Navigating Transitions with Joe Jacobi

None of us are immune to transitions—it’s just that they seem start piling up at “mid-life”. Olympic gold medalist and performance coach Joe Jacobi shares his story and how you too can navigate resistance and uncertainty to pursue purpose, performance and impact:

What working as part of a two-person boat teaches you about collaboration (and it’s probably not what you think).

Why sometimes winning comes down to making fewer mistakes than your peers—and correcting them more quickly.

How focusing on the unique ways your experiences and expertise can help others will magnify your impact.

Learning to appreciate where you are “in the river” and navigate toward what you value most.

When seeking alliances as a Soloist can provide more opportunities for fruitful collaboration.

LINKS

Joe Jacobi Linktr.ee

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BIO

Joe Jacobi is an Olympic Gold Medalist, Performance Coach, Transition Expert and Author who collaborates with high performance leaders to unlock purpose, achieve peak performance, and create a lasting impact.

Joe practices and refines these core principles and strategies in his own life and pursuits at his Pyrenees mountains home beside the 1992 Olympic Canoeing venue in La Seu d’Urgell in the Spanish state of Catalunya - the same canoeing venue where he and his canoeing partner, Scott Strausbaugh, won America’s first-ever Olympic Gold Medal in the sport of Whitewater Canoe Slalom at the 1992 Olympic Games.

In 2022, Joe published his first book, Slalom: 6 River Classes About How To Confront Obstacles, Advance Amid Uncertainty, & Bring Focus To What Matters Most - Joe's reflections, experiences, relationships, and strategies from more than 40 years on the river transferred to navigating your river of the life.

Today, he writes and publishes Thinking In Waves, short and focused weekly essays that transfer his experiences and lessons from surfing off-shore ocean waves on a surfski kayak to an innovative model for clear thinking, better choices, and increased value alignment.

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TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:31

Joe Jacobi: Energy can travel in different directions and the more you become aware of it and you put yourself to manage Not just the expenditure of it, but the replenishment of it as well You change the game and you really start to think less about time and how you really set yourself up to have the capacity to do what you want to do when you want to do it. And don't feel pressure rushed to spend energy that you don't intend to spend or don't want to spend.

00:36 - 01:21

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton. And today I'm here with my pal, Olympic gold medalist, performance coach, transition expert, author, and all around good guy, Joe Jacoby. High performance leaders seek his collaboration in navigating resistance and uncertainty in their pursuit of purpose, performance, and impact. Joe practices and refines these core principles and strategies in his own life and pursuits at his Pirine Mountains home besides the 1992 Olympic canoeing venue in the Spanish state of Catalonia, the same canoeing venue where he

01:21 - 02:07

Rochelle Moulton: and his canoeing partner Scott Strasbaugh won America's first ever Olympic gold medal in whitewater canoe slalom at the 1992 Olympic Games. In 2022, Joe published his first book, Slalom, 6 River Classes, about how to confront obstacles, advance amid uncertainty, and bring focus to what matters most. Today, he writes and publishes, Thinking in Waves, short, focused weekly essays that transfer his lessons from surfing offshore ocean waves on a surf ski kayak to an innovative model for clear thinking, better choices, and increased value alignment. Joe, welcome.

02:08 - 02:13

Joe Jacobi: Bon dia, Rochelle. It's great to be here talking with you, my friend.

02:13 - 02:43

Rochelle Moulton: Well, Joe, I have so enjoyed watching your journey in coaching and especially how you've embraced life as an American in Spain. It's like whenever we talk or even just watching 1 of your videos, I can feel your happiness, your contentment. It's infectious in a very warm, kind way. I mean, I just have no doubt that that's 1 of your personal keys to success. And there's so much we can talk about today, so let's just get right to it, okay?

02:43 - 02:50

Joe Jacobi: See, yes, yes, see. See, see. You listen to me. I have to make the... We're speaking English today, not Catalan.

02:50 - 03:12

Rochelle Moulton: We can speak whatever we like today. So I feel like we need to start with your Olympic story for those that haven't heard it. So you won your gold medal in a two-man canoe doing slalom through white water, right? Yes. So talk about that experience and what that whole process taught you about focus and overcoming obstacles.

03:13 - 03:44

Joe Jacobi: You know, Rochelle, I think what the first thing that comes up for me about the sport experience is just how lucky I am to have I got hooked into a sport that truly is like a sport for life. This is still a sport I get to do today and I enjoy doing today, not in the same way, the same level. But I've met so many Olympians that when they finish their sport, they are just so done with it, they're over it, they just wanna get away from it. And I feel very lucky to be in a

03:44 - 04:21

Joe Jacobi: sport that is out in nature that involves aligning with the water. I guess you could just say it just changed my perspective on the way that I see building relationships with nature. The sport itself, I was really lucky. I grew up in the Washington DC area on the Potomac River. I don't think there are many Americans that would say it's lucky to be raised in the Washington DC these days. But it is lucky if you're an outdoor enthusiast. As far as the best Whitewater rivers in the United States tend to be in rural mountainous areas, but

04:21 - 04:57

Joe Jacobi: Washington DC is an exception. There's world-class whitewater just outside of the inner city and it's a beautiful place to paddle. When you're on the Potomac River you feel a million miles away from a big city and it was the perfect place to grow up and I was lucky to grow up with a lot of world champions world medalists and the legendary sport of the coach that they welcomed me into their community when I was 12 years old and by age 14, these amazing world-class paddlers, they were just like regular normal people that I was going to

04:57 - 04:59

Joe Jacobi: paddle with every day. Wow,

05:00 - 05:19

Rochelle Moulton: That's a very different experience than people like me who are not Olympians think of as the Olympic experience. You just think of it as this total immersion, work, work, work, work, work, and then when you hit the gold medal, that's it, you're done. Like gymnastics would be maybe an example of something like that.

05:19 - 06:01

Joe Jacobi: Yeah, I went to high school in Potomac, Maryland, and I had a fellow classmate, my graduating class who was Olympic gold medalist in the 200 meter breaststroke, Mike Bererman. And I talked with Mike just after the 1992 Olympics and the next Olympic games were in the United States in Atlanta in 1996. I just figured what gold medalist at 22 years old in the sport of swimming wouldn't go for it again. And he just kind of told me this story about up and down the black line, and there was no way he was doing that for 4

06:01 - 06:38

Joe Jacobi: more years. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. I think finding that joy in the process is really important. For sure, there are people in gymnastics and swimming who find joy in the process, but I think there are also sports that I see today. I mean, it just hits me so quickly. Like when I see skiing or snowboarding or skateboarding or canoeing as an Olympic sport, I'm like, oh yeah, of course these people are going to continue. These are really fun sports that they feel great. You embrace your sense of your relationship with gravity and friction. And I think that's

06:38 - 07:03

Joe Jacobi: exciting. I think that it brings a lot of inner challenge. I do think that's special about canoeing, Rochelle, is that the sport has a person versus person effect, of course, like any sport, but there's also like person against nature and person against themselves. And