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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.

The Case for Being Less Useful I know, not my usu The Case for Being Less Useful

I know, not my usual "performance-centred" topic, but stay with me—being useful is golden, it is! But when being useful is how we define ourselves, that can be a slippery slope.

Wow—so this one hits a little close to home. And maybe it does for many of us. I mean, who doesn’t want to be considered “useful?” Well, actually, maybe the better question is who wants to be considered “useless?”

Not me! I like it when people call and ask for help because they consider me useful. Or, when a neighbour knocks on our front door and asks for a hand with something—that’s a nice feeling. It’s good to feel helpful, right?

Yes, I think that’s part of the message here: this isn’t about not being useful, it’s more about ensuring that our response to help comes from a healthy yes, and not a need to appear as someone who drops everything to be of assistance so that our sense of self feels, well, good enough.

Continued in my Substack—link in bio! Enjoy...
Stop Offering Coffee You Don’t Intend to Drink. A Stop Offering Coffee You Don’t Intend to Drink.

A 'soft rant' about commitment, integrity, and the quiet way we teach people whether our words can be trusted—and the costs are bigger than you may think.

I received some feedback the other day from a reader asking why I always write about uncomfortable things—things that are hard to read, hard to acknowledge, and hard to deal with.

Hmmm, good question, I guess. I mean, I do ask for feedback, and believe me, I always appreciate hearing what the readers have to say—even when it’s not flattering.

And, just so I’m clear, the feedback wasn’t aggressive or even a complaint, really. It was just someone saying it would be nice if I wrote about my dogs more often! I laughed out loud when I read that, mainly because some of my family members have said that exact same thing!

Continued in my Substack—link in bio! Enjoy...
AI Won’t Burn Us Out. Chasing Relevance Will. AI AI Won’t Burn Us Out. Chasing Relevance Will.

AI burnout isn’t really about AI. It’s about what happens when human beings feel pressured to keep proving their relevance in an AI-speed world.

The talk around the water cooler at the moment seems omnipresent: AI replacing our jobs. But maybe there’s something else we should be discussing, instead. Like, what happens to the human experience when we start to believe our worth depends on keeping up with the pace of machines?

Because if we look at the data, that’s where AI burnout begins. And not because of the technology itself—nope, not even the extra tools, prompts, dashboards, and workflows. It begins in the unspoken fear that if we slow down, fall behind, or fail to adapt quickly enough, we become less valuable … shhhhhhh!

And that is not a workplace problem or a technology problem. No, that’s a human problem, and it has everything to do with self-worth or a lack thereof.

Continued in my Substack—link in bio! Enjoy...
How gardening may help you live longer—and almost How gardening may help you live longer—and almost certainly live better.

What—growing my own food may help me live longer? Well, it's not guaranteed, but there's a lot of research that says more of us should be doing it!

And, yes, traditionally, gardening hasn’t been sold to us as a longevity practice, but maybe it should have been. Think about it—bending, stretching, moving, carrying, all while outdoors breathing fresh air, and in the sun, soaking up Vitamin D. It’s like an all-natural supplement!

And it’s not just our physical health; our mental and emotional well-being gets a boost, as well. It's like Mother Nature doubling as your shrink—turns out spending time in the garden lowers stress, too. Yup, quiet time with a hoe in your hands acts as a de-stressor, lowering blood pressure and providing some purpose to our days outside of the usual stuff we’re madly engaged in.

Recent studies have linked gardening to lower overall and cause-specific mortality and to healthier aging outcomes in older adults. I mean, it really shouldn’t come as a huge surprise to any of us. After all, gardening does tick a lot of boxes.

Continued in my Substack—link in bio! Enjoy...
We train people how to treat us. Agreed, it's not We train people how to treat us.

Agreed, it's not pleasant or easy to consider—but it's true; whether we like it or not, when we reflect on the dynamics of our relationships, they're based on the ground rules we've established.

Ugh, not exactly light conversation material for your next cocktail party, but, oh my, so much opportunity in this one! And, if we’re being honest, I think we can agree that we’ve all been there—we’ve said, “Yes,” when we really should’ve said, “No.”

Goodness, the number of times I caved to bosses or workplace superiors is embarrassingly high. But, like all of us, I was still figuring it out. Today, would I respond differently? I like to think so. But not because now, I don’t take shit from anyone! No, I understand what and why my younger self was doing, and today I understand better that it wasn’t the best choice for anyone.

And, let’s face it, none of us wants to be a pushover, a people-pleaser, a yes-man or woman, or a doormat. It doesn’t matter how you frame it; we don’t want to be taken advantage of. But, perhaps, a better way to consider it is not what we don’t want, but what we do want… to be respected, appreciated, acknowledged, you name it: we want to feel good about ourselves in all of our relationships.

Continued in my Substack—link in bio! Enjoy...
Psychological safety—it’s not fluff. And it's als Psychological safety—it’s not fluff.

And it's also not coddling, lowering accountability, enabling, or a grit crusher. No, instead, it's an essential component of high performance on all levels.

Honestly, this one took me a long time to figure out—mainly because it ran counter to the macho-tough-guy-narrative I was taught and willingly embraced as an athlete and coach. In my competitive days, if someone had suggested that I needed to feel safe to fail in order to discover my potential, I would’ve laughed an arrogant and dismissive laugh right in their face!

Safe to fail—are you kidding me? Not failing was what drove me to train and compete. As I’ve said before, I didn’t like winning so much as I hated losing. Therefore, racing not to lose was the goal and subsequent source of my fuel.

Man, I was a jack-ass back then!

Today, we know better—well, I know better! I’m sure this thinking has been around much longer than the time it took me to a) ask my ego to park it, b) recognize the research, and c) implement the key pieces of what a psychologically safe culture would look like. Once I finally did that and saw the athletes that I was working with thrive, there was no more convincing to be had—I was sold!

Continued in my Substack—link in bio! Enjoy...
When Winning Costs Too Much Hands up who was surp When Winning Costs Too Much

Hands up who was surprised to hear that Canada's sports system is "broken?" A few of you, no doubt—ya, not a great look, eh... we clearly have some work to do!

As reported in the news last week, “The Future of Sport in Canada Commission’s final report, released Tuesday, found the country’s sport system is broken and unsustainable, noting that serious failures have occurred in all sports from grassroots, all the way to the Olympic level.”

Sorry to sound like a broken record; I’ve been playing this tune since Own the Podium (OTP) came onto the scene in 2010, when Vancouver hosted the Winter Olympics. Right from the get-go, my red flag concerned the effects of focusing on one outcome—winning! As I would’ve said back then and would still say today, if the only reason we’re playing sports here in Canada is to win, we have to find another reason—because winning ain’t goin’ cut it!

And sure enough, here we are a decade and a half later, and we’ve had to hire bureaucrats to tell us what many in sport have known for years.

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