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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.

I lost a friend last week. Still seems surreal to

I lost a friend last week.

Still seems surreal to even write that out. And, yes, it involves every pertinent cliché—too young, too soon, incredibly sad, tragic, all of it!

Warning: Some individuals may find the following article triggering or upsetting. Written with permission from the family.

My friend, we’ll call him John to give him a name, was home alone when he fell, hit his head and died from a brain bleed. Horrible right? Yeah, big time—what an unimaginable way to go. But it happens, people fall, and sometimes those falls can be deadly.

But, like other friends that I’ve lost in recent years, for me, it’s hard to grasp the sense of it. I mean, why in a world where we need more people like John, do we lose one instead?

John was different—special, even. We met in 1977 when he and several other trepidatious young kids began our seven-year journey at Ridley College in St. Catharines, Ontario. Back then, Ridley was all boys in the Lower School, which made it extra welcoming—not! That place was a living hell for many. If you were different, and there were some who no doubt were, you had to remain vigilant; bullying was simply an accepted part of life back then.

Continued in my Substack... link in bio. Enjoy!

Sure, Imposter Syndrome is a thing, but it doesn't

Sure, Imposter Syndrome is a thing, but it doesn't have to own you.

Like so many of the "interferences" we unconsciously create that undermine our capacity to show up as our best selves, this one's particularly frustrating.

It’s hard to believe that the term “Imposter Syndrome” has only been around since the 1970s—what the heck! How is it that this phenomenon didn’t exist before that? What changed? Was it us or our circumstances? Regardless, it can be a prickly one to acknowledge. And, I get it—I mean, who wants to tell the world that they believe they’re not worthy.

Yikes, when I think of my relationship to this bizarre, self-constructed game we play, I can’t help but zero in on my coaching as the guilty culprit. When I first began having success in the early 2000s, especially with a group of athletes I worked with in 2004, it’s true, I was caught off guard by their success—“I helped do this?”

Sure, there was a little luck involved—one could argue there always is. However, I did play a role in the success of that crew, and I eventually came to appreciate that. But my response at the time was to downplay it. On the surface, I regarded my reaction as the proper one, humble. But the deeper truth was that with the majority of the crew returning the following year, I wondered if I could pull it off again. When the 2005 crew won the National Championships one more time, I remember feeling a response I hadn’t had the previous year—relief! True, I was thrilled for them, but I distinctly recall feeling an overwhelming sense of, Phew, I didn’t screw it up!

Continued in my Substack—link in bio! Enjoy...

There's patience, and then there's kiwi vines! Sh

There's patience, and then there's kiwi vines!

She did it again, my good buddy Mother Nature has thrown me another lesson—this time, it's patience. Who knew growing fruit would require more than a shovel and a pile of dirt?

As many of you know, at the beginning of COVID, I was inspired by the documentary “The Biggest Little Farm.” If you still haven’t seen it, I highly recommend setting aside an evening to do so—it’s absolutely beautiful, both in terms of the story and cinematography, and well worth your time.

It is the story of John and Molly, and their seven-year adventure of trading in their big-city lives for a lifelong dream of transforming an old, deserted, and dried-up farm in Northern California into an oasis of organic produce and livestock that inspired me to do the same with our backyard—sans the livestock! I followed their lead in using traditional regenerative farming practices where, as the keepers of the land, one works in harmony with Mother Nature, not against her. Certainly sounds nice, but whoooweeee, as I found out, it’s more challenging than one might think.

Mother Nature doesn’t take kindly to being hurried—everything happens on her schedule. To use a dancing metaphor, she always leads. At no point, no matter how clever you think you may be, does anything, and I mean anything, move at a pace other than that which is determined by her. It’s actually one of the things that I’ve grown to appreciate about spending time in the garden with her; there’s no such thing as fast gardening. I’ve learned to slow down and move purposefully, making my time amongst the trees and plants more efficient and thorough.

Continued in my Substack—link in bio! Enjoy....

Clutter's Impact on Mental Performance Might Surpr

Clutter's Impact on Mental Performance Might Surprise You.

I'm no neat freak, but if I ever wanted another reason to keep things tidy, I just found it!

For me, there’s nothing like a good sporting analogy to make sense of things. In this instance, rowing will work just fine. When I reflect on my prerace rituals, which included cleaning the boat, I remember how good it felt to go out to race with a shiny racing shell—it just felt faster. Now, was it? Not sure, maybe. However, the point being, we took time to “declutter and clean” our boat. It would’ve felt strange to carry a messy boat down to the water. Having trained and prepared for the race, the cleaning part was an important conduit allowing our best selves to show up.

So, turns out the same holds true when we’re trying to perform at our best at home, at the office, wherever—when we take time to declutter and clean, we feel more focused and prepared to, well, perform!

And, no surprise, there’s research that backs this up. When our spaces are disorganized and cluttered with excessive items, it negatively affects our mental performance, emotional well-being, and cognitive function—shocker! I mean, come on, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that when our playing field is in order, we play better!

Continued in my Substack—link in bio. Enjoy!

Now, perhaps more than ever, life is hard—really

Now, perhaps more than ever, life is hard—really hard.

And, it's not anecdotal either—Statistics Canada reports that 25% of Canadians live in food-insecure households. What the hell is going on?

We’ve just returned from working with an independent school client in Toronto. We always appreciate the opportunity to gather with a room full of individuals keen to explore healthy, high-performance strategies, as well as unpack mental and emotional interferences we unconsciously manifest. The conversation is always deep, rich, and engaging—we love it!

However, to get to the School and back to our Hotel each day, we’re often sitting in traffic. Living in Victoria, it’s always a reminder that here on the Island, we don’t genuinely appreciate what real traffic is—Toronto traffic. It never ceases to amaze me that people sit in their cars day in and day out, and endure what we consider automotive torture. If you’re not familiar with traffic in the Greater Toronto Area, it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen. It can literally take an hour or more to move a few miles in downtown gridlock. This trip was no different—our car travel was painstakingly slow.

Thankfully, there’s Uber. A few years ago, we stopped renting cars and began hiring Uber drivers to get where we needed to go. For all kinds of reasons, it made a lot of sense. Today, it’s still our travel strategy, especially when we’re in large cities. Aside from the obvious perk of not having to navigate streets I don’t know and don’t care to, we get to meet some fascinating people.

Continued in my Substack—link in bio! Enjoy...

Why Curiousity is a Key Driver of Performance. Wh

Why Curiousity is a Key Driver of Performance.

When I was in my 20s, I used to list 'curious' as an attribute on my resume—at the time, I had no idea how important it was in terms of our ability to show up at our best.

There was no prescribed strategy back then; I simply liked understanding stuff. Documentaries and investigative news shows at the time were a legitimate pastime.

Today, I appreciate the impact of curiosity with even greater understanding, especially in the context of coaching. In fact, we consider it foundational to effective coaching. Without it, the communication between coach and coachee is reduced to instructional directives: “Do this, change that, fix these.” In our world, that’s not coaching.

Mind you, it’s how I used to coach. I was all about the directives followed with “because I said so,” if asked “why!” Man, those were the days—no conversation, just a list of prescribed items to fix. It seemed so much easier!

Today, it’s all about the conversation and the resulting human connection. And not just because that’s an effective coaching strategy, but instead because of genuine curiosity. What makes curiosity so important is that it makes the questions or the inquiry more heartfelt. There’s a palpable difference between two people engaged in a meaningful dialogue where both parties are invested in co-creating solutions that improve performance.

Continued in my Substack—link in bio! Enjoy...

"Who am I becoming as a result of this chase?" Oo

Mastering the Art of Saying "No" to Protect Your F

Mastering the Art of Saying "No" to Protect Your Focus.

Easier said than done, right? It certainly seems that way; it's remarkable how many people struggle with what should be a straightforward answer.

Okay, I’ve got to admit, this is definitely an Achilles heel for me—definitely. I hate saying, “No!” And therefore, no surprise, I’m lousy at it. Does that make me a pushover or a people pleaser? I don’t know—maybe? But for me, it’s more about not wanting to disappoint than it is about wanting to please. Kinda like my approach to competition; I hate losing more than I like winning, if that makes sense. So, in this instance, the stick is undoubtedly more effective than the carrot! ;)

And it‘s not just me; many well-intentioned do-gooders struggle with overcommitting, people-pleasing, or other unexpected distractions continuously derailing their goals. Professionals, creatives, entrepreneurs—you name it—countless yes-men and women who would love to be able to say no and not feel guilty.

How bad is it? Well, a 2018 study from the University of California found that multitasking (often a result of overcommitting or always saying yes) can reduce productivity by up to 40%. Yikes, that's a lot of stuff not getting done or people who can’t say no, depending on how you want to look at it.

For those of us who know the drill, we’re all familiar with that sinking feeling every time we agree to help someone, knowing full well that we either don’t actually have the time because of other more pressing things that need getting done. Then, like clockwork, the moment arrives where someone or something gets compromised, because as much as we want to help, we can’t, or we can’t to the extent we thought we could or promised. Yucko—feels crappy!

Continued in my Substack—Link in bio! Enjoy...

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