What I love about the process that we went through was how, you know, he found a way to share with me how self forgiveness, the forgiving of those limiting judgments that I had of myself, would help me, you know, clean those in the sense of, you know, find, find the feeling, as we say, in the three principles world, right? The good feeling, the feeling that we all have inside of us, in a clear mind, in a calm mind in which our wisdom can come through. And so what he shared with me was basically a beautiful combination of the three principles, understanding and the work of being and creating that document where things really fell into place for me, like it really made sense how I could access my wisdom, or maybe even, you know, the wisdom from something that is beyond me, and my limited knowledge and experience and all that, how that could come through me in a clear and calm mind, after a process of really in a deep feeling, forgiving myself for the judgments and seeing how they really weren't true, and how I how I could then, from that feeling from that state of being, you could even say, like from that higher state of consciousness, I could find something that was true or truer for myself, which was, you know, in the end, the foundation of what is now my document. And so it was really this integrated approach, I would say, that resonated with me so deeply, and you were saying

That you don't use your document as a tool. It's more an expression and a reminder, I guess, of who you are at your core.

Yeah, definitely, definitely, it is the way I see it. You know, my document is who I am already and who I aspire to be when I forget. And so it really feels like something that I do use, that I do repeat, that I do cite, that I do, you know, have on my wall. But the understanding is that it's not a tool. It's it's almost like an extension of myself. It's basically the best possible way I have as a human, through the form I can give to my thoughts, which is language that expresses an unexpressible feeling or an unexpressible understanding of my true essence. And I think that's that's basically the the feeling from which I'm coming to the document, and why that makes it so powerful for me and not just another tool in my toolbox.

You know, this question just occurred to me, How does having your document be such a part of you impact how you show up with your clients?

Well, my document has so many powerful lines, and what came to me when you started our conversation and you were mentioning the post that I did on LinkedIn that drew you towards me, there's, for example, a line in my document that says, I am that my words, written and spoken, are powerful and life changing. Do. Yeah, and that line basically prevents me from holding back so often, right? Like I could have an idea, for example, for a post, and then I could start doubting myself. You know, is this a good enough idea? What will people think? Should I really write about this controversial topic? And when I come from I am that more words, written and spoken are powerful and life changing. There's no question whether or not I should, you know, share what came up for me with the world, and that is obviously in my written communication, like posting something on social media, but also it affects how I, you know, speak to my client. There's a line in my documents that says I am that I speak to serve, not to please. And that is that that reminds me that the best service I can I can do for my clients, the best way I can really serve them, is to speak my truth and to speak the thing that serves them, not what I think will please them, and what you know they may like or may not make them uncomfortable. And in that sense, I mean, I could give you example after example after example, which would go too far, because to some degree, you could say that each and every one of the 50 lines of my documents speaks to how I show up as a coach with my clients and I, and I, you know, something happened just yesterday, which is a bit of a funny anecdote, which I think also really speaks to this. I was, I was at a at the dentist, and I had my teeth cleaned, and as usual, I was being reminded that I really should be flossing my teeth. I haven't heard that before. I haven't gotten into the habit of doing that. And as I said, in the dentist's chair yesterday, I was thinking, What does my document have to say about flossing my teeth? And so I literally went through my document, line by line, all 50 lines, and I asked myself, What does this line have to say about flossing my teeth. And the surprising discovery that I made was every single line spoke to flossing my teeth, which was quite an incredible discovery. Like, for example, you know, I'm one of the world's top coaches and trusted advisors. Of course, one of the world's top coaches and trusted advisors would floss his teeth and so basically that just comes to mind, because probably if we now went through my document, line by line, every single line would speak to how I coach and how I show up with my clients.

Love that example, you know, because it helps us think about how our document has the ability to permeate every area of our lives. We don't compartmentalize this situation or that situation. It's everywhere. Thank you for sharing that flossing. By the way, I've been flossing daily for years. Once you get in the habit of it. It's, you don't even think about it. It's part of brushing your teeth. Just as a little aside there, you know, there are a couple different things I'm thinking of. You have published a book called from stress to success, and one of the chapters in your book is about being and I'm curious, have talked about when you publish the book, and have there been some shifts in your own thinking and way of being around that topic of being?

Yeah, oh for sure. Yeah. That's really cool. I published that book about one and a half years ago. The subtitle is 10 mind shifts for high performing business leaders. And so my aspiration when writing the book was having something that is really compact, right? If you look at it, it's basically, you know, 10 core chapters that I call mind shifts, each about three pages only that really speak to one of the most powerful ideas that I've either come across in coaching use for my clients, insights that I've had, or distinctions. And so one of the chapters speaks about the mind shift from doing to being. So it speaks about the distinction between doing having being and being, doing, having, and when I wrote the book one and a half years ago, I had been quite fresh in the understanding of being. You could say, I would probably say my grounding in the three principles was much deeper than my grounding in being being, if you want to call it like that. But I knew there was something there. I knew there was something really important to be shared, and I had seen the beginning of it, I would probably say. And so I wrote about that distinction, and what would be the difference if people didn't start with doing but started with thinking about, you know. Who they want to be in the world, like who they aspire to be, who they need to be in order to achieve the kind of ambitions that they have for themselves. And I, just before our conversation today, I went back to my book and read a little bit, and I went back to the chapter on being to see how it reads right now. And actually, I would say that I probably would not even have written the chapter very differently one and a half years later, and at the same time, I can sense that my depth of understanding of the topic of being has grown exponentially since I wrote that chapter, which is an incredible thing to say in my work with clients I experience so often that I could say certain words, and you could understand those words at a very shallow level of understanding, or at a very, very deep, embodied level of understanding that actually makes a difference. And we can have an insight. We can have insights and realizations that, like a software update, basically update on our embodied understanding of life and the mind and who we truly are, and then the words that we're using for those insights may not even change, but our embodied understanding is completely different. And I think that's, that's the way I'm looking at that chapter right now. I'm just so happy that I have it in there, because I think it's really useful. I think it's it's still really well written, and I can talk about it, I can use it with others at a so much deeper level. And I think I'm not even sure if that's possible, but probably when I speak about it, if you could measure like, the energy that I speak from the energy that is being transmitted while I speak about it, the difference between, am I speaking about it as a concept or as an intellectual idea, or am I speaking about it from like, like true Knowledge, like true understanding of what that means. And probably I've barely scratched the surface of my understanding of being at the same time, and it'll continue to be a fascinating exploration for the rest of my life. And probably, you know, in a couple of years, we could have that same conversation, and I would say, Meredith, oh my God. You know what? When we talked about that chapter, I see it so much deeper right now.

You know that is such a good point. Johannes and I was thinking about the line from your document, about your words and your writing and the impact, and I think it's really important for us to reflect on what you just said, because this idea that we can speak about something conceptually, intellectually versus speaking from our inner wisdom, our, as you said, deep understanding of it that conveys so differently to the person that we are interacting with they can sense that difference, that doubt, that passion, all the feelings and that we can convey to them. And I'm guessing that you are very effective in your coaching because of your ability to be that with your clients.

Yeah, I think so too, you know, I, when I, when I started coaching, I was really, you know, I'm glad that I came across coaching via the three principles understanding, which basically doesn't have any tools in coaching, right? There are no models, no frameworks, no systems, to you. And so I was really getting confused and beginning like, what? Like, how am I going to be coached? Like, what are we going to talk about if I don't have any any tools to use? But I, but I sense that coming from intuition and coming from a deep understanding is the best tool I could ever imagine, because I will use the exact right words at the at the exact same time, and it will not be, you know, a conceptual tool or like a textbook, you know, idea that I'm using, but it will come from that deeper place. It will come from from that deeper energy in the same token. You know, I am being coached myself because I want to be a role model in all areas of my life that I'm coaching my clients on. I want to be someone who has looked into these areas, not just as an idea, but like really deeply and investigated for myself. You know, how can I, for example, create an impossible future in that area. How can I be extraordinary? How can I step deeper into my document in this area of my life? Because I know that when I share from that place, when I speak from that kind of Yeah, wholeheartedness you could speak like when I speak from that grounding, that will make all the difference for my. Clients?

Yeah, I can feel that. And I have sensed you know that with people that I've had conversations with, where you can tell if it's really coming from deep within versus something that I would call more superficial, know about, but not necessarily have lived it. So I admire the fact that you are going through the coaching process yourself, as many coaches do, in order to be a more effective coach yourself. There are a couple things with your coaching I want to explore with you that I think our listeners will relate to. And I bet you've got some things to share from your experiences, and I would love for you to include, perhaps examples of clients in certain areas. One has to do with the idea, the idea of identity, that we see ourselves as being a certain kind of person or being a certain way, and you help them realize that that's all made up. So talk about what you've seen and how you help clients discover the fact that this is all made up.

Yeah, there's a book that many in the personal development world, or even beyond, will probably be familiar with, which is atomic habits by James clear as like a world best seller, and I think it's most famous for the way he speaks about creating new habits and the four steps of forming habits. However, there's a chapter in the book before that, which speaks about identity, and I think it's probably one of the most undervalued chapters in the book. Because he says things like, well, you know, you know, writers write. So if you see yourself as a writer, you will automatically write. If you see yourself as an athlete, you will automatically exercise. And then he goes on about habits. And what I've come to see is that, and that is totally in line with, you know, the creative power of thought that we all have, and the understanding of being is basically how we create ourselves to be, how we see ourselves. You could say how we make ourselves up through our thinking, and then when that thinking looks real to us, when we basically give energy and attention to that thinking that creates how we're showing up in the world, that creates our actions and then ultimately also our results. So while many of my clients don't really relate to the word being in the beginning, most of them relate towards like identity or personality. So they see themselves in a certain way, and they see themselves as having certain traits of character or certain like strengths and weaknesses. And for example, there's a client of mine that I'm working with so intensely, and his transformation has been incredible. Who was when we started working together, he was basically really close to burnout, he was overweight and he wasn't really present at home. And one of his big topics was that he couldn't get himself to work out and to eat properly consistently, because he was having an identity that he revealed to me, as I am not consistent. So he basically, you know, dropped it in a half sentence in one of our conversations, and I stopped him right there, and we started exploring that identity of I am not consistent. And we started finding evidence that that wasn't actually true, that in the past, he had many areas where he was consistent, that even right now, in other areas of his life, he was really consistent. And then also, you know, and then this is where the understanding of, you know, the power of thought comes in. Once you see that, basically we make up our reality, including the version of reality that we have of ourself, the way we see ourselves, that that is completely made up too. It's just something that we that we create and then believe, and then we forget that we created it in the first place. Once he saw that, he dropped, I am inconsistent as his identity, and he completely surprised me with what happened next, which was then he started texting me every day. You know, I ran five kilometers this morning, I did it again. I did it again. Or this morning, it was 10, and you know, all the change that he was looking for came effortlessly from at that point, not even a new identity, but basically a dissolution of his previous identity was which was limiting Him. And once that was gone. There was there was space for something else. And basically we all have that. We all think about ourselves in a certain way, in terms of like weaknesses and strengths and character traits. And a big part of my work is combining the understanding that we make up everything you know with. If we make up ourselves too and the way we see ourselves, and I guess to some degree, you know, the document is basically a very helpful making up of our own identity. You could even say, right? It's basically that essence that I talked about put into a form of language that, at the same time could be viewed as an identity. And you know, when that happens, those are the most powerful shifts that can happen for for the mostly leaders that I work with, and that can happen that, you know, they start seeing the possibility of deliberately creating really powerful identities, if you want to call it like that for themselves, like being the best software engineer in a certain domain in the world, or being the best product expert in the bike industry. And then, you know, identity becomes this super empowering way of looking at oneself, rather than this, you know, fixed and limiting thing that people thought they were stuck with when they started coaching with me,

I'd love that example. And I was just thinking about, what are some ways that we could become more aware of identities that we've adopted that aren't serving as well, obviously, if we're working with a coach, and they're effective as you are, in picking up these words that we say, but in our own self talk, or our own way of talking about ourselves, what are some things that we might pay attention to more closely that will help us see that we're getting fixed in our perception of ourselves?

That's such a great question. I guess. You know, there is awareness. Is a superpower that we all have, and whatever change I want to make, it all starts with with awareness of where I am right now and what's happening in my mind at this point. And so, you know, the best way, I think, for everyone to start what you just asked about is honing one's awareness of how we're talking about ourselves. You know, what we're saying to ourselves. So I I may catch myself, you know, saying, you know, you're so stupid when I drop something, or there are probably other terms that I would be using. I sometimes do an exercise with clients, which is like a sentence completion exercise. For example, it could be I cannot do XYZ or achieve goal XYZ, because and then they need to fulfill they need to fulfill. They need to complete that sentence. And what they will come up with are basically what they think are the very valid reasons that they have for not being able to do what they actually want to do. And if those sentences basically become I am sentences, right? I cannot do XYZ because I am. That really starts getting into the into the meat of what you just said right now, basically looking at, how do I actually see myself? It could be that they would come up with circumstances that speak against themselves, but it could be that they come up with like, I am too young, I am too inexperienced, I am not courageous enough, and so on. And so those sentence completion exercises are actually a really cool and beautiful way that I've discovered quite recently.

That's a great idea doing exercises like that. It reminds me of Nathaniel Brandon, who was the psychiatrist who wrote so many books about around self esteem, and he used sentence completion exercises with his clients all the time. It's a great way to become more aware of your perception of things, of situations and of yourself. So thank you. There's another area that I mentioned in your introduction that I know you work with clients about and even yourself around the impossible. You know, we call something impossible, first of all, that's language right there. But I would love to explore in the time we have left your ideas around what do people consider impossible, and how do you help them expand their view to see that it's not impossible.

Yeah, so again, it all comes back to understanding how the mind works, right? We do create our subjective reality. We basically make it up and then it looks real in the next moment, and that includes how we see ourselves and what's possible for us, like what we are capable of. And so when we do that, I think the most natural thing that most people do is they look at where they are right now and then factor in how they see themselves and what they think they're capable of. Yeah. And when they get to a place like right now, which is close to the end of the year, and many people are going to do, you know, year reviews and then year planning for the next year. And they would, for example, look at, where do I want to be 12 months from now? They would then take that status quo that they've just identified and are probably considering objective reality, because that's the way it looks. And they would probably, you know, add a little bit of incremental progress on top. Most people don't really dare setting ambitious goals, because they think, you know, goal setting must be reasonable and attainable, and it shouldn't be, you know, too wild, because it could, it could disappoint. And what they're doing in this moment is they're not really starting from a clean slate. They're basically using the past, or what they think is the past, the interpretation of the past, and who they are, in order to, you know, forecast the future. And, you know, we love forecasting. So what I've come to see in the understanding of the power of thought is that, basically everything is made up, and we're baking assumptions into our version of reality, left and right. And so when we consider something impossible, that is because we have made up, that it is impossible, not because it is and we have, you know, thinking or assumptions that back up why it wouldn't be possible for us. Now there's this beautiful thing that Ankush told me, and I think he has it from Steve. He basically said, The only thing in the way of you achieving your goals are your ideas of why they aren't possible? And that's, you know, basically encapsulated this whole topic in in one sentence. It's not because something is impossible that we're not going for it or not achieving it, but because we have ideas of why it isn't possible and with a deeper understanding of what's actually going on, like how this whole reality making up works and that impossible is truly made up. What I love to do is I try to, you know, get or coach, you know, clients into a place where they can see what if I started from, what I truly want, leaving out, you know, what may seem reasonable or possible or pragmatic or societally acceptable. Like, what do I really want? What would be really cool? What would be an amazing part of my wonderful life, if my marriage looked like this, if my business looked like this, if my fitness level looked like this, really coming from a clean slate, or you could say like, in a different way, like coming from the future. You You don't start with the present and try to forecast the future based on the present and the past, but you start with the future from from a blank page. And then once the whole notion of impossible falls away, in the sense that what would happen if we just declared it possible, we just basically assumed it was possible. And then all we need to do right now is work our way backwards. We can ask ourselves, okay, what's what's in the way or, like, what needs to happen for that to happen? It's basically that shift from away from, okay, here's a challenge. How do I solve it towards what would I love to create? The energy is completely different. The energy goes away from like challenge and problem, and then the energy becomes one of one of creative possibility. And in that, in that energy, I feel like that energy itself just brings a higher level of consciousness with it, like a higher state of being, the state of being of possibility. And then from there, people get like new ideas and new possibilities. Show up new options, and they discover new ways of maybe actually achieving what what they truly want. And this is what I mean by by creating the impossible, to basically pretend like impossible doesn't even exist. Declare everything possible. Look at what I really want, rather than what I think I should want, or I should be solving or creating, and then just explore. You know how to get there.

Could you share an example of either your own life, some aspect of your life, or one of your clients where this is what they thought was impossible, and the shift they went through to realize it was possible.

I mean, you know, again, the client comes to mind who had this big shift around his identity of I am, I am inconsistent, like he recently shared with me that what's going on in his life right now, having dropped 12 kilograms having run a marathon four months after we started coaching, being seen as one of the leading experts in his field. In software engineering in the world right now looked completely impossible when we started coaching. It wasn't even on his radar. It wasn't even something that he was looking for in coaching. He just wanted to get incrementally better through coaching. So in that sense, it wasn't that he started with this grand vision, but we were able to develop it after a couple of months. And now, you know, looking back basically years, at a point where he has created something that looked impossible, and what I what I'm moving into more and more, is like to really start with the impossible. And, you know, I personally, a while ago, set myself the goal to do 100 push ups now that is really very far away from my current level of fitness, even though I have, you know, for the last year, worked out really consistently. But for me, it's just a fun game to pick that ambition, which you could say, looks completely impossible from where I stand right now, but just to you could say, like, pretend it's possible, or declare it's possible and then look for the right instructions of how to get there. It's, it's not really something that I'm super seriously pursuing right now, but it's, it's more like a game that I'm playing with myself. And I think the more I am, I'm able to play these kinds of games with my clients, where they where they know. And this I find so foundational. And you know, you mentioned the word thrive, like I want to help people thrive. To me, what thriving means that's the combination of well being and performance. And to me, that means the possibility to play a big game and try to create the impossible, knowing full well that my well being doesn't depend on it, knowing full well that you know on the soul line, if you take that you know distinction of the soul line, on the goal line, I can be high on the soul line independent of where I am on the goal line, right? I can play wildly in the game of life, and I never have to fear that my spiritual well being is on the line. I know that, you know, love, peace and wisdom are always part of my true nature. I can never lose that, even if things don't work out the way I want them to work out in, you know, in the world, in my circumstances and this, I find an amazing way of working with clients to help them really see the possibility of thriving, going for these big gains or impossibilities, while gaining a deeper and deeper understanding that their well being is always going to be there no matter what happens. That's

beautiful. I love that. And what's coming to me as I'm listening to that description is I'm okay no matter what result I get. And I love the framing of it as a game is playing. There's a lightness to that that feels different than the pressure of meeting this goal and seeing something as impossible and instead thinking differently about it, it's that whole aspect of changing our thoughts that then influence changing our actions and our results. So everything you've said to me, Johannes just comes together beautifully in the whole purpose of this being movement, looking at who am I being and is this serving me, where I'm coming from, and bringing the future to me now, and creating that, I think one of the most important things from everything, there's so many things you've said, but this ability to create. No matter what we're facing, it's always there, that possibility always exists. And so I want to acknowledge you in the work that you're doing with your clients to help them see the choice they have, and that they don't have to be stuck in an identity or in thinking that causes them to shrink instead of expand. So as we wrap up, please share with people how they can connect with you, the best places you are if you have a website, and how they can get a copy of your book if they'd like to hear about going from stress to success. Yeah.

Thank you so much for this. I think this was, this was a beautiful creation all by itself. And I think what ultimately drew me so much into this community is the creative aspect of it, like the creative spirit, the collaboration, the support and the love that everyone has for everyone else in creating the life they they aspire, in creating the life that they they dream, life that they want to live. I think this was like the energy of this community is really what makes it so special. Just wanted to mention that at the end and yeah, so the place and. Most active on is LinkedIn. You can find me there under my name, Johannes Metzler. I have a website, Johannes metzler.com and well, the book you can find that on Amazon. Just look for Johannes Metzler, from stress to success, it is very affordable, because I really care about the reach of it, not profiting from it so much. And it's full of gold. I consider myself standing on the shoulders of giants like Steve Hardison, like Steve Chandler, like anchors or Jamie smart. So I feel like their condensed wisdom, in my words, is expressed in this book. And yeah, you can find that on Amazon.

Great. Well, thank you again, Johannes, for what you've brought to us today, and I appreciate you.

Thank you so much. Meredith, this was just a wonderful time that we just had, and I love how you're conducting these interviews. Thank you so much for the service that you are providing to the community with all this. And I really appreciate you very much. Thank you.

Thank you for joining us today. If there's someone you know who could benefit from this conversation, please share this episode with them. Also check out our website, being movement.com you'll find valuable resources and links to connect to an engaging and wonderfully supportive community. Together, we can inspire and support each other on the path to a greater understanding of being until next time, take care and be kind to yourself you.