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jasondorland5441

Dad to a butterfly child & 2 rescues. Husband to an inspiration. Author. Olympian. High performance coach. Keynote presenter. Workshop facilitator.

High-achieving students are some of the most inspi High-achieving students are some of the most inspiring people to coach… and also some of the most exhausted. Because many of them are “doing everything right” and still living in a constant loop of: better marks, more pressure, and more proving.

On the surface, the strategy sounds logical: Get into the right university and then you’ll have something to feel proud of, worthy of, and you’ll feel “enough.”

But chasing an end result is a limited strategy. Not because goals don’t matter, but because when the goal becomes the source of self-worth, the process becomes a punishment.

This generous testimonial points out the paradox I see over and over again:
When students shift from outcome-obsession to process-devotion and anchor their work in service, fulfilment, and mastery, their results often exceed what they thought possible.

Not because they “tried harder.” Instead, because they finally built a system that makes excellence sustainable.

If you’re a student (or a parent/educator supporting one) and this feels familiar, I’d love to help. Reach out…
From Page to Performance—the day my athletes coach From Page to Performance—the day my athletes coached me!

I’ll never forget this day. It was moments after a race that our crew finished second to VCRC (the top crew on Vancouver Island). I was furious that we’d lost. But, the crew wasn’t—they were excited, because they’d just rowed their best race ever.

“Dorland, did you see that?”
 I bit down hard. Yeah, I saw that—you lost!

“That was our best race ever!” said one of the boys.

For me, that was a kick to the teeth. They WEREN’T celebrating the result. They WERE celebrating the execution—their process, their growth.

And in that moment, I realized something incredibly uncomfortable and important:
They were embracing what I was trying to teach them better than I was—the teacher became the student!

What I learned that day and continue to remind myself is that as coaches, teachers, leaders, and parents… we’re never “done learning.”

If we believe we can’t learn from the people we’re “in charge of,” it isn’t confidence—it’s arrogance. And it’s a huge missed opportunity.

Because when we share the load, invite other ideas to the table, and treat people like true contributors, we don’t lose authority; we build ownership. And when people feel ownership, the team gets stronger.

That race gave me a gift—a reminder that leadership isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about staying teachable—especially when your instincts want to clamp down.

Question for you:
Where might you need to listen more closely to the people you lead—even if you think you’re the one doing the “teaching?”

#FromPageToPerformance #Leadership #coaching #teamculture #highperformance #GrowthMindset #humility #synergy #lovefirst
“Where’s the fun in good enough?” Not in the self “Where’s the fun in good enough?”

Not in the self-worth sense of “I’ll never be enough.” In the craft sense of “I wonder how much better I can get?” Because if you’ve ever gone after something that mattered—fitness, leadership, parenting, a big project, a team goal—you know this: 

The finish line is rarely the best part.

The fun is in the middle, where you find the reps nobody claps for, the uncomfortable learning curve, the setbacks that force a new strategy, the breakthrough you earned, and the quiet moment you look back and think, “I did that.”

And then the best moment of all: the one that keeps you coming back for more… “I’m here today… and I can get better tomorrow.”

That’s the joy of healthy high performance—not grinding yourself into exhaustion, but staying in love with the process of becoming.

CTA: This is the light we love turning on in our clients. If you want to fall in love with your process, reach out—we’d love to help you…
Your inner critic isn’t motivating you; it’s prote Your inner critic isn’t motivating you; it’s protecting you—badly!

It's like that old expression: if we spoke to our friends the way we speak to ourselves, we'd have no friends! So, the question begs, why are we so harsh with ourselves?

Good question! When I think back on my past experiences with my inner critic, I don’t really feel the need to complain. And that’s not because my inner critic was a softy. No, believe me, the things that he was capable of were extreme, to put it lightly. Like many others, I’ve experienced some tactics from my critic that would probably raise an eyebrow or two. But the difference is that I accepted it not only as normal but as required for what I was trying to accomplish. Truthfully, much of how that critic chose to express himself was learned behaviour from some of my coaches—hey, good enough for them, good enough for me, right?

And I just assumed that trying to get to and eventually win on the World Stage would call for some unusual, albeit harsh treatment—and that’s what I got. But, if asked at the time, whether I considered the relationship that I had with my critic to be unhealthy. I would’ve undoubtedly answered “no, not at all.” I mean, truthfully, I would’ve referred to him as my coach, not my critic, and I might’ve even expressed my gratitude for how hard he pushed me. Because there were days when his “encouragement” got me out of bed and out on the water to train.

Continued in my SubStack—link in bio! Enjoy...
Most people don’t fail because they lack talent. T Most people don’t fail because they lack talent. They stall because they’re waiting to feel “ready.” And readiness is a sneaky form of fear—dressed up as planning.

From "IKE, the Dog Who Saved a Human," here's a moment I’ll never forget:

“The three of us hiked up Black Mountain, discussing what starting Skeet and Ike’s could look like. By the time we reached the top, the partnership and the plan were settled with a handshake. As Ian put it, ‘I don't know much about running a peanut butter business, but I'm willing to try.’

That was good enough for Jason.”

That line—“I’m willing to try”—is a high-performance strategy.

Because it shifts you from:
—certainty-seeking → capacity-trusting
—fear of looking foolish → freedom to learn
—waiting for perfect → building momentum

Here’s what I’ve learned: You don’t need all of your ducks lined up.

What you do need is courage + conviction + gumption… and a willingness to figure it out on the fly.

Skeet and Ike’s, now Left Coast Naturals, is in its 30th year—not because Ian Walker had every answer at the start… but because he trusted he’d become the kind of person who could find them.

If you’re stuck right now, try this question:
What would I do today if I trusted myself to learn fast?

Then take the smallest real step:
—make the call
—write the first page
—launch the scrappy version
—ask for the meeting
—ship the prototype

Action creates information. Information creates confidence. Confidence creates momentum.

CTA: Where in your life or work are you waiting to feel ready—and what’s one “willing to try” step you could take this week? Reach out if you want support with that next step. #PagesToPerformance #HighPerformance #Mindset #Courage #Leadership #Entrepreneurship #GrowthMindset #ProcessOverOutcome #Momentum
“If you can’t do it in practice, you can’t do it o “If you can’t do it in practice, you can’t do it on race day.”

Our rowing coach, Neil Campbell, used to say that all the time—and the older I get, the more I realize it’s one of the most honest performance truths out there.

Because it strips away the myth: There’s nothing mystical about performance. No magic switch. No “special gear” you suddenly find when the pressure hits—that’s the stuff of movies, not real life!

Race day doesn’t create ability. It reveals what you’ve trained—how you've prepared.

— If you’ve built the reps → you can access them when it matters.
— If you’ve avoided the work → that shows up too—usually at the worst possible time.

And this isn’t just sport. It’s leadership. It’s sales. It’s parenting. It’s health. It’s relationships. It’s everything. Under stress, we don’t rise to the occasion—we fall to the level of our preparation.

Neil knew that, and he made sure we did too.

CTA: What’s one “race day” moment coming up for you this month—and what does your practice need to look like this week to earn it?

If you want help, DM me and let’s chat about what you’re looking for.
Love First: Your Journey to Self-worth and Synergy Love First: Your Journey to Self-worth and Synergy. 

Here you have it, a rough draft of the opening chapter of my next book... enjoy!

CHAPTER ONE: How’d we get here? And where to next?

So, a book about love—self-love, even. And after I told myself I would never write a “self-help” book. What’s up with that, anyway? Besides, what makes me think, as a man in his sixties, that I have the experience or expertise to write a book about love? I mean, maybe the more direct question is: what makes me believe my voice is any more qualified than someone else’s to write about something as personal—and as important—as love?

Simple. Because I’m human. I know what it’s like to crave love, share it, receive it, and feel it—like pretty much every other human, really.

But this book isn’t directed at every human, although it could be… or perhaps it should be. No, I wrote this book especially for young people in their late teens and twenties.

Why?

Because when I was that age—without understanding why—I spent a good chunk of my time trying to earn the acceptance and praise of important people in my life. My parents, my siblings, aunts and uncles, coaches, teachers—you name it. And I used sports as my vehicle for that acceptance and praise. The more impressive my sporting exploits might prove, the more interested I was in them.

Continued in my Substack—link in bio! Enjoy...
Fear is a fast leadership tool. It creates compli Fear is a fast leadership tool.

It creates compliance, silence, and “performance” that looks good on paper… right up until it doesn’t.

In Pulling Together, I wrote:

“Years earlier, I would have been surprised if any one of my athletes had said halfway through a session, ‘Jason, I don't know if I can finish this row.’ … What had changed was me… The athletes… would've been too afraid to tell me they couldn't finish a row… on some level, they were scared of me, anxious about how I might react.”

Honestly, that one still stings.

Because here’s what fear-based leadership really buys you:

- Under-reporting—people hide the truth until it’s too late.

- Over-performing—people push past smart limits to avoid your wrath.

- Zero learning—mistakes get buried, not examined.

- Shallow trust—they respect the role… but not the human.

- Ceilinged results—because “don’t mess up” is not the same as “go create.”

Then something changed: I let them see me—all of me. Even the ugly bits. Not like some therapy session. As ownership.

And when those athletes realized they could be honest without being punished, everything shifted:

- Honesty became a performance advantage.

- Feedback became fuel.

- Effort became choice—empowerment—not fear.

No surprise… their performance went through the roof.

If you lead people—at work, in sport, in a family—here’s a simple journal check-in:

“Do people bring me problems early… or only when they’re on fire?”

That answer tells you whether you’ve built fear… or trust.
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