Beyond the Performance Mask Surrendering Self-Will for Divine Alignment with Dr. Joseph Drolshagen ❖ 298

My identity had to change before my circumstances could. My insides had to change... Jesus didn't simply improve my business. He transformed the man leading my business, which is me. When God changes the person, He changes the way that person experiences everything else in life." — Dr. Joseph Drolshagen

Are you secretly exhausted from carrying a high-performance mask while staring at a massive gap between what you pray for and the physical reality you actually experience? Have you ever wondered why no amount of white-knuckled hustle, extra tasks, or human willpower seems to shatter the silent scripts, inherited limitations, and internal ceilings keeping your life and vision small?

In this powerful episode of the Interviewing Jesus Podcast, host Kristen Wambach sits down with international coach, author, and minister Dr. Joseph Drolshagen to step completely outside the matrix of standard, task-based coaching.
Behind his Doctorate in Psychology and over three decades of developing Subconscious Mindset Training™ (The SMT Method™) lies a man whose perspective was forged in the real fires of life —from wrestling as a young boy with how we represent God, to enduring the tragic loss of four infant children, to resigning from a 28-year corporate executive career and leaping off a 2,000-foot mountain peak strapped to a hang glider.
Together, Kristen and Joseph pivot past the published pages and corporate achievements straight into the "quiet room" of real-world transformation:

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Foundational Scripture
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
​— 2 Corinthians 5:17

"Now, in the light of your co-inclusion in his death and resurrection, whoever you thought you were before, in Christ you are a brand-new person. The old ways of seeing yourself and everyone else are over. Acquaint yourself with the new."
2 Corinthians 5:17 Mirror Study Bible 

• Dismantling the Hustle Lie: Why white-knuckling habits fails and how to let the Holy Spirit rewrite your baseline identity.
• Dropping the Performance Mask: How to navigate internal friction points on Monday morning without relying on human "attaboys" or surface-level success.
• Dynamic Visioning™ vs. Self-Will: Shifting from rigid goal-setting into a living, Spirit-led vision anchored in trust rather than fear.
• Breaking Generational Chains: Overcoming inherited programming of struggle and scarcity so your children never carry the burdens of your past.
• Music Video: Breaking Generational Chains

I spent years believing my worth came from performance and achievement. What Jesus has been teaching me is that my identity comes from being His son—not from what I accomplish, not from how many hours I work. I still work hard, but I work from trust instead of fear . The whole weight is not on my shoulders to make it happen anymore." —Dr. Joseph Drolshagen

What’s Inside This Week’s Blog Post:

In this week’s deep-dive masterclass, we’re stepping off the treadmill of performance-driven hustle and stepping straight into the unhurried living room of grace. If you’ve ever wondered why forcing new habits through human grit always fails, or why your physical circumstances don't align with what you pray for, this post is your roadmap to a complete Spirit-led system overwrite.

Here is a sneak peek at what we unpack together:

• The Lead Quote from Dr. Joseph Drolshagen: Discover why business transformation and personal breakthrough don't happen by tweaking your task list, but by letting Jesus transform the person leading your life .
• Meet the Author & Podcaster: A warm welcome from Kristen Wambach, sharing the heart behind Interviewing Jesus and why we are passionate about helping you live Spiritually BRAVE!
• The Anatomy of the Subconscious Ceiling: Why standard coaching methodologies leave high-capacity leaders exhausted—and how Eden’s original design was engineered for automated momentum and union with God .
• Truth vs. Physical Facts: How the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2) judicially overrides temporal realities such as lack, sickness, and business stagnation.
• Dynamic Visioning™ Meets Prophetic History: Learn how to use your journal entries, vision boards, and past encounters with God as legal deposits of heaven to anchor present-moment peace.
• Coaching Church Activation (3-Step Assignment): Practical, Monday-morning steps including 10 minutes of "windshield time," sifting ego triggers with "Jesus, did You say that?", and speaking 2 Corinthians 5:17 over your legacy.
• Guest Resources & Special Gift: Access Dr. Joseph Drolshagen's free 15-minute Stuck-to-Unstuck Strategy Session and claim a complimentary copy of his latest book.
• Spiritually BRAVE Call to Action: Your invitation to watch the YouTube LIVE broadcast, listen to our special Country Gospel Music Video anthem, and step off the porch of self-reliance for good!

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Podcast Transcript: Interviewing Jesus PodcastHost: Kristen Wambach
Guest: Dr. Joseph Drolshagen
Kristen Wambach (00:01.611) Joining us today is Dr. Joseph Drolshagen, an international coach, an author, a speaker, a minister who walked away from a successful 28-year career as a corporate VP of sales to help leaders break free from their deepest limitations. Tell me, do we have some questions for him today? Behind his doctorate...
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (00:26.548) Okay.
Kristen Wambach (00:29.725) ...in psychology and his three decades of developing subconscious mindset training, otherwise known as the SMT Method, lies a man whose perspective was forged in the fires of real life. From wrestling as a young boy with the weight of how we represent God to enduring the heartbreak of personal loss of four infant children to leaping off a 2,000-foot mountain peak strapped to a hang glider. Maybe we ought to pray for him, right? Joseph doesn't teach abstract theories; he brings a deeply personal, scripture-rooted reverence for helping people dismantle the silent barriers that keep us small so we can step fully into our kingdom calling.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (01:06.699) Yeah.
Kristen Wambach (01:25.761) Dr. Joseph Drollshagan. What a name. Welcome to the show.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (01:31.182) It's great to be here with you, Chris. And I told you I've I've been excited all day knowing we're gonna get to talk today. So really looking forward to a really good conversation here. And let...
Kristen Wambach (01:41.953) And I did have to practice your name. I kept going over and over and over and over. It's it's just a tongue twister.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (01:48.992) It took me until I was twelve before I could spell not really.
Kristen Wambach (01:54.231) Jumping right in, Joseph, in your book Reprogramming Your Subconscious Mind, the SMT Method for Rapid Growth, along with your work through subconscious mindset training, you offer a practical guide for dismantling internal ceilings and aligning our inner world with true kingdom potential. Now to our global audience listening today, we are putting all the direct links in Joseph's—from his books, from his coaching programs, and his website right there in the show notes. So it is effortless for you to connect with him. But Joseph, before we stir up the waters today, I want to give you the floor right up front. Tell our listeners where they can get their hands on your books, explore your SMT method, and plug directly into your resources.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (02:54.612) Absolutely. The easiest way is is the website. Everything is on the website. I'm on all social media under Joseph Drill Shagan. The, you know, my books and all of that are on there. And the one thing I wanna I wanna offer to your audience, I'm so excited that we're talking that I wanted to make sure I got something special is somewhere time during the call I'm gonna offer during our discussion, I'm gonna offer a free 15 minute conversation that's all geared to help people identify where they're stuck and get some actions they can start taking that are unique to them to start opening that up and start shifting that and changing their results in that area. And then Kristen, if anybody anybody who called and schedules that with me, I'm going to send them a copy of my latest book, Breaking the Attachment Pattern Keeping Your Business Small. It works the same in your life or your business, whatever area it is, health and well-being, finances. And so I'm going to give them a copy of that as well.
Kristen Wambach (03:47.233) Thank you. That's most generous. Most generous. So I love getting those links out of the way so that we can dive into the conversation with our undivided focus. And if you hear snoring, it's my King Charles Spaniel in the background.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (03:48.394) Absolutely.
Kristen Wambach (04:10.218) She just snoring away. And I even have my little squirt bottle here to hush her up and it's not doing good. So listen that I have a snoring visitor here. Okay. All right. So because right now I want to take us past the public pages, past your 28 VP career and way past leaping off the 2,000 foot mountain peak...
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (04:14.309) Yeah. That's funny.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (04:22.306) No.
Kristen Wambach (04:38.898) ...strapped to a hang glider. My husband did that too. I want to take us right into that quiet room, to that secret place. Take us back to the exact moment as a young boy, wrestling with that staggering question: What if God experiences the human condition through how I live my life?
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (04:39.086) Okay.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (05:02.103) Yes.
Kristen Wambach (05:02.944) The second you were stopped running the background noise and realized God was meeting you in that raw reality of life. What'd that feel like? Tell us about that, please.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (05:15.542) Yeah, you know, I I grew up with four siblings and two parents who who loved us incredibly. You know, but but their programming was that you struggle. And I watched him struggle my whole youth, you know, anxiety and fear and worry and things like that. My my dad worked operated heavy equipment and cranes and such and and he would work until he was so beat up that he'd need medical attention and stuffing with as many hours as he could. And my mom was the same way. And I remember one time I think I was nine, I don't remember exactly, but I went and saved the weekend at a friend's house.
You know, on Saturday afternoon his dad gave us twenty dollars and he goes, "Here, go up to Dairy Queen and get you guys an ice cream," you know? And and in my family you didn't do that. You had to save up to do things like that. And so we would so we went up there and then we spent the weekend and stuff and then I went back home and even walking in the house, I didn't know how to describe it that... but there was like a heaviness about it. You know, and and and we're I grew up Catholic. I was an altar boy, I went to Catholic school, I did all those things. I you know, I know the Catholic service to this day. I can go through every bit of the Catholic service, both sides too, the priest and the and our side as a congregation, you know? And and so so I I... what's that? It no, no.
Kristen Wambach (06:26.687) In Latin. In Latin. Gotcha on that one. Go ahead. I did.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (06:33.824) Okay, you you got me there, Kristen. But so, you know, and but I never I never really understood. God my understanding, I don't know what they taught me, but I remember what I learned. And I learned that God was to be fear of. God was was something I probably wasn't gonna make it to at the end and stuff, because the best I would do is purgatory.
Kristen Wambach (06:46.369) Mm-hmm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (06:56.844) You know, and and and you know, and and and so like you know, I would I swear sometimes or I would, you know, do something and you know, get in a fight or whatever and stuff and every one of those things I thought was a mark against me and stuff. So I grew up with that being my belief of a fearful God. And so I didn't, you know, and they made us go to church every week and you know, and and so but I didn't have those things. And and so when I went back home after that weekend, I thought, "You guys are not doing something right. And I'm not gonna live like you guys." And that was my first spark. And then I went through my teen years following the same suit with that and such. And then I got into my 20s. And at 20, I think it was 22 years old, I had an opportunity to take over a million multi- well multiple million dollar construction company up in Michigan.
Kristen Wambach (07:44.919) Mm-hmm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (07:45.527) And I wasn't going to have to get a loan or pay for it. All we were going to do is it was be like he'd get a percentage of the revenues for a five-year period. And he owned it and he operated the whole thing and everything. He was going to teach me with it and stuff, you know. And it was probably the most exciting moment of my life at that age. Because it's like, man, this is my break. Because since I said that at that earlier age, I've been looking for that and I've been really I was really attuned to it as well. So it was like, man, this is my break. I knew I wasn't gonna have to live like you guys live. And and so, and within three days, I told him I can't do that. And it took me probably close to a few weeks to a month to realize why. And you wanna why I didn't accept that? Because I thought I didn't deserve it, because I didn't work hard enough for it.
Kristen Wambach (08:32.321) Yeah, I do.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (08:37.194) And I let that opportunity pass. And I was embarrassed, so I didn't explain it to him so he could help me see it a different way. I just... and and and and so the opportunity passed. But what else happened is once I realized what it was, is when I said, "Man, I'm broken. There's something really broken inside of me." And and and from that moment I've been a student of the works that I do today. You know, and then I ended up getting into corporate America and I spent years, probably a decade in there, barely getting by. I was traveling three to five thousand miles a week trying to develop a territory and barely making a mark. And I see these other guys who are taking Friday out, you know, other salespeople taking Friday off, coming in late on Mondays, you know, golf things through the week, this and that. And and and every time I just kept turning that to "there must be something wrong with me." Because I felt like I was different than all those people. And I'm going forward. And and you know, I had God in my life, but it was the God I had talked to you about.
And then and then into all this stuff and everything, I I was not, you know, in corporate America and I'm barely getting by. So I was constantly just like my parents, constantly worried about losing my job and I was married. And you know, in my late twenties we had my the only the only child I have. You you said that about the four children... but I have the only child that I have today and and that made that even compounded it worse because I felt like there was more weight on my shoulders to succeed and I didn't know what to do. I started going to coaching program after coaching program, getting books, doing experiments with them. It was just a constant thing. And then at one point when that fourth child passed within an hour and a half after being, you know, after being born, I made a decision: "there can't there can't be a God over all this stuff and allow this to happen." And I purposely chose to walk away from that.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (10:29.390) And within a year and a half, I was using alcohol, I was using gambling, I was using food, I was doing whatever I could do to avoid the life that I felt like I was destined to live. As I'm studying this up, I th- at that point I threw everything away. I threw every book I had--The Secret, I I you know, all of it I just tossed it off 'cause I like, "this is all BS and none of it works and and and I'm gonna find another route," you know. And and I so I I... yeah, that was that was that was the darkest moment I've ever experienced in my life. You know, and then as I went through going forward, and a lot of things happened. I got help for the, you know, the drinking and things like that and stuff, which kind of sparked the door with God. And at first I avoided it at all costs, and then it kept getting worse and worse and worse, and finally I said, "God, please help me."
Kristen Wambach (11:19.999) Mm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (11:27.650) I didn't even know what I was asking help for—the alcohol, the the gambling, the the job, the you know, I didn't even know what it was. I just to throw something in there for about a year ago I was consulting for a turf company, artificial turf company and helping them build up and so with doing that... the person who ran it said to me... She used to get really mad at my kidding around and stuff like that, you know, because I we'll go into restaurants and stuff and I'll joke with the wait staff or something and try and make them laugh, you know. And she goes, "Why do you always do that? Why are you always doing that?" And I finally said to her, "You know why? Because I was so miserable for so long, I really did not want to live anymore. And today I do. And today, if I can make somebody laugh or smile or even say, 'That's a dad joke,' I I feel better inside of myself for who I am."
You know, and and so with all this stuff started coming the growth of a God of my understanding. It took a while to let go of again, not what they taught me, but what I had learned to open that doorway up. You know, and some of the things I've experienced, I mean, my identity had to change before my circumstances could.
Kristen Wambach (12:16.427) Mm-hmm.
Kristen Wambach (12:31.958) Mm-hmm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (12:43.404) My insides had to change. You know, to go on from the point of you know I was a I was a huge earner of God's love. I would even, you know, later on after that all that stuff, I I would, I would like try to be upright and sit right and say the words the right way and I wouldn't cuss and I wouldn't this and I wouldn't that and I, you all these things that I and I was trying to earn love from God. And and it took a while, it took several years for me to realize I can't earn it.
Kristen Wambach (12:45.952) Mm-hmm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (13:12.736) It's already there for me, and there's nothing I can do to earn it.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (13:20.268) You know, I spent years believing my worth came from performance and achievement. And what Jesus has been teaching me, that my identity comes from being His, you know, God's son, not from what I accomplished, not for how many hours I work, not for how, you know, all those other things that I so long built into my life. You know, it's trying to trying to be good enough to be loved. And of course, when I'm like that with God, it spoils over into every other relationship I have as well. So now I start blaming relationships and people and this and that, but it was just my own ability to understand and receive God's love and let it grow from the inside out like that.
Kristen Wambach (14:04.321) Yes. And it does it does have to have to grow. It it's it's not something that we can just all of a sudden go "aha" one day and you feel all warm and fuzzy and built up inside. It just doesn't work that way. It takes us even with people, it takes us a while to build a friendship with people and to build trust with people and learn...
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (14:09.240) Does, yeah. Yeah.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (14:15.426) Yeah.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (14:28.066) Yes. Yes.
Kristen Wambach (14:32.491) ...how they respond back and they learn how we respond.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (14:36.620) Yes, yes. And and you know, today, before I even get out of bed when I wake up in the morning, I get God in my head before I I get in there. It's like a race to get God in my head and my thoughts and my words and things like that before I do it. Because one of the major changes I experienced through this, and I don't know if I'm jumping, but we can go back on track if I am, is is is that God changed the way I even pursue success. You know, I used to believe everything depended on me. Today...
Kristen Wambach (14:39.329) Mm-hmm.
Kristen Wambach (15:04.597) Mm-hmm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (15:05.430) I work hard. Yeah, I I tell every business owner, every person I work with, you can't get at you can't get somewhere without putting effort in and and taking actions on it. So I still work hard, but I work from trust instead of fear. I work from it the whole weight is not on my shoulders to make it happen anymore. You know, and and and and so I learning to partner with God rather than trying to control every outcome. So what I do is I get clarity. You know, where it says I can't remember the...
Kristen Wambach (15:22.751) Mm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (15:34.955) Scripture is, but it says if you ask and you believe that you've received it, it will be yours. So what I do is I get clarity on the ask. What is it that I want? I I do the, you know, I picture being in that situation where I can see myself living that life at that level with whatever it is. And I got a scenario that just happened a few months ago. That's incredible. And I... and then I get out of the way. I do my part, but I let God do His part. I no longer act like I have to do it all in order for things to happen. And that has brought so much ease and peace into my daily existence.
Kristen Wambach (16:17.355) Mm-hmm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (16:19.234) When I was in my twenties, I was in a marriage where there was really no love in that and stuff. And I think what it was is they wanted to be saved and I wanted to be a hero, what aligned us and stuff. So that you know that doesn't work well. And I came up with this vision of this great love relationship and I'd like so much detail to it to the point that I didn't have to go out and find her. I don't have to go grocery shopping at the perfect times where there's single women and do all that stuff and everything else, the dating sites and everything. And and she'll walk into my life. And about four months ago now, that's exactly what happened. And she is like an angel. And the probably the biggest part of the relationship that brings us together is that it's God centered.
Kristen Wambach (17:00.371) Mm-hmm. I'm looking for a question. You're doing such a good job. You're blasting through my questions already. So I have to roll up and do it. Okay. Okay. I I got this. So I'm this is my this is in a meditative place. So I'm sitting out front this morning, right off the cuff, right? And I went, gosh, this is a good question. But you keep calling, talking about trust. I went, okay, God, I'm just gonna throw it out there. This morning I'm sitting with Jesus, right? And I asked Him, "Why is trust take so long?"
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (17:08.173) Ha ha ha.
Kristen Wambach (17:41.279) And I looked at Him and He responded to me and He said, "Why does trust take so long?" And He smiled.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (17:57.731) That is a great response.
Kristen Wambach (18:01.207) And and I went, well, you know, me and my little kind of with my little head action, I go, "Well, I feel trustworthy." And He looks at me and He goes, "Well, obviously you're trustworthy." You know, it's kind of like, "Well, so what are we gonna do in this," you know? It was so pregnant, it was so full of... and...
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (18:26.924) Yeah, yeah. Well you could do a whole podcast just on that. Cause it's not about our worthiness. It's...
Kristen Wambach (18:32.211) I know I wrote up some I wrote up some stuff and I was like, I'm gonna do this. And I went, but you keep talking, I went, okay, I'm just gonna throw it out there off the cuff and say, hey, you know, cause sometimes trust feels long.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (18:49.836) Yes. And what it is, I mean, with me and God, what it is where the issue is, it's not whether I'm trustworthy or not or any of that stuff. And but that's what I always want to look at. And then I want to be more trustworthy so I can have that. And what I'm doing is I'm spinning my wheels, trying to be trustworthy enough for God and everything else. But really the the the the the core of where it seems like it's like that is me trusting God, me surrendering my life to God, me allowing Him to lead and me, you know, grab and follow and and things like that. That's what it is. So when I s- finally get to the end of that road of exhaustion of trying to be trustworthy enough to earn God's love and realize it's given to me I can't earn it no matter what I do. And then from there, then I can start looking at instances and one of the things that's always been a really big thing in my life, Kristen, is...
I don't see God out. And you know, I have this thing I do, like, you know, if I'm starting to feel anxious or things are happening or things like that, it's like looking out forward, it's that's always what that is, because when we look out there, we don't know. And ultimately what we don't know is what God's part's going to be. But what I can do in those moments is I can look in my rear viewing mirror and I can look at every time how God showed up in my life, even with a with a custody battle to get fifty percent custody of my son. And it went all the way to the end of almost a year in court. And I was in another state at the time, so I kept having to come back for it. And they not only said no to the 50% custody, they took time away from me from what I had already had in the in the parenting plan, you know, and and man, I just left there and I was I was broken. I d- I I I just... and I had the most straight up...
Kristen Wambach (19:54.870) Mm-hmm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (20:36.626) ...using my Detroit word, conversation with God in that moment. And that was a Friday. In fact, we left the courthouse and my lawyer was just around the corner. And so we went to her place and I was sitting on the back porch and I'm smoking cigarettes and I didn't even smoke. I was just beside myself. And I did all this stuff with the God box to try to hand it over and give it to God every time I thought by wrote a note, put it in there for the for that whole time. And I ended up going home, crushing that box, having a conversation with God. Sunday morning, my son's mom called me and she said, "I'm not sending clothes with him anymore." And I go, "What do you mean?" She goes, "Well, you you wanted the 50% cussing, I'm not sending clothes." So I called my lawyer who answered the phone on a Sunday and said, and I told her, and she goes, "Man, I I just feel so bad for you, Joseph. You're such a good man, but..." you know tell me all that stuff and everything. And and and I said, "No, no, no, you're not hearing me." She said...
Because I wanted like the court gave it to me. She goes, "Meet me at my office at 7:30 tomorrow morning." And I did. And she gave me this paper that was all typed up. I took it to her. She signed it. I brought it back to my lawyer. She took it over to the court building. And by 10 o'clock that morning, I had 50% every other week custody with my son. Now I'm beside myself the opposite way, 180 degrees. I get in my car and I'm leaving there. And I heard God say to me, "Joseph, there is no court, ex-spouse, or lawyer, or anything that will ever get in the way of My will happening in your life. Just trust in Me." Now you would think most people would take that and the rest of their life just flew from that, right? Not what happened, Kristen.
Kristen Wambach (22:24.159) It's the water under the bridge and sometimes it's just like, okay.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (22:25.908) It yeah, exactly. Yeah, hold on, I just gotta put this in real quick. Sorry. There we go. Sorry about that. Yeah, that's not at all what happened. I've ran into struggles at other times as well. You know, and and and even in my business and things like that, like I get a new area where I want to start growing it and such, and something will happen, and all of a sudden it's like... "Well, yeah, I'm spinning my wheels 100 miles an hour here going my own route, coming up with my own plan. I haven't I haven't asked God to for help in this. I haven't leaned on Him. I haven't looked for His guidance," you know, and it's like, okay, good. But the good news about that is now knowing what I know today, I can stop, flip that switch, and turn that back around. I can just stop everything and say, "God, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I want to follow Your pathway in every part of my life. I don't even want to have free will." I prayed well, I prayed for a while for God to take away free will from me. I literally prayed for Him to take it away because if there's no free will, then we have to follow God. So we don't run into all the problems that we create that comes from free will.
Kristen Wambach (23:37.847) I have never heard of anybody praying that.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (23:41.784) Doesn't it make sense though? My the my struggles, my all that stuff comes about based on free will. If I if I didn't have a choice but to follow God from morning to night every day of my life, my life would be absolutely incredible.
Kristen Wambach (23:59.690) No, but your heart wouldn't be in it.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (24:02.562) Well that's yeah, that's the underlying purpose of it and stuff, but...
Kristen Wambach (24:05.579) Your you're you're He wants us to volunteer our heart.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (24:12.172) Yes. He yes. He wants us to choose Him, which we wouldn't do without this. So I understand that completely. But the more I can stay away from free will and what my head tells me is best and you know things like that and I follow God and let Him lead...
Kristen Wambach (24:14.283) Mm-hmm.
Kristen Wambach (24:29.589) Yes.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (24:30.668) ...you know, that's the better life it gets.
Kristen Wambach (24:33.683) Absolutely. Hey, I'd like us to unpack a little bit. Your work talks a lot about dynamic visioning. I'm curious from your perspective about that. The Lord opened my spiritual eyes about 20 years ago and everything changed. So this idea of emotionally matching our inner climate to what we want to see manifest what we believe is going to occur. But let's take that high-level theory and bring it right into the living room. What about the leader who is listening right now who's sitting in a severe multi-year resource drought? They could tell you and wear the t-shirt and say, "been there, done that, bought the book." They've done that. Their bank account is bleeding.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (24:43.116) Yes.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (25:01.511) Yes.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (25:12.203) Okay.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (25:16.354) Mm-hmm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (25:25.826) Done there.
Kristen Wambach (25:32.066) Their body is exhausted, possibly not in health, and their nerves... Yep, they're pure adrenaline, as we call it survival mode. When the physical facts around us are screaming survival, confinement, trying to force a feeling of a present moment, or a feeling of...
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (25:34.253) Yeah. Nervous system is probably haywire. Yeah.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (25:43.798) Yes.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (25:50.252) Yes.
Kristen Wambach (25:58.668) ...who we know we are to be and what God has promised. That is so difficult. How does somebody practically shift when their natural hope is still absolutely zero? They're just hanging on, white knuckling it. How do we get our emotions engaged to feel it?
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (26:17.218) Yeah, so... yeah. Yeah. And one of the things I do with every client I start... now let me say this real quick before I say this. The SMT method, it came through me, but it's not of me. Like God was involved in that, and I was the one that published it and did the things everything. But that wasn't that wasn't my mind built that built the SMT. I had a lot of experiences that lent lent into it stuff. But but God and the one of the reasons I know that every module, every part of the program relates directly with scripture in the Bible. So I wouldn't have known to do that, Kristen. I didn't plan it that way. I seriously, I just I... my mind wasn't there. So yeah, the one every single client I work with, we come out of the gate developing what the SMT method refers to as a dynamic vision. And remember I said about the scripture, I think is it Mark 11:24 or something like that? 11:24 but it says the scripture says if you ask and believe that you've received it, it will be yours. So the asking, the way...
I did this w- the way we do this is we build a vision. We get a lot of clarity. Let's say you're it's a business, because you brought it up as a business. It's your business and you want and you and and it's just in that struggle place and stuff and and it's just whooping your hide and you know, and and and what we do is I work with the client. So everything I do is unique to the individual I'm working with. So I don't have two clients that have the same exact thing happen, you know, for them. I don't work off of the one-size-fit-all model. So...
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (27:56.663) What it is is we start building that dynamic vision. As we start building that dynamic vision, we have to tap into our into our imagination, right? To start tapping into it, which is which is a part of our conscious mind. And we start defining, forget about what's happening right now.
Kristen Wambach (28:06.231) Mm-hmm.
Kristen Wambach (28:10.709) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (28:15.414) The way I do that is I'll look out five years or something. Like what's five years? We know five years our life completely a hundred and eighty degrees different than it is today. So I start building it out based on that some time out there. Cause if we're too close, if we're six months or a year or things like that, you know, it it it the problem, the struggle is so big, we can't see outside of that. But if we look out five years, it gives us open lens to look at that.
So we'll build it, you know, we'll start building it from a five-year period. How do you want your business to be? How do you go to work? Like how do you spend your time at work and stuff? You know, how do you spend your time outside of work? Your health and well-being, relationships, your business, and your time and money free. And we cover the whole gamut because growing your business doesn't just affect your business, it affects your entire life. Struggling in your business does the same, right? So we start building that vision out.
Kristen Wambach (28:42.913) Mm-hmm.
Kristen Wambach (29:01.267) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (29:05.120) And we start making we start like enlarging it, bringing more clarity, things like that. And then, you know, if if if you believe that you've received it, here's where we take a twist now. Now we've got this dynamic vision. It excites us to read the vision. Part of it is we don't even know how the heck it can happen, but we just get excited about it. Excuse me. So then once we have the vision, what we do is we start opening it up.
Kristen Wambach (29:25.685) Mm-hmm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (29:33.273) We start taking the actions we can take to start. It might be something small here or something small. And we start opening that up to and and and the sooner people get successes and see things happening. And typically the initial successes are coming from a shift in the mind, the shift in in how we think, our perceptions.
Kristen Wambach (29:51.703) Mm-hmm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (29:52.323) Perceptions determine our results. And our perceptions are coming from the subconscious and programming within that subconscious, which is the core of the SMT. So as we start shifting, identifying and shifting these things, we get a different perspective and perception of what's possible, which leads to greater results.
And so typically people will experience that from a personal level. Sometimes it's business. So I've had people within a couple weeks all of a sudden get this large contract or you know, things turn around and and and you know start turning around, things like that. So, but yeah, we get that vision, and then what we do, here's where the twist comes in, is we start using that vision as our chosen reality that we live. Because we live so much of our life...
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (30:38.850) ...by what we call reality. Right? So we call reality what our eyes see, but we have spiritual sight. So much deeper, more enriched, and more powerful than anything we ever see with our eyes that we can tap into. And so throughout the entire process, that's what we're doing is we're tapping deeper and deeper into that, into, you know, into the spiritual realm where God exists. And that's when we start bringing, get tapping into intuition, which is also from the conscious, but we start tapping into powers that are available outside of our own, what's between our two ears.
And as we do that and as we're identifying and shifting and and using that as the reality we're shifting towards, all of a sudden we start going, "Well, you know, if if if if my business was twenty-five million dollars a year, I wouldn't be dressing the way I dress now. Well, how would you dress at twenty-five... you know, how would you dress at that level?" So go out and get an outfit that, you know, clothes that that match that. "I wouldn't be saying these things. I wouldn't be, you know, v- what do you call that... with Netflix and stuff, you know, I wouldn't be sitting around for a whole weekend just sitting in front of Netflix for the whole weekend, binge-watching or whatever you want to call it. I wouldn't be doing..." and so we start we identify and we start shifting those things. And what's happening is that person is becoming that twenty-five million dollar business owner. And it spreads throughout their whole lives that same way.
Kristen Wambach (32:10.103) Mm-hmm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (32:10.946) So that's what the vision is. I and it's hard coming from corporate and working with corporate people and stuff like that, but I don't work from goals. Because goals are hit or miss. You achieve a goal, you go for another goal. A vision takes a life of its own. So we're actually living that life before it ever shows up in our existence, which is what accelerates it to show up sooner.
Kristen Wambach (32:35.649) Mm-hmm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (32:37.198) Does that make sense?
Kristen Wambach (32:38.433) Well, yeah, because that's why well, that's why God changed Abram to Abraham and He started calling him a father of many nations. And it took eleven years for Him to call him by his purpose, his name, Abraham, before it manifested. And right there in the manifestation, I love their story because they're old people. Sarah was like ninety... and her body was dead. And it's kinda like, okay, God, if You can do this, her physical body, their physical body was incapable without God to produce children.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (33:21.622) Right, right. And yet...
Kristen Wambach (33:24.757) He's still calling him Abraham, father of many nations, father of many nations. He was calling him by his purpose, his identity and name.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (33:28.173) Yeah.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (33:33.686) Yes, yes. It's it's some of it it it's really is incomprehensible to me. Mary, the Virgin Mary. Like is it like... and and and what I've realized is I'm not supposed to comprehend it fully. You know, my faith isn't dependent on...
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (33:58.189) My faith is only dependent on my willingness to believe. It doesn't have to even make sense to me. You know, when you talk about when they talk about my God, the whale. Jonah and the whale. A long time I thought, "Well, that's a story they're using as a teaching lesson and stuff." And then I went to the other side and I debated it with friends and stuff like that and everything, and the bottom line I came to is...
It doesn't matter what it's in there for. I learned from it. I can apply that and I can get closer to God through that story there. And that's really my goal today. You know, I no longer live a life I have to prove things right or wrong or anything else. If it adds value to my life... You know, I got this whole thing even with people and stuff I do now is you know, we got the front row people and stuff and and today it's like everybody gets to be exactly who they are. Nobody... I don't want to change a single person. But then I get to choose which of those people I spend time with and which ones I don't based on that. It's that easy.
Kristen Wambach (35:06.422) Mm-hmm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (35:06.966) All of a sudden it's like when things are happening, it's like, "Man, why do they keep doing that? Why do they keep why don't they stop?" It's like, no, that's that's they're being them. They're being who they are for exactly the right reason. Sometimes I get to learn from people who are like that. A lot of times I get to learn from people who are like that. Like when I'm driving down the two-lane highway and the guy and it's 55 and the guy in front of me is doing 30. That builds my faith because I have to pray or else I just go gonzo in my mind.
Kristen Wambach (35:36.191) Goodness. Now we're not gonna pick up drive start talking about driving habits. You know, it's kinda like that's right up there in the two, one and two between, you know, I've been married for 41 years, my husband grew up in Chicago, he drives. He always tells me, "I drove a flower van with bald tires in the ice."
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (35:50.572) Yeah.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (35:59.361) Nice, nice.
Kristen Wambach (36:01.418) Anyhow, you know, that that driving, but it it's so true how another person's response, reaction, or behavior will actually trigger some kind of little response from us. It triggers it and then there's this power exchange because if you allow the trigger...
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (36:03.724) Yeah. Yeah.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (36:17.762) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're right.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (36:26.264) Right.
Kristen Wambach (36:27.605) ...then it's kinda like, you handed him all the money that was in your wallet. There you go. You have all the power over me because of their behavior.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (36:32.780) Yeah, yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yep.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (36:39.360) Anybody ever asked me like, "you know, how do I know if I have an ego?" You know, and and I go, "You drive much?" And they go, "Yeah." I go, "You ever been behind somebody and they're doing half the speed limit?" And they go, "My God, yes." I go, "Well in that moment, your ego's stepping up."
Kristen Wambach (36:52.172) Yeah.
Kristen Wambach (36:57.370) Yeah. Yeah.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (36:58.092) You know, and so when we but we were talking about that with the vision and everything else. And then so as we move on choosing that that's what we're gonna call our reality, now we start developing systems of accelerating habits that are unique to the individual. And so as we start doing these things, we get greater results from from that as well. And the other thing about the vision is it's as alive as we are.
Kristen Wambach (37:13.813) Mm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (37:22.134) As long as we're breathing, our vision is breathing. So goals, you hit or miss, you get the goal, you don't get the goal, things like that. The vision is continuous expansiveness, just like we are. So as we start hitting levels of our vision, then we go, okay, now what's the next thing? And it continues to grow.
Kristen Wambach (37:40.856) I have a a a little life lesson, one of Kristen's little life lessons, that helps me with the ego. If I'm I always try to be available to listen, have my heart tuned toward the Lord throughout the day. That that's just ever growing, ever learning to allow Him to be sitting in the driver's seat or the passenger seat, whatever we're doing. What I say is if a thought comes through, I go, "Jesus, did You say that?"
Kristen Wambach (38:20.903) It works beautifully. "Did You say that?"
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (38:22.850) Yeah. Yeah.
Kristen Wambach (38:26.377) And He will just He'll either say no, yes, and just it sifted it sifts that ego right out. Sometimes He says yes, and I just go, "Really? You did say that. Oh my goodness," because sometimes even we will excuse our ego when it's actually...
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (38:33.176) Yeah.
Kristen Wambach (38:50.997) ...God speaking to us to encourage us. "Yep, you're going the right way. Come on, you can do this. This is where I want you to step." But it seems too big or too out of our comfort zone. And we will just go, "Oh, that's just my ego. Just hug it up. Move aside."
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (38:54.188) Yes.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (39:01.132) Yes, yes. And that's... yeah. Yeah and that's a way people can like I learned to tell the difference between if it's my ego, it'll fit along the patterns I'm living in. When coming from God, you know, direction from God through intuition, through the Holy Spirit, it usually has me shifting outside of those patterns for something.
Kristen Wambach (39:34.024) Okay, I'm gonna put a little twist in here. You mentioned, because I've read your book, you mentioned that when we hit an internal brick wall, those friction points are actually points of access for real transformation. For the high capacity leader who has learned to hide their private anxiety...
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (39:52.941) Yes.
Kristen Wambach (40:01.208) ...behind professional achievements. We can just have the best painted masks, can't we? While everything feels like it's shaking underneath us. We have this smile. Hello. What does it practically look like on Monday morning to drop the performance mask, face the raw discomfort, and let truth override the facts?
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (40:08.588) Yes. Yeah, yes.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (40:28.908) I think the first place is is to have a safe avenue to do so. You know, when I was a vice president in Corporate America and leading a sales team or leading a company that was in bankruptcy back to profitability and things like that... If I'd just went in there and and and just, you know, started spouting stuff like that, I would have gotten, you know, I don't know if I'd have even gotten to be there to get the new owners and not that it was good. But anyways, like one of the things I'll give you an example. We would get in these meetings every single day, five days a week, for at least an hour and a half, the whole leadership team would get together in the conference room.
And it was a constant complaint session from everybody. "What's going bad? What's going bad? What's going bad?" So I, you know, believing what I believed, learning what I had learned up until that point, I started bringing in there and saying, "Listen, is there anything going good? Is there anything that we could talk about that's going good?" And the entire place fought me on it. That like the entire team that was in there, even the president of the company started calling me "Mr. Over Optimistic." So now I'm trying to help people to see outside of the problem to start looking towards a solution. And they're going, "Okay, Mr. Over Optimistic." And I'd hear them teasing about me, you know... and like a few times I was like, "I'm not doing this anymore. The heck with it," you know, and I wanted to give up and God wouldn't let me. You know, and finally one day we were in there, and this is like a month and a half into it, Kristen. And I go cons- and I just hit my hand on the table just out of frustration. I didn't plan or anything. And I was just like, "Can we list one thing that's going good in all of this? Just one thing."
And the guy that handles the small parts, he goes, "All right, I'll throw one out there." He goes, "We have we're having like a 30% scrap rate on these parts and stuff. And a couple of my guys got together and they figured out how we can we can process them differently. And it brought our scrap down into the teens." And so everybody's just looking at me like, okay... I mean, to me, that was a success. You dropped it from 30% down into the teens. Well, a guy on the other side of the room, he goes, "Whoa, whoa, whoa."
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (42:33.334) Now this guy managed over the larger parts, like up to 25,000 pound castings, things like that. So he goes, "What was that problem?" And he told him, he goes, "We got the same problem over there. We got a 20-some percent scrap rate." He goes, "After this, let's go out there." So they end up hooking up, they go through the whole thing, they come back the next week, and the guy with the large parts, he's going, "There's something to all this optimism." He goes, "I made the same corrections he told me about, and my scrap is in single-digit scrap rates right now running this stuff."
Well, then people started changing the teasing stuff, but they still it was still wasn't an open thing. Like my office was adjacent to the conference room. And so after the meeting, people would walk out and I'd see them wait until the hallway was clear and then they'd come in my office and shut the door real quick because they didn't want people to see them talking to me and stuff, you know. And and I'm battling with ego through this whole process here because part of me is like, "The heck with you. You know, you don't want to hear it and no, forget it," you know... and and... but...
You know, God is more powerful than I am when I allow Him to be and I want Him to be. And so so I have these conversations and all of a sudden within three months we had a company come in, a private equity group come in, dump twelve million dollars in operation, and overnight took us from a three-day-a-month operation to a five-day-a-week operation. And the whole thing kinda grew from there and then I left, resigned, to do what I do today. So, but yeah, we have those things that happen like that and and it's...
The discomfort level? That wasn't my comfort level back then. The ego I talked about, the way the ego stepped up, the way I'd spend evenings like kind of cursing people and stuff for like the way they were towards me and stuff like that, you know, and feel singled out and all that stuff that hurts the feelings and stuff. But it's really just our ego. Cause if I'm close to God, it doesn't matter what people say about me. One bit. I know how God loves me and that's more powerful than what anybody else can ever have for me. That's, you know, one thing I learned early on I really love is, you know, when you look at a cross, it's got the upright, and then it's got the cross members, and and typically the upright is twice the length of what it is going this way, which I've gotten this thing—I forget where I got from—but it's like I need to focus twice as much on this relationship than I focus on these relationships.
Kristen Wambach (44:40.033) Mm-hmm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (44:55.776) And when I do that, Kristen, man, it's like somebody put a power pack in through all areas of my life.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (45:07.626) And every client I work with—I work with atheist, agnostic, I work with Christians, I work with non-Christians, I work with, you know, like whatever you could say. I've worked with clients in that. And every one of them, when we get done working, knows God better. Because it's built right into it. And I tell them right up front, "You know, I'm Christian, I call God God. Whatever that is for you, if it's universal, if it's this, that's okay. But I'm gonna say God, because that's along my beliefs. And this is my business, so I get to do that."
Kristen Wambach (45:35.553) Yes.
Kristen Wambach (45:47.254) Yes, you do.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (45:47.457) And they'll laugh and stuff, but as I'm going and stuff, I'll notice they'll start out with "universal" and this and that. And then throughout the process, and I don't push on anybody, but throughout the process they'll start mentioning God. And I've had a number of my clients that start going back to church and they start getting involved and they start growing in that way and stuff. And like I would not have known to do this with my life. And if it weren't for the hardships I experienced and the walls I ran into and the bloody mess I made of myself and everything else, I wouldn't get to live this life and serve the way I do. I'd have been okay enough, you know? Those people that... and I get to talk to a lot, but the people that live on minuscule scraps of what's possible for them.
Kristen Wambach (46:41.547) Have... I'm gonna try to get a question out here.
Kristen Wambach (46:53.555) I observe that many people don't ask themselves what we would call a self-help question. They never ask themselves that. And you know, I I I look at it curiously because... part of my personality is to be focused, to, you know, to run ahead, be a forerunner. I realize that's part of how God made me. But why is it that so many people never question what their status quo is?
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (47:39.225) Fear of what they'll find out. I know for me that's one thing. I know for a lot of my clients what it was. You know, I can tell somebody who's living that way very, very easily. When I ask somebody, "What's causing your business not to grow? What's the problem?" Anytime they blame an outside situation or circumstance like competition, state of the economy, any of those things, I know that it's somebody who hasn't... I don't know if they want to or not, but hasn't looked at themselves, because my problems are always me. And when I can bring it back to me, then I can experience something different. But if I'm blaming you, or I'm blaming this, or I'm blaming that, then I'm stuck in that. There's no better... I can't get any better. Nothing can get better if I have no control over it or anything else. It just is. So when I take this stuff and I look at it and go, "Okay, what is it in me that's going crazy driving 30 miles an hour in a 55?" Then I can remember it's my head. I can pray. I can start noticing, even though I've done the route hundreds of times...
Kristen Wambach (48:43.723) Mm-hmm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (48:43.776) ...I start noticing new things there and I end up going, "God, thank You. Thank You. I never knew that was there. How beautiful."
Kristen Wambach (48:47.871) Mm-hmm.
Kristen Wambach (48:52.269) And sometimes God slows us down to keep us safe.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (48:57.280) It does, yeah. You know, most times when I'm working with an entrepreneur, one of the first things we have to do coming out of the gate... we start the vision, but one of the first things we have to do, and I use the vision as a way of doing this, is we have to throttle back a little bit. They're so used to going running 95 to 100% and going, going, going, and more hours and everything else and stuff like that. I have to get them to throttle back a little bit because here's the thing... You know, like when you look at my understanding... I'll tell I'll tell you my understanding is there's God and there's Jesus Christ who came and died for our sins, but then He left us with the Holy Spirit, which is within us. That's what the Holy Spirit is... what I when I say intuition, what it is to me, is it's the Holy Spirit. And it works perfectly in every single one of us. But it's only as loud as our willingness to hear it. So I have to throttle back, I have to slow down, I have to pause in order to get those directions, in order to hear those, you know, the guidance coming from the Holy Spirit.
Kristen Wambach (49:45.631) Right.
Kristen Wambach (49:59.840) That's a tool that you use to quiet the noise.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (50:06.328) One of the things for me is because of doing so much traveling, like I really used to travel three to five thousand miles a week trying to build territories. One of the things I enjoyed about that was the windshield time. Windshield time for me is sacred. 'Cause I get going and a lot of times I don't have the radio on, I'm not listening to a podcast, I'm not doing things like that. I'm just... I'm just existing while I'm driving. And the more I can exist while I drive, the more clarity that happens. I don't know how many times—I'm gonna say at least three, but I don't know how many times—I'd be driving on the road and developing a territory. As I started understanding these things and implementing it, as I found somebody to help me identify, because I couldn't even identify what the programming in the subconscious was that was causing me to stall. I couldn't... it just it's so normal and natural, I couldn't pick it up. But so now we're starting to do that, we're starting to identify it, I'm starting to come up with ways try to, you know... and again, what took me years to realize, the people I work with today do so in in days and weeks, you know. But so I'm starting to shift it and stuff. And I'd be driving, and all of a sudden I'd get the thought of something, a quote I turned in a while ago, and I'd call the person and I'd go, "Hey, I just wanted to check on that quote." And he goes, "My God, I'm getting ready to source that today. Do I have your quote?" And he'd look and see it, whatever he goes, "Yeah, I have it here." I'd get awarded that business.
That happened numerous times where it was just a spark of a thought that happened. So in in my business, the way I operate that is I find time like that. I find time, you know, being up in the mountains where I live, I go out to a trout stream and sometimes I won't even cast a line in the water. I'll just sit there and talk to God or listen to God. I love motorcycling. I love hang gliding. I love things that allow me to be active but at peace. So when I'm on a hang glider and I'm just, you know, the hang glider does all the work, really. You just kind of tip it and turn it and stuff like that. And so, and I'm just talking to God the whole time. It's like, "God, this is so amazing. It's so amazing. I'm so grateful to be Your child." And I start, you know, I'll start just start leaning into that stuff. The vision is another one. Having a dynamic vision.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (52:15.232) It's always right there with us. You know, I call it spark igniting. Once we have the vision, is I just start saying, "I'm so happy and grateful that I am..." like one of my things is an institute to certify other coaches to expand the footprint of these works in the SMT method beyond what I can do myself now and after I'm gone from here. You know, and so it's like, "God, I'm so grateful that the clients or people are showing up that want to get certified, they want to teach this program and they want to help other people live their lives the same," and I'll just start speaking it until I... I could go, Kristen, at times till I get tears in my eyes. It gets so big. The joy, the excitement, the gratitude, the blessings of... yeah. So there's numerous ways. And what I do is I share these with my clients, but then I help them develop their own ways, their own ways of doing. I have people who go to the gym and work out, and it's a very spiritual time for them. To me, it's not a spiritual time because I still got a little bit of that ego thing going that says, you know, like a few years ago, I was like, "Okay, I want to get my bench press above 300 pounds," and I did that within a few months.
Kristen Wambach (53:24.609) Mm-hmm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (53:32.985) But then I ended up getting shoulder surgery and stuff like that because everything I tore up trying to do that, you know, it's ego and stuff and I know that. So when I go to the gym, I'm very focused on "I'm just here to exercise my body. I wanna feel the muscle fatigueness when I leave, but I wanna still be able to move," you know? It's just things like that. Pickleball, if I'm having a hard time during the day and so if I play a lot of pickleball, I'll go out and play pickleball for an hour and it just removes all the stuff, all that stuff I don't need that's blocking the way of the thoughts and all that stuff, you know, it just clears the path.
Kristen Wambach (54:05.193) Mm. Pickleball's awesome. I haven't for a while, but I used to compete, yeah.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (54:08.599) You play?
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (54:13.795) Nice, nice.
Kristen Wambach (54:15.063) Yeah. I did a state I did a state tournament.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (54:19.650) Wow, that's impressive. I've done tournaments. My favorite tournament is I did one last year and we ended up taking third place... second place, yeah, third place in the tournament. And it was a higher bracket, it was 3.5 duper, and I'm three... just over three. And so they gave us these gift certificate things for this shoe store, and I'm like, okay, it's probably, you know, ten dollars off or something like that. We go into the shoe store, it was a five-hundred-dollar gift certificate.
Kristen Wambach (54:21.941) Yeah.
Kristen Wambach (54:33.751) Mm-hmm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (54:49.519) So I go, "Look, pickleball's paying the bills."
Kristen Wambach (54:49.519) Oh yeah. Yay. I love pickleball. I love it. It's good.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (54:54.988) I do too. Yeah. So being exactly where I'm at, my business being the exact size, my this and that and everything else... I've lived miserably and I've lived so blessed that I can't stop talking about it. And the only thing that changed is when I asked God for help, He changed my insides. And then after that happened and I got into that place of being grateful, then the outside results of situation, circumstances started changing as well.
Kristen Wambach (55:36.994) They do. They do. I had a a few weeks a few weeks ago and I was trying to remember the actually the thing that prompted me to ask God, but I had witnessed somebody and they they had a wonderful father-daughter relationship. I remember laying in bed and I was thinking and I asked God, I go, "Hmm, you know... I need more of those experiences because they're not part of my story."
Kristen Wambach (56:21.759) And they started coming out of the woodwork.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (56:25.676) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And even even as much as I've studied this stuff, I mean it's over three decades I've been studying this stuff, you know? And and even with all that, like I'm I still haven't arrived. I'm still not there at the end point, you know what I mean, where I'm like the master. I continue to lean into things of growing. I continue... I told you, like, the way I use pickleball and things like that. I told you I, you know, sometimes struggle that I get in my head before God does in the morning, you know, and I love that I can start my day over, you know, and I and I love that ultimately I know that the more I lead, the harder it becomes. And if I just let go and what you were saying earlier, trust and believe... it makes life easier.
Kristen Wambach (57:15.165) Ask Him about that. And then your statement, you said it twice about getting you getting God in your head before you do. Well, if you really think about that, it's it's not actually possible... in your oneness with God, in your oneness with God. It's not possible to...
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (57:34.940) Right, right. But we do have two pathways running, right? We got self-will. Right? That's why people struggle. That's why people struggle is because they we want what we want when we want how we want it. If we if we ask God for it, we don't know how it's going to show up. That's why one of the things... I'm glad you said that, Kristen, because one of the things that's really important about the vision, never ever list how it shows up. Because what reality... From the best we know, we don't know how things like that happen. We don't know how they come about. We don't know. And God does though. So think about what you just said. If I'm living on self-will and I'm figuring it all out and I'm saying the way it's got to happen, I'm this and I'm that, and something doesn't match it, then it's just "I didn't get that. God's not working for me." But it's really me grabbing the reins and kicking God out of the out of the vehicle or whatever, you know, and running with it. When I'm following God, there's unknowns. That's with faith and belief. I don't know how God's gonna show up.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (58:44.866) You know, when I work with other people who have like addiction problems and things like that, I tell you, you know, forget the how. Because does it really matter how? Or do you just want to be clean? Do you want to live life, a good life? You know, and so if that's the case, forget about the how. The same thing with the vision and building a business. The how will show up if we get into alignment between our conscious mind, our subconscious mind, and put that into alignment with the dynamic vision. It's... and that's not philosophy, that's physics. It's all about energy flow. You can prove that with a calculation. I don't know the calculation. I wouldn't know how to figure the calculation out, but I understand the process of how it works.
Kristen Wambach (59:28.055) But don't you think God wants us to know a lot of hows?
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (59:38.391) Not not necessarily. No. Now, one thing I'll tell you, when I get done working with with the with the entrepreneur or business owner, when we're done, they have a roadmap of how to achieve success. It involves God in a lot of the hows, but they have a roadmap for success that they can carry into any other business or adventure, endeavor that they that they go upon. They have that. It's unique to them. They have that.
Kristen Wambach (59:50.455) Mm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (01:00:05.914) But it's still, you know, one of the things that I finally picked up on after almost a decade of getting coaching and mentoring and all this stuff and everything is is very, very successful people will often talk about their efforts that brought them to that success. But they're not as open to talking about the things that came out of the blue, the coincidences, the God-winks, the whatever you want to call it, the things that just came together perfectly at the right moment. They don't talk about those things. And I don't know if it's because they're not aware of it... I, you know, I haven't studied, but they're not aware of it, or or if it takes away from their success story. But I'd rather live the life that I crave to live and give God all the glory for it.
Kristen Wambach (01:00:49.441) Mm-hmm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (01:00:52.384) If I could sit here and talk with you on the phone for hours and everything else is like, you know, figuring it out, that's great. I don't need to know the how. I have the rearview mirror I can look into and see how God has shown up. I have the miracles and the things that have shown up in my life and how it's turned around. I'm telling you, me talking to you right now, Kristen, I could not have created the pathway that brought me here and doing this with my life.
My life was meant... at eighteen years old, I was cleaning oil out of machines. I was covered in grease. I had my under my... and not that I not that I knock that 'cause I come from blue collar so I have a lot of respect for it and stuff, but I you know, I was told all through school that, you know, I was I I people are meant to work with their head, people are meant to work with their hands. I was gonna be one of the people that work with my hands because I wasn't that smart, you know, and all this stuff and everything else... to having a doctorate degree and publishing books and and VP of sales, you know, and all the things I... Even now, if if if I had to explain how all that happened, I don't know if I could. But I know it wasn't me. I didn't sit down with a pad of paper and go, "Here's the steps I'm gonna take and I'm gonna be a vice president." No. It just unfolds and it opens up. Do you care about how things come about, the things that you most desire to experience in life?
Kristen Wambach (01:02:15.009) I think on certain things that the knowing how meanings I've experienced the how, that means I can teach and share with another one so it can be multiplied.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (01:02:32.440) See that I agree with. That part of it I agree with. The knowing the how is God. That's the only answer I need. It's God. God does His part always. He's promised us that He does His part. And He doesn't come from man. So He doesn't make the errors that we make as men and women, you know, like mankind and things like that and stuff. He you know, so so His promises always come true if we believe in Him and and and trust Him. And it always comes. There's things I've wanted in life and I want it right now. And this is the best time. And it's never going to be as good a time as this, everything else. And they didn't come. And then later on they showed up and it it was like a whole life change when they showed up. I couldn't have known that. I don't know what's ahead in my life. God does.
Kristen Wambach (01:03:09.311) It's not...
Kristen Wambach (01:03:18.443) Mm-hmm. He does.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (01:03:22.424) For every single one of us, He knows what's coming up ahead. He knows where to insert those things. He knows when to play something on the radio or have something pop up on our phone, or all of a sudden you're in coffee line, you hear two people talking, it's exactly what I've been trying to figure out. And it happens right. I can't plan for those things. What happens if I start looking too deep into the hows and detail them out? I don't even hear that conversation those people are having. Or that thing shows up on my phone and I go, "What's this?" and I just get rid of it. You know, I'm follow- when I'm following self-will with stuff like that and I'm running the show.
Kristen Wambach (01:04:00.246) Well, maybe I would add to the conversation or we might have to add it for another time, but I don't... I'm curious. I like to know the how and I don't always think it's a matter of self-will needing to.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (01:04:22.552) So, so what I'm hearing you saying right now is more how I live today. I used to live where I had to figure everything. I thought I I thought that's what I I thought I was living right by doing that. "I have to figure this out. If I want something, I gotta figure out how to do it." You know, that's even early coaching programs taught me that. "You know, if you want something, find out who has what you want and do what they did." But we never get... it's never the same results for two different people going after the same thing, even going the same way, because we're unique. And so working off that uniqueness... but so I want to know, like I love seeing those things unfold when they're getting that spark of that idea and ended up getting awarded that business, you know, and and doing things like that, you know... like I love seeing how they unfolded. The 50% custody with my son, you know, of having him in my life 50% the time. Like things like that. I I I love seeing how they unfold, but I no longer have to figure it out how things have to unfold. I can trust and believe God in God. And then just be in awe of how He works.
Kristen Wambach (01:05:30.547) And He does work fantastically, uniquely, supernaturally.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (01:05:35.359) Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and I said earlier, you know, I haven't arrived yet. I'm not there yet. You know, I still learn every day what it looks like to surrender my plans, to trust God's timing in more and more areas of my life, and to find my security in Him instead of results. You know, one of the things I've studied quite a bit on is source. I used to be the source. My clients were the source. The bank, the money was the source. Like all these things are source. None of them are. God is source. And when I get that into alignment and when I'm coming from there are the best days I've experienced in my life. Understanding He's source, He's money, He's opportunity, He's this, He... all of it is God. Which leads back to something you were saying a little bit a little bit ago.
Kristen Wambach (01:06:26.839) Mm-hmm.
Kristen Wambach (01:06:32.597) And what was I saying a little bit ago from my...
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (01:06:34.094) When we were saying that about the... when we were talking about, you know, we we have the self-will and then we have God, where you said, you know, the the the thing in the morning, you know, that getting God in there before I get in there, and you said it's God. It is, but if I don't recognize it as God, it's self-will run riot. Business owners who their business is not growing and they're working fifty, sixty, seventy hours a week... They can't go on vacation without checking their emails and phones all the time. They can't, you know, they can't sit down and enjoy a dinner with their family and they're constantly stressed and worried, even if they hide it and things like that... That's that's somebody that's running on self-will.
Kristen Wambach (01:07:14.175) Yes. I won't argue that. We could attach that same description to many people's lives or a generation of people that... yeah.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (01:07:17.901) And we'll read...
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (01:07:24.428) You're right. And that's exactly what it is. You know, my son has told me before where I haven't recognized it. He goes, "Dad, do you understand that you broke generational chains in our in programming? Like he's telling me... "my son will never have to go through what you went through growing up or your parents went through or things like that. Because you've broken that. You've changed it, you taught it to me different, and now I get to carry that ongoing."
Kristen Wambach (01:07:55.307) Mm-hmm.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (01:07:56.877) You know, and then yeah, so I mean I I it's that ripple effect is absolutely incredible and that's all God's design.
Kristen Wambach (01:08:06.741) Mm-hmm. It is something when we get a hold of the magnitude of His oneness in us. There is no separation. There's a hundred percent God in you and a hundred percent God in me. There's a hundred percent God in the listener. The temple is completely filled.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (01:08:15.438) Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (01:08:27.020) Yeah, yeah. And the whole thing, kinda like what I started with, is nothing changed in my circumstances on the outside till the inside. So one of the things I'd like to say, anybody listening that feeling stuck right now, I'd encourage you to not ask God to simply change your circumstances. Ask Him to transform you and your heart and your thinking. When He changes the person, He changes the way that person experiences everything else in life. And in you know, me, I'm... yes, an example of that. My clients are examples of that. You know, you're an example of that. Jesus didn't simply... God, Jesus didn't simply improve my business. They transformed the man leading my business, which is me. And that ties right back into what we were talking about with that vision. We become that person in the vision.
Kristen Wambach (01:09:26.997) I think that is a wonderful place and a wonderful pause. Would you pray for us?
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (01:09:35.574) I would love to. Father God, I just thank You for this conversation. I thank You for how how the love for You that it brings up in my heart. And I can see that with Kristen and anybody listening to this. Just just touch their hearts. Let them take away from this whatever it was that they needed to have, God. I know that's, you know, on You, on Your docket and not mine. So and and and just thank You. Thank You. Thank You for bringing this life about. From where I've come from and to where I'm at today, and that I get to love and I get to serve and I get to help other people live better lives and and break those, you know, generational chains in their family and and just help every person listening to this have some insight that helps them wanna take a step into bringing about the change in the person to experience and then experience the results that they experience. I love You with all my heart. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Kristen Wambach (01:10:37.757) Amen. Thank you so much, Joseph, for bubbling over...
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (01:10:43.966) Yeah.
Kristen Wambach (01:10:46.017) ...to all of us bubbling over today as...
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (01:10:47.714) Yes. So much appreciated this conversation.
Kristen Wambach (01:10:52.993) Thank you.
Dr. Joseph Drolshagen (01:10:54.168) Thank you.

INTERACTIVE WATCHING PROMPTS FOR YOUTUBE LIVE "ASK"

When you join us for the YouTube LIVE broadcast, don't just watch—participate with us in real-time! Grab your coffee, open your heart, and drop your thoughts in the chat as we journey through these moments together. Welcome to "Ask," just to the right of the share button!

THE HUSTLE VS. TRUST SHIFT (Timestamp ~18:01): Drop in the chat if you have ever white-knuckled your way through a season on pure human grit and performance! Let us know in the comments how you are actively choosing to shift from fear-driven hustle into Spirit-led trust this Monday morning.
DYNAMIC VISIONING & KINGDOM IDENTITY (Timestamp ~27:00): Type "I AM A NEW CREATION" in the comments if you are ready to stop looking at temporal physical facts and start calling forth the living, present-moment Kingdom vision God has promised inside your spirit!
DROPPING THE PERFORMANCE MASK (Timestamp ~42:24): Tell us in the chat: What is one painted mask, professional "attaboy," or religious scorecard you are taking a sledgehammer to this week so you can walk in the raw, unhurried grace of the Father?

Beyond the Mask: How Surrendering Self-Will Unlocks True Kingdom Freedom

BY KRISTEN WAMBACH

There is a quiet place I like to go with the Lord—a secret, unhurried space where the noise of the world stops running in the background. In my years of hosting the Interviewing Jesus Podcast and sitting across from global leaders, authors, and pioneers, I’ve noticed a striking common denominator: so many high-capacity believers are secretly exhausted.
We live in a culture—even a Christian culture—that celebrates the hustle. We paint on our best smile, collect professional "attaboys," and stack up our performance scorecards while privately carrying an anxious weight. We white-knuckle our routines, try to force open doors of opportunity, and pray for God to change our physical facts while we stay in total control of the steering wheel.
During a recent conversation on the show with Dr. Joseph Drolshagen—an international coach and former 28-year corporate executive who walked away from the VP ladder to teach Subconscious Mindset Training™—we pulled back the curtain on this exact struggle. We stepped past the resume pages and right into the living room of real life. And a question surfaced that hit straight at the heart of our spiritual journey:
What happens when we stop trying to earn God's love through human grit, drop the performance mask, and actually surrender our self-will?

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ABOUT THE BOOK
In The SMT Blueprint, DR. Joseph Drolshagen shares his transformative journey from self-doubt to self-mastery, revealing how understanding and reprogramming your subconscious mind can unlock untapped potential. From his early struggles in corporate America to the groundbreaking development of the Subconscious Mindset Training(TM) (SMT) Method, Drolshagen takes readers through his experiences and the science behind reprogramming the mind. 

Through this method, Drolshagen challenges the traditional one-size-fits-all coaching programs, offering a personalized approach that aligns subconscious programming with individual goals. His story and the success stories of clients who have broken through mental barriers will inspire and empower readers to overcome limiting beliefs and achieve lasting success. Discover how the SMT Method can help you break free from fear, doubt, and old patterns and create lasting change in your personal and professional life. The journey to understanding your subconscious mind starts here.

The Trap of Earning What’s Already Given

For decades, many of us were subtly programmed to believe that our worth comes from achievement. We act like spiritual wage-earners, striving to be good enough, upright enough, or hard-working enough to qualify for God's favor and peace.
I remember sitting with Jesus in prayer one morning, asking Him off the cuff, "Lord, why does trust take so long?" He looked right at me with that gentle, pregnant smile and asked back, "Why DOES trust take so long?" It was such a profound mirror. You see, the delay in trust is never on God’s end. He isn't withholding His presence or waiting for us to prove our worthiness. The bottleneck happens when we confuse our trustworthiness with our willingness to trust Him. We spin our wheels trying to earn a love that was already freely poured out at the Cross. When we realize that our true identity comes from being a son or daughter of God—not from how many hours we log or how much burden we can carry—everything shifts.

Truth Over Physical Facts

When you’re sitting in a severe resource drought, when your bank account feels tight, or when physical exhaustion is screaming in your ear, trying to "force" a feeling of present hope can feel impossible. But as a spiritual investigative journalist, my mandate is to help us look past temporal physical facts and anchor directly into Kingdom Truth.
Physical facts are real, but they are temporal. Truth is eternal.
When Dr. Joseph talked about launching off a 2,000-foot mountain peak strapped to a hang glider, or stepping into what he calls Dynamic Visioning™, he wasn't talking about self-help positive thinking. He was talking about operating under a higher spiritual law. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Scripture declares that if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old baseline of inherited struggle, scarcity, and anxiety has passed away.
When we align our internal climate with who God says we are, we stop reacting to the physical facts around us and start allowing the Law of the Spirit of Life to overwrite our reality.

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Breaking the Chains for the Next Generation

One of the most moving moments of our discussion centered on legacy. Real inner transformation doesn't just change your Monday morning—it shatters generational chains. When you stop operating on self-will and allow the Holy Spirit to transform your heart, thinking, and subconscious baseline, your children and those in your sphere of influence never have to carry the heavy burdens you grew up with.
God isn't asking you to manufacture the "how" for your future. He isn't asking you to figure out every step of the roadmap on your own. He is simply asking for a volunteered heart.
If you feel stuck today, don't just pray for God to change your external circumstances. Ask Him to transform you from the inside out. When Jesus transforms the person leading your life, the way you experience every circumstance around you is radically elevated.
Let's drop the mask, step off the porch of self-reliance, and live Spiritually BRAVE!

COACHING CHURCH ACTIVATIONS

Dropping the Performance Scorecard

Core Theme: Dismantling Subconscious Ceilings & Surrendering Self-Will
Scripture Anchor: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." — 2 Corinthians 5:17
Your Monday-Morning Kingdom Assignment
This week, we are stepping out of the hustle and right into the quiet room of grace. We’re dropping the performance mask and letting the Holy Spirit run a complete overwrite on our internal baseline.
Here is your 3-step practical activation for the week ahead:
1. Take 10 Minutes of "Windshield Time"
Find 10 quiet, unhurried minutes—whether you're sitting in your car before turning the key, taking a quiet walk, or sitting by your morning coffee. Turn off the radio, put away the podcasts, and just exist with Jesus. Ask Him plain and simple:
"Jesus, where am I trying to white-knuckle the 'how' instead of trusting You?"

2. Sift the Ego Response
When an anxious thought or stress trigger pops up about your business, finances, or family, pause and use my simple lifestyle tool:
"Jesus, did You say that?" If it’s rooted in fear, scarcity, or pressure to prove yourself, recognize it as self-will trying to jump back in the driver's seat. Let that thought drop right to the floor.

3. Speak Truth Over Your Legacy
Take one written promise or prophetic word God has given you over your life or family. Speak 2 Corinthians 5:17 out loud over your home, declaring that the old baseline of struggle stops with you. Consciously hand the timing and execution back to the Father, breaking generational chains and stepping into your true Kingdom identity.
Live Spiritually BRAVE this week! — Kristen Wambach

There is no separation. There's a hundred percent God in you and a hundred percent God in me. There's a hundred percent God in the listener. The temple is completely filled." —Kristen Wambach

MEET THE AUTHOR, BLOGGER & PODCASTER

Hey there! I’m Kristen Wambach—author, podcaster, spiritual investigative journalist, and your host here on the Interviewing Jesus Podcast.
My passion and mandate are simple: to help you look past surface-level religion, drop the performance mask, and step into the unhurried, soul-enriching reality of living Spiritually BRAVE!

I believe with all my heart that Jesus didn't call us to white-knuckle our way through life or carry the heavy weight of human hustle. He called us into an intimate, supernatural oneness where His peace overwrites our physical facts and His Spirit transforms us from the inside out.
Through my books, alignment journals, and deep-dive conversations with global pioneers, authors, and marketplace leaders, I love creating a quiet room for real breakthrough—a space where we can sift through the noise, quiet the ego, and align our daily lives with heaven’s original design.
In this special episode, I sit down with Dr. Joseph Drolshagen to unpack what it really looks like to stop forcing results on self-will, break generational ceilings, and rest in total trust with the Father. Pull up a chair, take a deep breath, and let’s step into the living room of grace together!
Warmly, Kristen

The Final Overwrite: Stepping Off the Porch of Hustle

At the end of the day, living Spiritually BRAVE isn't about working harder to fix an old version of yourself. It's about recognizing that in Christ, the overwrite has already happened. The temple is completely filled. You don't have to white-knuckle your way through another week, force your business into growth, or carry the silent anxiety of trying to figure out every single "how."
When you drop the performance mask and invite Jesus into the quiet room of your heart, He doesn't just tweak your habits—He transforms the person leading your life. He shifts you out of the heavy labor of self-will and steps you right into the effortless momentum of His Spirit. Your identity as a son or daughter is secure, your baseline is renewed, and the generational chains of struggle stop right here with you.
Your Call to Action: Take the Next Step Today!If you are ready to stop striving on your own strength and start living from the inside out, here is how you can dive deeper into this week's message:

• Watch & Listen to the Full Masterclass: Catch my complete conversation with Dr. Joseph Drolshagen on the Interviewing Jesus Podcast (and don't miss our special Country Gospel Music Video Anthem!).
• Claim Your Free Strategy Session & Book: Dr. Joseph is generously offering my audience a free 15-minute Stuck-to-Unstuck Strategy Session, plus a complimentary copy of his latest book, Breaking the Attachment Pattern Keeping Your Business Small. Head straight over to the show notes or visit josephadrolshagen.com to schedule yours today!
• Join the Movement: Subscribe to the podcast, grab my daily alignment journals over at KristenWambach.com, and share this post with a leader who needs a fresh breath of Kingdom grace today.

Let's step off the porch of self-reliance together and live Spiritually BRAVE!

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