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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.

Like anything worth having, friendship requires wo Like anything worth having, friendship requires work.

And I don't imagine this understanding surprises anyone. However, as with so much in life, it's not enough to know it to be true—you have to be proactive.

I’m fortunate enough to have friends in my life that I consider close, important, and worth “that work.” But most of those relationships have evolved to where they are today, not by happenstance, but by a conscious effort to stay connected—more so in my later life.

And, no surprise, most of those same friendships began when we were younger and involved in sport—namely, rowing. Turns out the people I toiled with during challenging training sessions and hard-fought races have stuck around. And, yes, there’s research that supports that outcome: a Psychological Science study found that shared pain or difficulty can increase bonding, suggesting that hard experiences do not just test relationships—they can help create them. High-quality friendships in our youth help strengthen our capacity for closeness and intimacy that carry forward into adulthood, and I’m the beneficiary of that phenomenon.

The work part of those relationships has gotten a boost in the last few years, with both COVID and the passing of some dear friends since. Yup, sadly, sometimes we have to lose something or someone to finally take action, ensuring we don’t become complacent in our relationships.

Continued in my Substack—link in bio! Enjoy...
Perfectionism Isn’t High Standards—It’s Fear in a Perfectionism Isn’t High Standards—It’s Fear in a Tuxedo.

When that penny finally dropped for me, I was better equipped to name my moments of perfectionism and lean on strategies that moved projects forward.

Whoooweee! Sometimes my topic of choice seems more like a looming journal entry demanding my attention—stuff that needs sorting out. So I exercise those topics here on this platform—lucky you! I mean, what did that Richard Bach guy have to say, “You teach best what you most need to learn.” Holy crap, ain’t that the truth!

And I won’t lie, this new book that I’m writing has tested me in ways I’ve not experienced in a very long time. “But Jase, you’ve already written three books—what’s the big deal?”

Well, first of all, shut the hell up—that question’s not helping! ;) And, secondly, I’m human, and I keep trying to remind myself of that. Because, for whatever reason, this book keeps inviting my tendency to strive for perfection in a way I’ve never experienced before while writing.

Continued in my Substack—link in bio! Enjoy...
Had a chance to go out on Elk Lake this morning wi Had a chance to go out on Elk Lake this morning with the University of Victoria varsity men's crew. What a trip down memory lane. So much fun training on these waters back in 1985, '86 and '87. So many laughs. So much hard work. So many terrific races. We were very fortunate!

One thing I've noticed is that these boys are far more polite and respectful with one another than we ever were! 😂 Times have changed... maybe that's a good thing!

Interestingly enough, there are athletes there from @ridley.preprowing, where I began rowing in 1980. And what a small world, John Murphy, a brilliant lightweight sculler during our time, has his son attending UVic. Wonderful to meet him and the other rowers as well.

Thanks, @vikes_mrowing, for letting me tag along…
There are moments in life when effort alone no lon There are moments in life when effort alone no longer seems to explain what’s unfolding.

You’ve prepared and done the work. You’re passionate—you’ve taken care of your part. And then, somehow, something else seems to enter the room.

Call it faith, trust, God, spirit, the universe… or Bob—it doesn’t really matter.

What matters is that many of us have experienced moments when life moves in ways we can’t fully explain—moments when the path forward becomes clear not because we controlled it, but because we finally let go enough to see it.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the idea of faith—not as religion, necessarily, but as trust.

And not just trust in outcomes, where what I’m hoping for comes to fruition, but instead, trusting that the intention I bring to our work, our relationships, and our lives matters.

That when we show up honestly, when we lead with love, when we do the work for the right reasons, THAT, sometimes, is enough.

Again, not enough to control the future, but enough to move forward without gripping so tightly. Enough to take the next step, to release the exhausting need to have every answer before we begin.

There are forces in play that we cannot always understand or articulate. And yet, they shape us. They guide us. They nudge us forward.

I’m not suggesting passivity—not at all. Nor am I suggesting we become less ambitious and stop striving. I’m suggesting that sometimes our best strategy is to do our part with integrity—and then let go.

To trust that not everything meaningful can be measured, that not everything important can be explained, that life is often working on us and through us, even when we don’t yet understand how.

Sometimes, letting go isn’t giving up—it’s simply the deepest form of trust we have left.

#leadership #highperformance #selfworthmatters #faith #trusttheprocess #LetGo #LoveFirst #PersonalGrowth #HealthyHighPerformance
Daniel Pink wrote: “The way to keep the carrots a Daniel Pink wrote:

“The way to keep the carrots and sticks coming… is rarely sustainable.”

What I appreciate about this quote is that it forces us to ask an uncomfortable question:

If we know that external rewards like bonuses, trips, cars, and incentives can actually interfere with creativity, problem-solving, and sustainable high performance, why do so many organizations, mainly corporate, still rely on them?

I think it’s because carrots and sticks are easy—they’re visible, they’re measurable, they give leaders the illusion of control, and they’re what we know.

But short-term compliance is not the same as long-term excellence. When people are driven mainly by external rewards, they often become less connected to purpose, less creative, and more focused on the reward than the work itself, and that’s the problem.

Most meaningful work today requires trust, initiative, teamwork, and creative thinking. You can’t incentivize people into bringing their best selves to the table. Instead, we believe you have to invite them by creating the conditions that support autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

That’s why Your Mindset Matters!

Real, sustainable performance grows in cultures where people feel valued, trusted, and connected to something deeper than the next reward.

#YourMindsetMatters #Leadership #HealthyHighPerformance #WorkplaceCulture #IntrinsicMotivation
Need thwarting—it's a thing. And if it's alive and Need thwarting—it's a thing. And if it's alive and well within your culture, it's a problem, too.

That's because it happens when leadership doesn’t just fail to support people—it actively undermines their sense of agency, capability, or belonging.

Imagine yourself sitting in gridlock traffic. The driver behind you honks their horn. You jump because it startles you—gets you curious. So, you look in your rearview mirror, then quickly glance left and right to see if there’s something that needs attention. There isn’t, frowning, you face forward and resume waiting for the traffic to move.

Moments later, their horn goes again. Agitated, you stare at the person in your mirror and yell, “WHAT? What do you want me to do? I can’t move!” Frustrated, you finish with a dismissive huff.

Soon after, it blasts once more—this time a little longer. You shake your head and sit still, trying not to respond. You quietly utter a pejorative comment and continue ignoring the subsequent blasts.

This is the impact of what’s referred to as a “stick” in coaching and leadership circles. I wrote about this more than a year ago when discussing the coaching philosophy and tactics of the Toronto Maple Leafs head coach, Craig Berube.

Continued in my Substack—link in bio! Enjoy...
I once watched an athlete I was coaching achieve a I once watched an athlete I was coaching achieve a PB by pushing himself so hard that 10 minutes later, I found him facedown in the grass.

I knelt beside him. “You okay, Luc-monster?”

He moaned, turned his head, and said, “I don’t feel well, Jason.”

Here’s the truth: when we push to our absolute limits, the aftermath isn’t always pretty. Sometimes growth looks like grit. Sometimes it looks like suffering. Sometimes it looks like lying in the grass, wondering what the hell just happened.

But here’s what I learned watching Luc that day: he was willing to discover what was possible. And that willingness came with a cost, which he paid. Because he was open to going there, he met a part of himself he had never met before—a part he didn’t even know existed.

That’s what’s on offer when we move beyond our perceived limits. And not just in sport—in leadership, business, relationships… in life. High performance isn’t something we hope for. It’s something we create—through hard work, commitment, courage, curiosity, and a willingness to find out what we’re actually capable of.

The question is… what might you discover about yourself if you were willing to go a little further than you think you can?

#FromPageToPerformance #HighPerformance #Leadership #GrowthMindset #Courage #Commitment #Potential #PullingTogether
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug i “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” — Anne Lamott

I love this quote because it’s both funny and painfully true. So many of the high achievers we work with are running a “never power down” operating system where they’re always on, always available, always producing, always pushing!

And we’ve normalized it, because Hustle Culture sells the lie that rest is laziness and recovery is something you “earn” after you’ve done enough.

But here’s the paradox—your best performance doesn’t come from grinding harder; 
it comes from recovering smarter.

When we start prioritizing our health and well-being, so much more becomes possible: clearer thinking, stronger emotional regulation, better relationships, more creativity, sustainable energy, and a healthier relationship with your own worth. Basically, it means unplugging isn’t quitting… it’s maintenance.

A simple challenge for this week: Take 10-minutes and “unplug” on purpose—no phone, no fixing, no optimizing, no nothing. Just breathe, walk, stretch, hydrate, sit quietly—anything that signals to your nervous system that things are all good and you’re safe here.

Because burnout isn’t a badge of honour. It’s a design problem that can be redesigned.
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