Play It By Your Rules

At 17, Max Weigand made the German national running team. Three days later, the happy feeling was gone.

In this episode of Play It By Your Rules, I sit down with positive psychologist Max Weigand, author of Psychosomatic Intelligence, to talk about why knowing what to do is rarely the problem - and what goes on inside when we keep stopping ourselves.

Max was a shy, anxious teenager who thought success would finally make him feel worthy. Win the races. Set the records. Then he'd be happy.

He got there. Walked off the track with tears of joy. And three days later he woke up, looked around and asked: where's the happy feeling?

That moment set his direction. No matter how much he achieved, he couldn't outrun himself.

He turned to positive psychology and has spent more than a decade studying people who live and perform at the edge - athletes, champions, monks - to learn the mental tools they use.

His framework comes down to three systems that need to pull in the same direction: the conscious mind that sets the goals, the subconscious mind that decides whether you deserve them, and the state of your nervous system. When they fight each other, we call it a lack of willpower. Max calls it self-conflict.

(And yes - this episode is audio only, on purpose. One screen less. Listen while you walk, cook or run.)

We covered:

Practical Takeaways:

Quick-Fire Burst:

One belief he had to drop

A place that cracked something open

One thing he had to unlearn

His non-negotiable right now

Boldest risk that paid off

One word for leadership in this chapter

The ripple he hopes his story creates

This episode is for high achievers who have ticked the boxes and are still waiting for the feeling to arrive. And for anyone who is tired of pushing through on willpower alone.

Max's line to keep: "Even our bad days are better than our good days were before."

Explore More:

🎓 Max's free masterclass: How to Rewire Your Brain for Happiness and Success

Your life. Your rules. For more freedom, flow, and fun.

'Wow. I don't even know what I did the last hour.'

That's not a burned-out junior employee talking. It's Maureen Gibbons - Dr. Mo - 13 years into emergency medicine, describing her own reaction the first time she actually looked at where her calendar went.

In this episode of Play It By Your Rules, I sit down with Dr. Mo, an emergency medicine physician turned lifestyle-medicine coach, to talk about what happens when you're too busy running to notice you're exhausted.

Maureen spent 13 years in a level-two trauma center, in emergency medicine - the specialty with the highest burnout rate in medicine. She'll tell you she wasn't burned out. She'll also tell you it hurt her more than she knew. Both are true, and that tension is the whole episode: the gap between what we call things and what they're actually costing us.

A few years ago she started stepping back from the ER. Tired of being tired, long before it became a crisis.

That's when she moved into coaching people through their health and their transitions. She's since built an AI "digital brain," Nav, trained on her frameworks, so the coaching can reach more people than her calendar ever could.

We covered:

Practical Takeaways:

Quick-Fire Burst: dropped self-criticism, cracked open at rock bottom, unlearned validation, non-negotiable is family, boldest risk was leaving a traditional medical career, one word for this chapter is excitement, hopes her story ripples belief.

This episode is for anyone who's been told, or has told themselves, that they're fine — because the alternative felt like admitting defeat. It's for the ones still doing one more shift.

Please stop waiting for permission. Start exploring today. That's Maureen's line, not mine, but I'm stealing it.

Explore More: 🔗 @DrMoGibbons on Instagram

Has working harder stopped working? Take the 90 Second Effort Gap Assessment

Your life. Your rules. For more freedom, flow, and fun.

"If your body doesn't feel safe, you'll keep looping back to what you've always done - no matter how much inner work you've put in."

Most of us are excellent from the neck up.

We analyse. Reflect. Journal. Reframe. We've done the work - and still find ourselves right back in the loop the moment life gets loud again.

Jenny Cohen has a simple explanation for that: you've been working in the wrong direction.

She's an occupational therapist, somatic coach and lifelong dancer. Her method is called outside-in - body first, mind second, and not just as a theoretical concept but as a practical non-negotiable she applies with every client. Her argument: your nervous system is wired to keep you safe, which means it will keep pulling you back to familiar patterns no matter how much internal work you do. Unless your body gets there first, nothing sticks.

The entry point? Movement. Simpler than you think, and more radical than it sounds.

💡 In this episode:

✔️ Why lasting change has to start in the body - and why your brain is literally wired to pull you back to old patterns when it doesn't feel safe

✔️ What movement does to the brain that nothing else replicates, and why it works across cultures, ages and fitness levels

✔️ Why women in midlife often feel like they're disappearing - and why the answer has nothing to do with weight or beauty

✔️ The Care Bear stare: how to watch yourself without your inner critic hijacking the whole thing

🌟 Plus: why Jenny's non-negotiable is radiance, how motherhood gave her a spine she never had, and why - if you can walk, you can dance.

Try it today

Free monthly masterclass - open to everyone, wherever you are:

Find Jenny: @JennyCCohen on Instagram and all platforms

As this episode goes live, I'm on a beach listening to Greg's book on Audible. Because if there was ever a conversation to practice what it preaches, it's this one.

What if presence isn't something you find - but something you build?

In this episode of Play It By Your Rules, I sit down with keynote speaker, world-touring performer, and author Greg Bennick to talk about juggling, serendipity, and his book Reclaim the Moment: Seven Strategies to Build a Better Now.

Greg's whole career started with a clerical error. At twelve, a school secretary accidentally signed him up for a juggling class instead of coin collecting. He walked in, saw someone juggling, and knew: this is it. By thirteen he was presenting professionally - and he has been on stages around the world ever since. The juggling became more than a skill. It became his life philosophy: you cannot juggle and think about next Thursday's lunch. You focus on what's in front of you, or everything drops.

We go deep on what steals that focus. Greg draws on Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle: the distractions around us don't just interrupt our lives - they replace them. We watch other people fall in love, take adventures, live boldly - and stop doing it ourselves. Coming back to center, being present with the people in front of us, is the rebellion.

(And yes - this episode is audio only, on purpose. One distraction less. Listen while you walk, cook, or watch the waves.)

We covered:

Practical Takeaways:

Quick-Fire Burst:

This episode is for leaders and high achievers who are always three steps ahead - and starting to suspect they're missing the step they're on.

Because a better later is a bet. A better now is a choice.

Explore More:

📖 Greg's book: Reclaim the Moment: Seven Strategies to Build a Better Now (also on Audible - beach-tested by your host)

If this episode landed - share it with someone who needs a better now.

Your life. Your rules. For more freedom, flow, and fun.

Not a Crisis. A Second Act.

What Midlife Is Actually Doing to Your Body - and Why That's Good News.

With Tamara Koval — Gynecologist, Longevity Advisor, Founder of Longevity for Her

What if the hormonal changes of midlife are not something to manage around — but something to move with?

Tamara Koval is a gynecologist by training, a serial career reinventor by choice, and the founder of Longevity for Her on Substack. She has been in clinical practice in Europe, worked in the pharmaceutical industry, advised government agencies in the US, and built her own company — all driven by one belief: that the second act of a woman's life (and a man's) is not a decline. It is a different kind of power.

In this conversation, we go into the biology, the psychology, and the practical reality of what midlife hormonal changes actually look like — and why most workplaces and most leaders have no script for it.

What we cover:

Quick-Fire Burst:

One belief she had to drop

Obedience

A place that cracked something open

Zurich

One thing she had to unlearn

Smallness

Her non-negotiable right now

Independence. Sovereignty.

Boldest risk that paid off

Reinventing herself. Multiple times.

One word for leadership in this chapter

Kindness — understanding the position of others

The ripple she hopes her story creates

Permission — to be beautiful, wise, and powerful in this stage

Resources mentioned:

If this episode landed — share it with someone who needs to hear it.

We’re getting very good at asking technology for answers.

But what if a more powerful way to use AI isn’t to let it think for us - but to let it guide our thinking? To help us sit with better questions.

In this episode of Play It By Your Rules, I sit down with entrepreneur, impact investor, and author Florian Kemmerich to explore a different conversation about AI - one that is less about productivity and automation, and more about reflection, vocation, and understanding ourselves better.

Florian believes one of the biggest opportunities of AI isn’t replacing human thinking. It’s helping us think more deeply. Through his work and his new venture, he is using AI to help people - particularly young people entering the world of work, but also people in midlife asking “what’s next?” - discover their vocation: the place where personal calling, strengths, and profession come together to create meaningful contribution.

Finding your vocation isn’t about being handed answers. It’s about becoming more conscious of your motivations, and unique contribution - so you can build a working life that is not only more fulfilling, but also more relevant in a rapidly changing world.

This conversation explores purpose, education, identity, experimentation, and how we can use technology to become more intentional - not less.

This episode is for leaders, parents, entrepreneurs, and anyone at a crossroads - especially if you’re wondering what comes next and want to stay intentional in a world increasingly shaped by algorithms.

AI can help us process more information and recognize patterns faster. The deeper work of discovering your why still belongs to us.

🔗 Learn more about Florian and his work: On Vocation

🚀 Explore Florian’s AI-powered vocation platform: Vocating AI

🎓 Join the vocation challenge: Vocating Challenge

Your life. Your rules. For more freedom, flow, and fun.

Many high performers are so used to functioning under pressure that they no longer realize how much stress they’re carrying - until their body forces them to pay attention.

In this episode of Play It By Your Rules, I sit down with Dr. Lizette Warner - executive coach, keynote speaker, healthcare executive, and former Chief Science Officer - to explore the hidden cost of chronic stress in high performers.

After being diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease, Lizette began examining not just the stress she felt in the moment - but the long-term, chronic stress running in the background of her life. That discovery became an obsession: why are smart, capable leaders so good at adapting to pressure… that they stop noticing the damage it causes?

This conversation dives into nervous systems, emotional awareness, chronic stress, and what Lizette calls “turning down the volume” — not to do less, but to increase capacity, clarity, and sustainable performance.

Because over-adaptation may look productive from the outside.

This episode is for high achievers, people pleasers, and leaders who are used to coping brilliantly - but are starting to wonder about the long-term cost of always pushing through.

Because leadership is about learning how to regulate, recover, and lead without losing yourself in the process.

🔗 Follow Dr. Lizette Warner on LinkedIn

🧠 Subscribe to Lizette’s LinkedIn newsletter: Your Growth Down to a Science

🎤 Interested in Lizette’s “Turn Down the Volume” workshop or keynote work? Connect with her directly on LinkedIn.

Your life. Your rules. For more freedom, flow, and fun.

What if leadership isn’t about having the right answers - but asking better questions?

In this episode of Play It By Your Rules, I sit down with entrepreneur, speaker and curiosity champion Tyler Chisholm to explore why curiosity may be one of the most underrated leadership skills of our time.

Tyler argues that the best leaders don’t perform certainty. They practice curiosity. And in a world shaped by uncertainty, rapid change, AI, and career reinvention, that may be a serious competitive advantage.

Together we explore how curiosity helps us challenge old conditioning, run courageous experiments, build stronger relationships, and communicate more effectively - including a powerful idea Tyler shares:

“The meaning of my communication is the result I get.”

In other words: communication isn’t what you intended. It’s what landed.

That insight opens up a radically more curious way of leading, listening, and speaking up.

This conversation is playful, practical, and surprisingly deep - moving from leadership behaviours and team dynamics into mindset, identity, and what it means to experiment your way into the next chapter, rather than trying to have it all figured out.

This episode is for leaders, high achievers, and anyone at Basecamp wondering what comes next - and sensing the answer may not lie in pushing harder, but in getting more curious.

Because courage doesn’t always begin with a leap. Sometimes it begins with a question.

🔗 Connect with Tyler and explore his work: https://www.tylerchisholm.com/

Your life. Your rules. For more freedom, flow, and fun.

What if your problem isn’t your pitch - but your clarity?

In this episode of Play It By Your Rules, I sit down with speaker, coach, and former teacher Danny Brassell, who has built a highly successful speaking and coaching business after multiple career pivots - and one major life setback that changed everything.

From losing everything financially to rebuilding through speaking, Danny shares a simple but powerful shift: communication isn’t about impressing people - it’s about serving them.

Because before you say anything, you need to know:

This is where many people get stuck. Instead of getting clear, they try to say more - listing experiences, achievements, and credentials - hoping something will land.

But without clarity, it doesn’t.

This conversation is practical, energising, and directly relevant for anyone navigating a career transition, preparing for interviews, or figuring out how to communicate their value in a way that actually connects.

This episode is for anyone at Basecamp - successful, experienced, and now asking: How do I position myself for what’s next?

Because the goal isn’t to say more.

🎁 Free Well-Crafted Story Guide (Danny’s framework to build powerful stories):

Your life. Your rules. For more freedom, flow, and fun.

What if the reason you feel stuck or exhausted isn’t a lack of ambition — but a lack of alignment, recovery, and conscious thinking?

In this episode of Play It By Your Rules, I sit down with Dorota Kosiorek — AI startup leader, certified brain coach, and creator of Strategic Off-Season — to explore how high achievers can move beyond constant doing into more intentional, fulfilling ways of working and living.

Dorota operates in two worlds: leading high-performance teams in tech, while coaching ambitious professionals to rethink success, mindset, and energy. Her approach blends neuroscience, elite sports psychology, and real-world leadership — with a strong focus on something most high performers overlook: strategic rest.

This conversation dives into why so many successful people keep chasing “more” — and how to break that loop without losing your edge.

This episode is for high achievers, leaders, and ambitious professionals who are successful on paper — but want more clarity, energy, and fulfillment in how they work and live.

Because real performance isn’t about doing more.

🔗 Follow Dorota Kosiorek on LinkedIn: https://dorotakosiorek.com/contact/#book-a-consultation

🧠 Take Dorota’s free self-assessment for high achievers (reflection across key areas): https://elite-mind-assessment-dk.lovable.app/ 

✍️ Read Strategic Off-Season on Substack: https://substack.com/@thestrategicoffseason

Your life. Your rules. For more freedom, flow, and fun.