389 - Thriving Under Pressure: How an Ironman Exec Rebuilt for Peak Performance
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Welcome to the Purple Patch Podcast!
In this episode, Jeff Dolan, an international executive at Starbucks, shares his journey from a busy executive to a high-performing triathlete. Initially, he struggled with balancing his demanding role with his passion for triathlon. After joining Purple Patch Fitness, he learned to focus on quality training over quantity, integrating nutrition, sleep, and recovery. This approach led to significant improvements in his performance, including PRs in 70.3 and IRONMAN races. Dolan emphasizes the importance of adaptability, energy management, and the value of small, consistent improvements. His story highlights the benefits of integrating sport into life to enhance overall well-being and performance.
If you have any questions about the Purple Patch program, feel free to reach out at info@purplepatchfitness.com.
Episode Timecodes:
00-1:11 Promo
1:39-3:38 Intro
3:44-end Meat & Potatoes
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TRANSCRIPT
Matt Dixon 00:00
Folks, today you're going to listen to a special one, a wonderful conversation with Jeff Dolan, an international traveling executive for Starbucks who has unlocked the recipe for high performance across both sport life and, of course, work. If you're interested in continuing the conversation and understanding how you can unlock that same recipe to show up better with greater presence. Jeff's going to focus on that a lot today, and then feel free to reach out to us. We offer complementary needs assessments where we want to understand your goals, your life situation, and enable you to integrate sport into life, to show up better, and of course, get faster, and the races and the events that are important to you, it's very it's pressure free. And the worst that can come from it is that you're going to have a little bit of a strategy and a path forward to enable you to fuel your success. And of course, if it works out that we're a great partner for you, we'll ensure we'll get you into the right program, whether it's one to one coaching like Jeff integrates into or, of course, our highly popular squad program. Reach out info@purplepatchfitness.com cheers. I'm Matt Dixon, and welcome to the purple patch podcast. The mission of purple patch is to empower and educate every human being to reach their athletic potential through the lens of athletic potential, you reach your human potential. The purpose of this podcast is to help time-starved people everywhere integrate sport into life.
Matt Dixon 01:40
And welcome to the purple patch podcast as ever, your host, Matt Dixon, and today, this is a conversation that I've been excited about for a long time. So the purple patch athlete, Jeff Dolan. He's also vice president at Starbucks, and he leads international development. That means that he's overseeing 88 countries it was store development, and of course, what that means is a tremendous amount of travel. Jeff is not a triathlon growing up, he wasn't an endurance athlete. In fact, was a hockey player, but he got into the sport about 10 years ago. Went on a journey of development through hard graft and great passion, and then a couple of years ago, it all changed. He got this new role, and his life exploded in a really good way, professionally, but with massive, enormous demands. This is a story in which a person evolves their mindset, their approach, leans into coaching to not just unlock quite exceptional performances in a time-starved life, but also to unlock great performance across himself as a partner, a father and a leading executive at a major organization. It is tremendous conversation, as you hear today. It's packed full of lessons. If you're a triathlete that's looking to shine, I want you to listen. If you are a busy, time-starved mum or executive, whatever it might be, and you're not a triathlete, I want you to listen because this is one of the most empowering stories of high performance across every aspect of life that I think we're going to have on the show this year. And so, without further ado, I'm going to give you Jeff Dolan Starbucks, VP and purple patch athlete. It is the meat and potatoes.
Matt Dixon 03:44
And it is the meat and potatoes. And yes, as I mentioned in the introduction, I'm very lucky and very excited to welcome Jeff
Jeff Dolan 03:53
to the show, Jeff Dolan and welcome. Thank you very much, Matt, pleasure to be here. How are you?
Matt Dixon 03:57
Are you ready to rock and roll? Your seat belt is fastened. Clear the bar of meat. You clear the bar of meatyocracy. So you do it well, this, this today, isn't really a discussion around triathlon, per se. We're going to dig into it. And we're going to dig into some of your, your great accomplishments that you've achieved over the course of the years. But also this last year, 2025, but, but it's, it's more about when your world evolves. Things get times get incredibly busy, including for you international travel and and it really requires a shift, if system of model to achieve success in a different way. And so I'm really interested, over the course of our time together to really unpack the journey that you've gone through from executive to global traveling executive and leveraging sport to help you not just accomplish some great personal goals, but also to thrive as a partner, as a father. Of a and, of course, as an executive. So right, it should be fun. I always like to kick off the show with very similar questions, getting a grounding of who you are and where you're from. So why don't you just give the listeners a little bit of background where you grew up, what your family situation was like, maybe a little bit of education, and go from there.
Jeff Dolan 05:18
Yeah, my pleasure. So I grew up in Midwestern America in a very small town, and sports, to me in my youth, was really grounded in team sports. So I tried everything, but was really drawn to hockey. And when I was younger, the idea of running a mile was completely foreign to me. So I didn't come into endurance sports until later in life, and endurance sports for me, really became a part of just staying fit in college, starting with running, and it built from there. So in my youth, it was team sports and and I have, today, a family of two daughters. I have a wife that I've been married to for 22 great years, and today, endurance sports sort of weaves into all of that activity, so it's one of many components of life.
Matt Dixon 06:15
And you're based, you're based up in Seattle, yeah, that's right. So why don't you just give people rather than me butchering your bio, I'd love to just give people a little bit background. You've been with Starbucks for 16 years. That's right, accurate. That's right. And yes,
Jeff Dolan 06:31
my current role with Starbucks, I get to lead the international store development and design team, which for us means I have teams in London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and I'm based in Seattle, so I've got really every hour of the day someone is working, so it stretches my meeting schedule out. Yeah, I typically have my day might start at 5am I might have meetings later in the evening until eight. So our team is responsible for growth in about 85 countries across the globe, which means I get to spend a lot of my time on the road. Yeah, and about half of my year last year was long haul, travel, travel, traveling to different countries throughout the world,
Matt Dixon 07:21
and this may and with your dedicated triathlete. And how many years have you been doing triathlon now, just over 10. Okay, so you've been doing it for a while, and there's in your you've had this role for about the last 18 months now, is that right? Big step up. So let's go back before that you've you identified yourself as never the MVP. So I'm really interesting when you got into triathlon, the journey of that, of how it shaped your identity a little bit, and where that fit in your life. I want to sort of go back beyond before this role first and and just just share, sort of your trajectory in the sport, what? What, what the role was of the sport, where, how you viewed the sport, some of the components of that, where you were still a busy, time-starved executive, yeah, but not with the same global implications that you've had over the last 18 Yeah, I'll
Jeff Dolan 08:22
sort of unpack that in phases if I could the never the NB, NVP comment came from when I was in youth sports. I was never a natural athlete, and for me, what I was most proud of was being the hardest worker. So I always found moments of notoriety through my work effort rather than through my talent. Yeah, and I've sort of taken that identity into adult sport as well. So I came into this sport really just I decided it was the next hardest thing for me to do. So I came from running, and then graduated into obstacle racing. And I was in obstacle racing, so I was doing Spartan racing at, I would say, an alarming rate. There were times when I would do two in a weekend. Yep, and someone introduced me to the notion of Iron Man. So I thought, well, that sounds harder. I should definitely try that. Yeah. And I thought, well, the way to get to it will just be to just try a little harder than I am now. Yeah. So it was a great next step for me. So I heard about it, and I signed up for a 70.3 before I had even purchased a bike or really learned how to swim. So I remember having my first swim lesson. I decided, well, if I'm going to do this race, I better get a coach. So I hired a swim coach. She watched me swim a couple laps, and she said, Okay, we're going to reboot the whole situation. Her, and she let me do nothing but kick the first lesson. So I thought, Okay, well, maybe this is harder than I expected. So my journey into triathlon definitely hasn't been traditional, yeah, and it's been a matter of continuous improvement over a long period of time.
Matt Dixon 10:19
And you over those first let's call it the first eight years you you developed and you grew, and I guess the sport became more and more important so far as ambition and stuff like that. Just just share a little bit of sort of your level you got to as an amateur. Yeah, okay, some of the things
Jeff Dolan 10:37
so at this point, I've completed nearly 30 races in Iron Man, split between halfs and full distance. I've had the pleasure of participating in five World Championships, been to Kona once. The other four were 70.3 worlds. So I've to me achieved well beyond my expectations. Yeah, and I started, I was an average pace participant, and I didn't have ambition to do anything but get better over time. And at a certain point, I decided that I had plateaued. So I was working hard. I was training somewhere between 15 to 20 hours a week, woven into my busy schedule, and decided that for me, I really wanted help because I couldn't work any harder. So that's when I started to get connected to purple patch. And yeah, how many years ago was that? That was three years ago, okay, and three years ago, I went from sort of a plateaued participant in triathlon into what I would consider a competent participant, and I had been coached before, But the idea of return on effort and focusing on quality training was foreign to me. Yeah, it was all about volume producing results. So what I discovered through that journey is I started to see my times dramatically improve. I started to see my enjoyment in the sport dramatically improve, okay, and I just had a deeper appreciation for balancing work life and sport. And sport gave me a framework. So I started to see accomplishment in sport, and it allowed me to believe that anything was possible through long effort and and time. So I I'm really happy with how purple patch has helped me grow and improve over the past years. And the
Matt Dixon 12:57
your I'm going to say this, you're lucky enough to be coached by Nancy, one of our senior coaches, who's been a guide and and I'm in my mind as I'm asking this question, I'm still thinking through my lens of pre Jeff. What I mean by that is pre, this last global role, because we're just about to talk and and talk about the transition that occurred there so ambitious athlete thrown work at the problem, the courage to evolve off of that having a broader perspective, I want to dig in just Just briefly, in that first year with Nancy and with purple patch, what was beyond the shift in sort of return of investment of being really efficient with your training? Was it an adjustment as well, with a broader emphasis on the supporting habits of that so thinking about nutrition and fueling and everything a long night. What did, did that was that a did you in your retrospect, was that really important for your energy and day, your health and stuff like that?
Jeff Dolan 14:06
Yeah, yeah. So when I started working with Nancy, I was I came to her frustrated and exhausted, and I was successful on the surface, but I was grinding through life, yeah. And we were always struggling for a balance between energy at work and energy in sport. And what Nancy helped me discover is both are possible. Copacetically, yep. And the way we started was we started focusing on nutrition and sleep and building a foundation of a healthy human first, and building the athlete before, we focused on honing the triathlete. And what I found is, by managing energy and sport, it also helped me. I. I realized that those habits carry over into work as well, so quality and acuity in each workout then started to translate into quality and acuity in each meeting and in each day in the office. So I was able to learn how those foundational habits carried over into a very successful whole human it also helped me show up as a better father. So I recognize that I have finite energy, and what I want to do is be present in each moment of my life, and by being thoughtful about my foundational habits and really thinking about myself as I'll just use the word as an athlete first that needs to maintain a foundational health and be able to execute when called upon. It also easily reflected over into the other aspects of my life. So I would think about the Saturday morning with my daughters, in the same respect that I would think about a very hard workout, and I would make sure that I was set up for success with sleep nutrition, to be able to be fully present for that session, yeah, as much as I was for A very hard tempo run on a Wednesday afternoon. Yeah. So it was incredibly helpful for me in terms of developing me as a whole human. And it just made me believe that there was no end to how long this exciting journey could go on. So I really felt like I was, in a successful rhythm that could be maintained as long as possible, and then something changed.
Matt Dixon 16:52
We've been sort of almost leading each other to this, like this, this, this catalyst and intervention in yourself, in many ways, you invested in coaching and had this tremendous uplift. You've you've unlocked the recipe. Let's call it that, yeah. Then it all turned to custard, yeah. And and in through something really positive. It wasn't like you had some catastrophic accident or some of our illness, like, yeah, you literally had this amazing opportunity at the organization that you care deeply about. You've gone through this journey, and suddenly you're in that role that you talked about, and it you are on the road 50% of the time. Yeah, you've got high pressure that has gone up to extreme pressure. It's fair enough. Huge demands. They're not shrinking, and everything turned to Cust. So I want to take the time because it's such a fascinating story for me, because you've gone through this journey of progression, you've unlocked it, you're really present, and then suddenly the system broke and and so in that moment, if you can bring yourself back the the first month, six weeks. It's not like you turn your back on everything and you just quit, but you really were underwater. So just get, just give the listener a little bit of a feeling of that first change that you went through, the turbulence, and what the impact was on your mental health, your exhaustion, your training and stuff like that. You weren't in a purple patch there. Yeah. Put it that way, yeah, yeah.
Jeff Dolan 18:22
I think that's right. I think so, Mindy and I had found a rhythm that really worked for us, and it felt like we had a really rich life as a family. I had a great, successful career that I was enjoying, and I was dreaming about an international role. And then the dream became reality, and as Mike Tyson says, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. So as reality hit, I discovered there were new dynamics that I hadn't anticipated. So I thought what had worked for me before would just hold, if I just put in a little extra effort, and my controllable work day where I had balanced a certain amount of finite schedule, and then two workouts a day became muddled, because now I had the obligation of Being on calls with different countries. So as I as work and life began to weave together in a less than organized way. I tried to cram everything into the space that I was managing before, and I very quickly became exhausted and frustrated and I would travel. So I would be called to another country where I had spent 20 hours in a plane. I would get up and my circadian rhythm was completely disrupted. My body was upside down, but I knew I had a workout on the calendar. Yeah, so I would grind through the workout and grind through the day, and what started to happen is I didn't find the peaks that I had found in the past. So as I tried to stretch myself thinner, I lost my ability to be fully present, and I lost my ability to execute workouts to excellence, and I started to compare myself to how I had performed in the past in a different dynamic. Yep, and I became quickly frustrated and wondered if I could fit all this in, in in my current life. So I had, I started to ask myself questions,
Matt Dixon 20:44
and you were, you were for everyone listening. I mean, you, you were very close to turning your back on the sport, and obviously that included turning your back on purple patch. So what was the catalyst of you deciding not to quit on that, not to quit on this, this thing that had created, in many ways, the framework, the foundation of physical readiness, being able to be present with everything around work and family and and you were, you were ready to give that away just because of the other demands and the travel. And you're like, This isn't working. So the intuitive thing is, let's remove that load cognitive and physical time demands, so I can focus on this, and you almost went down there. So what was the catalyst, if you're still here, you're on the show. So what was the catalyst of there? Yeah, I think
Jeff Dolan 21:31
many of us can relate to unexpected disruptions in life, taking over space. And yeah, that's what it felt like I was experiencing, and what felt natural to me was to revisit my prioritization paradigm and just say what has to give. Yep, and I felt like my energy wasn't what it needed to be to be effective with my family and work. So I just had to remove something, and I started to console myself with the fact that I hadn't great, had a great run, and maybe it was time to give up. And I really love participating in triathlon, but try to, you know, make a responsible decision. So I started to console myself to the fact that maybe my run was over and and then I got an email from Matt Dixon,
Matt Dixon 22:26
I'm a bit cruel, like
Jeff Dolan 22:29
a very encouraging email, something to the tone of you're going to make the worst mistake of your life, and then now is when you need us most. And I reflected on that for a while, and I recognized I didn't
Matt Dixon 22:45
get a response for a good few years. I sent it into the void, just so everyone knows
Jeff Dolan 22:52
it was delivered with surgical precision. Yeah, and what it got me thinking about is, over time, what had occurred was by focusing on my athletic performance, it had led to performance enhancements in my career and in my family. It had taught me to build a foundation of health that allowed me to be present in the moments that I needed to be. Yeah, and it helped me build this sort of daily recurring energy, and its sort of presence is a product of how we manage our energy. So the framework of triathlon, first of all gave me better energy because I was investing in my athletic health, which meant I had a better system to draw energy from, and it also allowed me a predictable, predictable foundation of improvement. And it was encouraging when things weren't improving as quickly as I wanted to in other aspects of life, if I re established the foundation that allowed me to progress athletically, it naturally led to improvement and performance in other areas. So it was a great baseline, and it was a great model for me to draw from. So I had to go back to what had changed. So what I realized was the problem wasn't triathlon. It was that I was trying to do what I had been doing, and my reality had changed dramatically. Yep, so I reflected back in the time that I left you hanging where I hadn't allowed Nancy to coach me. Yeah, I had spent our conversations convincing her that I could exercise as much as I had been. So instead of being coached, I had become sort of a salesperson to Nancy, telling her everything's gonna be fine. I've got this. Yeah. Uh, but I didn't have it Yep, so I recognized that I did need outside coaching by people that had been through it before, yep and and
Matt Dixon 25:13
so now let the perspective to see it's very, very hard when you're in the weeds, yeah, to actually be able to see the big picture. It doesn't matter who you are. So that sounding board of a coach, beyond sort of expertise and wisdom is so important when when you have a trusted relationship to actually help you almost see yourself as well as a sounding board.
Jeff Dolan 25:34
Yeah, I think that's right. I think when we have a rhythm that feels successful and controllable to us, it's very hard to shift yeah into a new paradigm. Yeah. And we talk about adapt or die often, yeah, but the need to adapt is a product of clearly identifying that you're in a new reality, yep. And for me, I didn't want to come to that realization. I wanted to come to the realization that my my life as it was, could continue, yeah, and I just needed to find the extra energy, dig deeper and suck it up, and it would be
Matt Dixon 26:16
white knuckle it right? So what was the biggest getting sort of practical, if we can boil it down, what I guess, what was the first that was the first major shift practically? What did that look like so as it relates to training? And maybe answer that in terms of typical hours that you might do, and maybe shifting from a more dynamic or adaptable mindset as it related to your training. What did that look like for this? For listeners so they can understand?
Jeff Dolan 26:44
So the first thing I did was I doubled down on being coachable, so I clearly identified my reality and reflected on how I was feeling after a 20 hour flight. Yep, and what it looked like for me to recover while my circadian rhythm was adjusting and where I could actually be most effective in training. So it became less about tabbing hours and more about when are my windows of productive training, so that I can get the highest return on effort. So Nancy and I really focused on that, and we started to identify what windows were best while I was traveling in a new time zone where I could really dig in, hit high intervals and hit peaks and see a return on investment. And we also identified when I just had a monster day and the right thing to do was recover. Yeah, and it became very flexible. So it moved from the need to turn every assigned workout green to the need to achieve the objective. And the path became variable.
Matt Dixon 27:55
And I guess with that there's, there's probably an amplified it's building a different relationship with what training is, because most people, in fact, most listeners that train for something, always think about training playing the role of getting string stronger, fitter, more powerful. You know, you're pushing the boundaries. You're growing. But in many ways, what you just outlined, there is quite a lot of your training was building a weave of number one, staying consistent, but number two also almost stress reduction as well. So so really having a heavy emphasis of the objective today is to go really easy, because I've just got off a 20 hour flight, my body cannot adapt, and I'm going to do that rather than push, push, push, and cramming in the intervals that were originally on the old style Jeff program. That's right. So that was it. And then when you have the window, well, great. Now it's still, I'm still going to race. I'm still going to compete under now, see this recommitment, so I've still got to work hard, right, but using the right time to do that, and being so there really is this interlocking of everything around these enormous demands, including your travel and training. It's not mutually exclusive. It is one program that's integrated together, and I guess you and Nancy are working through that on a day to day, week to week basis. Something really adaptable is that, is that a fair enough sort of summarization,
Jeff Dolan 29:26
and I would say, whether it's travel as a disruption, monster project, that someone is working through, anything that impacts our ability to sleep and recover? Yeah, is going to impact our performance, in my experience? Yeah, so it wasn't only about athletic performance that was merely a symptom to what I was experiencing while I was in those travel phases at the office as well. So I would have lulls in the afternoon where I was less. Less acute and aware, and I recognized that the old rhythm of just trying to fit everything in wasn't going to work, so I had to adjust to building a foundation of recovery first, making sure that I wasn't supplementing lack of sleep with caffeination instead of hydration, yeah, which was something that I was suffering from as well. So to prop myself up, I would just build another bad habit on top of the bad habit. So it's just getting back to the core habits that allow us to perform. And then athletic performance became a signal to me that I was ready to be at my best in all aspects of life. So it's a really important framework for me, because I know that if I'm successful in my morning workout, I'm on the right path, and I've invested in myself, I also find that I have a more productive day if I can come through a really productive workout, build that confidence and that that great energy into the day going forward.
Matt Dixon 31:09
And you've you you developed over eight years and throwing hard work at it, and then took this evolution, and you talked a lot about the importance of these habits, and you've talked about them, the hydration, the sleep and the fueling. But there was this rat. This has been a forcing agent of a shift of mindset, because you've gone from pass fail, in many ways, through the workouts of and old fashioned hard work to what I would label, in many ways, adaptability and curiosity might be the way. So how has how has that shift had an impact on you? Is it because it has involved a whole different relationship and perspective on your training in the sport? How has that expressed itself in your sport when it comes to racing and things like that?
Jeff Dolan 31:56
Yeah, yeah. So the idea of adaptability and training has led me to focus more on physical adaptation than it has what I would call race rehearsal. Yep. So I used to spend a lot of time in training, imagining myself in a race and essentially checking a box on am I performing at the level that I believe I need to race at in my training. And if I wasn't
Matt Dixon 32:24
doing that confidence and to get like I feel like I'm now ready, right?
Jeff Dolan 32:28
If I wasn't doing that on a week by week basis, I would naturally be nervous when it came to race day. And what I've evolved to is, am I better than last week? Because I've made investments in my physical adaptation that are producing results that are making me just a little bit better, yep. And so it's evolved from, I would call it judgment, into curiosity. And so I'm curious now in training, which is kind of fun and exciting for me, because I know that when I go deep into the well, there are times when it's going to work out great and times when I'm not going to quite have it, but I'm really enjoying the exploration, and I'm just not judging myself at all. What I know is the effort, whether I pass or fail in the training session produces results that are positive, both for me, athletically and in my life and in
Matt Dixon 33:27
broad life, and that, you know, it really reminds me with our squad of pro athletes for years and years and years, and obviously, we had a lot of success. But one of our defining phrases that we used to have amongst the team, which from the outside, people always used to raise their eyebrow. It was freedom to fail. And what that really was was look, if you're doing everything under your control to elicit adaptations, and you show up on race day and do everything under your control to try and deliver your best performance, let the cards fall. You might get beaten. You know, someone might beat you. You might not have a good day, because that's the beauty of the jeopardy of sport, that's always the curve. But it was a really liberating thing. It's like, I've got the freedom to fail. All I can control is I can control. And that that new perspective. I'm sure the listeners want to know, okay, how was your year of racing? And this is the thing that I think gets to the just position, because that evolution enabled you to unlock this platform of health again. So you went from going down into Gallo to returning that I'd like to you to explore your results. Number one, your race results of last year, relative to old Jeff, as we're calling. And then we'll get into the extension, into the impact of how you showed up and in the office, basically. So let's dig into racing first.
Jeff Dolan 34:49
Okay? So just to really set the context, I went from right around 12 workouts a week, consistently, mm. Delivering every day as the prescription was written by Nancy, yeah to sometimes I would hit five to eight workouts in a week, and some of them were just feel good, runs, Soul fillers, exactly. So I went from that structure to a much more flexible and adaptable structure, and what I found was one when I got to the start line of my races over the last year, I was just grateful to be there. I didn't know what was going to happen, but I knew that I was going to have a fun day. Yeah, that was a new spirit for me. So in my old paradigm, I was really worried about not disappointing myself, and when I got to the start line, I was really curious to see what my body could deliver for the day. And I brought that paradigm throughout the race. And my first race, I I crossed the finish line in a 70.3 PR ing by 15 minutes.
Matt Dixon 36:11
So which race was that? That was Oregon's. That was where we saw each other at the finish, right? And, yeah, I've never seen a bigger smile.
Jeff Dolan 36:19
Yeah, I know I was very excited to see you. I remember being on that run thinking, This really hurts. I wonder how long I can do this for, yeah, and then I crossed the finish line, and I said to myself, long enough, yeah, yeah. So that was my 70.3 experience. And then I went through more travel, and then I came to the start line of Iron Man Arizona, and in my Iron Man race last year, I PR by just over 30 minutes. So again, it wasn't just the fact that my finish times improved. I was having so much fun in the race, yeah? Because I removed my continual judgment and check in on what my time might be, yeah. So I moved from racing where half of my mind was time forecasting through each split of the race, to really staying tuned into my body and just saying, this hurts. How long can I do this for? Yep, and I just stayed curious. And at each mile I said, Well, I can do it for a little bit longer. And being present in that way removing the fear of disappointment. And the only person I was disappointing was me. Nobody else cares.
Matt Dixon 37:41
Yeah, exactly. That's the ultimate truth. Yeah, no one cares.
Jeff Dolan 37:44
Yeah, so just to have that much fun in racing gave me new hope, yeah, and new life in the sport. And I'm really looking forward to exploring what's next. The I
Matt Dixon 37:57
think the really important thing to hover over here, because you did. I'm so glad that you outlined effectively on a week to week basis, sometimes doing 50% of your old training program, eliciting better results. Ultimately, the story here, the lesson to take away is not less is more. That's, that's, I'm not a big fan of that phrase. It's a really sensible integration of the reality of life demands and doing the right training at the right time to enable adaptations to occur. And when you do that consistently with that commitment, you feel progress. It builds confidence. And then the second thing is shifting, that that was a forcing agent for you. Many ways to shift from outcome, outcome, outcome to this is fun. I can be curious, and it's very different to have no expectations, not low expectations, and just go in there and say, let's see what happens. And quite often a body rewards us for that. Yeah, it's an amazing story. I'd love you to go to the real win for me, you know, and it's great. And obviously we're very proud of you. I know Nancy is incredibly proud of your racing performances and and your PRs and everything you've done, but for you, ultimately, there's a bigger picture win as well, and and so I'd love for you to dig into what this is fueled for you as a global executive, okay,
Jeff Dolan 39:36
so I want To enrich that, if I could for a moment, and just also say I remembered at some point over the past year that I got into the sport to have fun, and that removed an enormous amount of pressure that I was carrying around triathlon. Yeah. Yeah, and I was able to, through the removal of that pressure, really focus on what performance in life looked like, and make sure that I was showing up with equal vigor in sport and life and work and sport provides me a framework to make sure that I'm taking care of my wellness through recovery, nutrition, strength and flexibility, so that I can be at my best when my and have energy when I need energy. Yeah, so sport has taught me energy management, which leads to presence, which leads to having a better impact when I need to be there. So presence for me today, looks more productive because I have the belief that all things are possible over time, with help, and I believe in the value of persistence that sport has taught me, and it's also taught me that when it comes to adaptation, If something isn't working, we just need to pull back and take a harsh look at reality. It saved me a lot of time as an executive, so where I might have been very persistent in trying something several times over before I recognized that the approach wasn't working, now I have a much more flexible mental model, so I can approach all things with curiosity and welcome failure faster and recognize the need for change. So there there are values in triathlon, in the way I've approached my own journey that are immediately applicable in the workforce. So I've really enjoyed this sort of stumble to discovery over the past year, and I've learned a lot about how we as leaders need to manage ourselves first so we can bring our best on a daily basis. And the idea of longevity is a daily pattern of good behavior and good habits. And longevity is daily restoration, daily investment in health and wellness. So I know that I'm set up for success and whatever my next challenge is, because I've learned how to restore, recover and regenerate on a daily basis in a very stretched demand set, and that that's come from my investment in this sport,
Matt Dixon 43:10
the what you just talked about there, because we have many people listening that a not triathlete and B, probably think I could never do a half Ironman or Iron Man like this. This guy's bonkers. He's out on the edge. What would your advice be for somebody that maybe is very, very busy, has a lot of demands, whether it's as an executive or otherwise, and sort of thinks I'm too busy, you know, I'm and you know that thing, I'm too busy, so I couldn't take on a challenge. It's not a call to go and do a triathlon, necessarily. It could be anything, but it's, what would your advice be for someone that's sort of stuck in a bit of a tailspin?
Jeff Dolan 43:53
Yeah, you know, one of the lessons I've learned from you is the boulders, rocks, sand, exercise, yeah. And through that exercise, identifying what are the things that are most important to me, it's really taught me how to say no to the things that aren't as value, return, yep, as I need them to be. So the first unlock is learning to say no to the things that aren't returning value. And once we build that muscle, it's a matter of focusing on small improvements over time by changing one small behavior at a time. And I know that if I just keep focusing on improving a little bit day over day One day I'll wake up and I'll be good at whatever the new skill is that I'm trying to build. And then I know that if I keep asking for help from people smarter than me, I might even have a chance of being great. So. I think it's don't go into a situation without help. It's okay to ask for help, and don't be afraid to say no, the things that might matter less, and that unlocks a lot of time for me.
Matt Dixon 45:19
Well, Jeff, you're an inspiration. Thank you. It's, it's, you're on the journey. And I'm so glad that you read my email. I'm also really glad that you finally replied to that email, and I'm glad to have you as a part of purple patch and and just massive congratulations. I mean, this is a, it's a wonderful story of evolution. And as you said, you know, evolve or die, and and, and I wish you the very best of luck. And I, and I can't tell you more than than I, then I, then I possibly can that I really appreciate you coming on the show. My pleasure. You've been a part of purple patch.
Jeff Dolan 45:58
Thank you for the journey. It's it's been an honor to be a part of purple patch, and it's it's grown me so much as a athlete and as a professional and a father. So thank you, Matt and
Matt Dixon 46:09
and well done today, because I beat the living daylights out of you this morning. So it wasn't a recovery day, was it? Yeah?
Jeff Dolan 46:20
It was a nice, warm welcome. Yeah, fast workout of the year.
Matt Dixon 46:23
Thanks. Well done, and thanks. What's going to appreciate it? Thank you. Take care. Wow. What a conversation. Thanks so much to Jeff for joining us, and I want to give you a couple of things to take away with. The first is, if this show resonated, if you know someone that's struggling, that's looking to try and show up and thrive across whatever is important to them. Feel free to share this show with them. I think it's going to be helpful. Of course, as always, a positive review is always nice. Helps other people find the show. And finally, if you're interested in having a conversation around purple patch and everything that we do, or, of course, our leadership programming and wind cycle, just reach out to us. Info@purplepatchfitness.com we'll set up a complementary needs assessment, understand your goals and your situation and help you craft the best journey and pathway ahead for you to thrive, not just in your hyper hobbies and sport, but also across broad and life till next time. Take care, guys. Thanks so much for joining and thank you for listening. I hope that you enjoyed the new format. You can never miss an episode by simply subscribing. Head to the purple patch channel of YouTube, and you will find it there. And you could subscribe, of course, I'd like to ask you if you will subscribe. Also Share It With Your Friends, and it's really helpful if you leave a nice positive review in the comments. Now, any questions that you have, let me know, feel free to add a comment, and I will try my best to respond and support you on your performance journey. And in fact, as we commence this video podcast experience, if you have any feedback at all, as mentioned earlier in the show, we would love your help in helping us to improve. Simply email us at info@purplepatchfitness.com or leave it in the comments of the show at the purple patch page, and we will get you dialed in. We'd love constructive feedback. We are in a growth mindset, as we like to call it, and so feel free to share with your friends. But as I said, Let's build this together. Let's make it something special. It's really fun. We're really trying hard to make it a special experience, and we want to welcome you into the purple patch community with that. I hope you have a great week. Stay healthy, have fun, keep smiling, doing whatever you do, take care.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Peak performance, Ironman executive, Starbucks, triathlon, coaching, energy management, adaptability, training flexibility, recovery, nutrition, sleep, work-life balance, high performance, leadership, athletic potential.