Joe, Author at Joe Jacobi

(Updated June 24, 2026 from my home in La Seu d'Urgell, Catalunya)

Thank you for being part of this season of Thinking In Waves - I am beyond grateful for your participation, support, and encouragement.

I created this "2026 Season Finale" resource page as a place to make Thinking In Waves more actionable in your life. Here are some ways to do this:

Practice The Ideas - The single most effective way to get the most out of Thinking In Waves. The world is not short on information accessible to everyone - just severely challenged in helping humans apply a few strong ideas to their lives.
Respond To The Ideas - For many reasons, responses to the creators of ongoing essay (like mine) are hard to do and maintain. When something resonates or prompts a question, please check in me. Share an opinion, challenge an idea, ask a question, or just say hello. (Every email comes directly and only to me.)
Share The Ideas - Every creator asks for their work to be shared. While this is nice, what is much more helpful is sharing with someone who would truly benefit from the ideas I share. Just forward them the email or let them know they can subscribe for free --> HERE.
Experience The Ideas - The most engaging and enjoyable way to embrace the concepts about which I write is to experience them for yourself here in Catalunya! My Coaching Retreats are an interactive and transformational adventure in Catalunya's beautiful nature guided by a sequence of life-guiding themes that will stay with you long after long after you leave. At least twice per year, the events are open enrollment with set dates but customized programs for private groups are available at any time of the year.. Learn more on my Coaching page, through my collaboration with Tripmix, or by scheduling a call with me --> HERE.
Ready My Book - Four years after launching Slalom into the world, I love how its central idea intertwines with Thinking In Waves. If you already have the book, please consider reading this summer. If you don't have the book, you can pick it up --> HERE.

More Connection Points:

Thank you for being a part of the Thinking In Waves journey. Have an outstanding summer and see you in September!

With gratitude, Joe

Joe Jacobi

Olympic Gold Medalist, Performance Coach & Author

Follow Your Flow, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves

Ready to position the art of surfing waves as a process for deep reflection and meaningful life transitions?

Subscribe to Thinking In Waves, my short weekly essay about the lessons and experiences that I learn surfing offshore waves on a surfski kayak transferred to an innovative model for clear thinking and better choices <— Short, fun, and memorable - new riders are always welcome!

Subscribe to Thinking In Waves

Inspired by the first downwind surf session of the season,

A recent essay did a deep dive

Into the challenge of

Locating the turning point onto the Waves that directly align with our desired destination.

On that day,

After a good turning point into the downwind,

I was paddling two kilometers offshore and enjoying the Waves on my direct line

When a rare and unsettling occurrence happened -

My boat tipped over.

70 seconds later,

This challenging moment opened a window for change.

— — — —

Seconds 0-20

My right forward paddle stroke plummets straight down into the water instead of tracking alongside the boat -

Which causes a loss of balance with no support stroke to stabilize…

Capsized.

I'm out of the boat and in the sea.

There’s an immediate feeling of, “How did I get here??”

Which quickly becomes,

"I need to get out of the water."

— — — —

With all due respect

To falls from bikes, horses, and skateboards,

Remounting onto a surfski kayak

Does not happen on solid ground.

It’s in the deep sea,

Far from shore,

And with Waves and wind whipping by.

The remount back onto the surfski begins with

A full-body push...

Against nothing but water.

Uncertainty, disorientation, and fragility enjoy a front row seat to watch.

— — — —

Seconds 21-40

I am floating in the sea beside the middle of the surfski. I place my left hand, which holds the paddle - NEVER let go the paddle! - on the far top side of the boat. My right hand on the near top side.

In seal-like fashion, press upwards with the arms and kick with the feet -

Landing the midsection of my body frontside down across the surfski - sort of like flopping sideways across a bed.

Briefly stabilize in this precarious and unsustainable position…

Then rotate my body over, slide into the bottom of the seat, and throw my legs towards the front of the surfski.

— — — —

I can’t emphasize this enough -

This fragile-feeling remount at sea

Perfectly models

A remount in Life after a fall -

No grace, glamour, nor style.

But in a world designed for playing offense,

The remount is our most important defensive maneuver.

— — — —

Seconds 41-70

Rattled and unclear, I am back on the surfski.

What happens next is so simple… and beautiful.

First, I turn to my left

Where about 100 meters away is my partner, Maria - less experienced on the surfski but doing SO WELL on this downwind. She taps her hand on her head - the signal to see if someone far away is ok. I give the "thumbs up" sign.

Then, I instinctively feel the steepness of a Wave rising beneath me.

Paddle hard, lean forward…

The Wave picks me up and takes control.

Free Energy acquired.

The boat is flying. The surfer recalibrates.

— — — —

A 70 second window -

Messy and humbling

Yet weirdly necessary.

We always hope

For remount-free days.

But, when we capsize -

At sea or in Life,

A defensive maneuver ignites the change:

Move intentionally
Connect with those closest to you
Fully engage the next Wave

This is how to

Embrace the remount.

With gratitude, Joe

What Am I Up To NOW?

Joe Jacobi

Olympic Gold Medalist, Performance Coach & Author

Follow Your Flow, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves

Ready to position the art of surfing waves as a process for deep reflection and meaningful life transitions?

Subscribe to Thinking In Waves

Imagine it’s the dark of night.

You’re in the sea and several miles offshore.

A spotlight fixed to your forehead

Perfectly shines the light

On the Wave you are surfing.

You can clearly see the area just ahead,

Which gives you plenty of information

To make choices about the Wave you are riding…

And the area you illuminate.

— — — —

Surfing at night

Guided by our own light

Models how we surf our own Life Waves.

If what we illuminate becomes our reality,

Then, we naturally develop and refine the skills

To handle this exact space.

But what about the darkness

Beyond the lines of our illumination?

— — — —

Does the dark area

Suggest that

Waves do not exist there?

This raises a few questions about

The choices we have in projecting our light.

Do we:

Double down on the brightness of our existing area?

Widen the light to see more area?

Turn the light away from where have been and towards something new?

— — — —

There is no one correct answer to these questions.

But no matter how they are answered,

There is a common thread that makes any choice possible:

In the darkness exists the opportunity.

— — — —

Darkness is a counterintuitive companion

On the path we choose to follow.

Its qualities of uncertainty and the unknown

Are often repelled by our comfort zone

With greater force

Than our pursuits of growth and transformation.

And its easy to dismiss the role of darkness

In the functionality and focus

In the projection of our light.

However,

Instead of labeling, resisting, or avoiding darkness,

Welcome it as a necessary collaborator with light.

How can we use darkness

To improve the quality and range of our light?

Lean into curiosity to ask:

What awaits us on

The dark side of the Wave?

With gratitude, Joe

Joe Jacobi

Olympic Gold Medalist, Performance Coach & Author

Follow Your Flow, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves

Ready to position the art of surfing waves as a process for deep reflection and meaningful life transitions?

Subscribe to Thinking In Waves

(Updated June 24, 2026, from home in La Seu d'Urgell, Catalunya)

Summer is here and it's time to head transition from the Pyrenees to the seaside on the Costa Brava. I'm absolutely thrilled with the range and scope of coaching experiences and collaborations happening right now.

Please check out the updated summary below to explore ways we can work together...

Joe Jacobi Performance Coaching

One-to-One collaborations have been the heart of my coaching practice for over 10 years. At times, I’ve managed as many as 25 individual clients at once. I absolutely love the spirit of these collaborations and what they contribute to clients' growth and evolution.

To create space and energy for the projects below, I've cut back significantly on one-to-one collaborations, which are now capped between between six and eight clients at a given time. I currently have One open space for one-to-one coaching.

Elevating Leadership Institute (ELI)

As a co-founder of ELI, we are transition partners for executive teams ready to scale. Our coaching and facilitation are anchored in the principles of and our personal experiences and success in high performance sport.

While most leaders just want their teams to “play better together,” ELI dives much deeper into the team architecture using our proprietary models, systems, and curriculums which have been tested and proven on the world’s biggest stages - in sport and business.

To activate each individual's full engagement within team coaching can be complicated but the rewards are too rich to overlook. Our highest level goals can not be achieved alone. When an innovative process is guided by experienced coaches that bring out the best in every team member, not only are our highest level goals achieved but the practice of improvement becomes as enjoyable as the win.

If you are a part of or leading a forward thinking team that is ready to develop and grow its people, our program is going to engage and sustain high performing teams with powerful playbooks and tools that we co-create together.

Learn more about Elevating Leadership Institute --> HERE.

Tilting The River: Adventure Coaching Retreat In Catalunya - October 11-15, 2026

To a create memorable, meaningful, and impactful transition is not easy. It requires a commitment to do something different, get uncomfortable, and change our surroundings. We don't need another "How-to" list... those are everywhere. Instead, we must become the kind of person who actively seeks out and moves towards states of challenge, focus, and transformation.

I came to the Spanish state of Catalunya for the first time in 1991 and within a year, I left as an Olympic Champion. Now, Catalunya is my home and its nature continues to be my best Life Coach. Catalunya's rivers, mountains, and seasides have played a major part in my own personal transformation. Now, it’s time to share these natural resources in a way that creates your next chapter of life.

Join me for our inaugural Adventure Coaching Retreat - Tilting The River - based in La Seu d'Urgell, Catalunya from October 11-15, 2026. The program features activities in the mountains, on the river, and at the 1992 Olympic Canoe Slalom venue. It also happens to coincide with one of La Seu d'Urgell's most fun and popular annual festivals.

Tilting The River is the only coaching retreat that gets leaders out of their thinking and into their becoming — through an immersive adventure in Catalunya's mountains, rivers, and trails, guided by someone who has made that journey.

We are going to do some fantastic work together and have a lot of fun doing it.

Soon, I'll be sharing information about the first open enrollment Adventure Coaching Retreat happening in Llançà along Catalunya's Costa Brava and featuring activities in and around the sea.

And, customized programs for private groups are available at any time of year.

If you would like to learn more about my adventure coaching retreats in Catalunya, 1-1 coaching, or ELI, please schedule a short conversation with me --> HERE. For more information about the retreat, please drop me a message at Joe@JoeJacobi.com and I'll send you the details.

Joe Jacobi

Olympic Gold Medalist, Performance Coach & Author

Unlock Your Why, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves

Ready to position the art of surfing waves as a process for deep reflection and meaningful life transitions?

Subscribe to Thinking In Waves

(Updated May 29th, 2026, from home in La Seu d'Urgell, Catalunya)

In the past few Friday videos, I've referenced getting back onto the water for action-oriented message... which happens here but not quite the way I imagined.

Resetting Connection

This past weekend, Maria and I were paddling in the doubles canoe on one of our favorite Catalan Rivers, the Noguera Pallaresa. We love that it's a natural river and close to where I live in La Seu d'Urgell, less than an hour's drive over the mountain. This river is also one of the featured destinations of my upcoming adventure coaching retreat, Tilting The River.

This particular high-water session was so enjoyable to make and great backdrop for a message about Self Connection - please enjoy.

If you prefer the video with music and without words on your screen, please watch on Instagram --> HERE.

With gratitude, Joe

Joe Jacobi

Olympic Gold Medalist | Executive Coach | Adventure Retreat Host | Author

Follow Your Flow, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves

What Am I Up To NOW?

Joe Jacobi

Olympic Gold Medalist, Performance Coach & Author

Follow Your Flow, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves

Ready to position the art of surfing waves as a process for deep reflection and meaningful life transitions?

Subscribe to Thinking In Waves

These operating principles create a path for growth, connection, and making decisions in my life and work at Joe Jacobi Performance Coaching and Elevating Leadership Institute.

Move in Connection
Enjoyment Is The Prompt
Aim For The Rock
Follow The Flow
Every Run Is The First Run
Simplify Accountability
Creativity Steers The Boat

1. Move In Connection

Connection to self, connection to others, connection to nature - these shape the pyramid that create a way to transcendence.

It is the first step to showing up as a better version of ourself.

It is not a fabricated to effort to relate.

2. Enjoyment Is The Prompt

The choice to shift perspectives at any moments lives here. Greater awareness and flow = greater efficiency.

It is an intentional check of grip and attachment.

It is not fake positivity.

3. Aim For The Rock

There is a tension - explore it!

It is welcoming discomfort, uncertainty in the pursuit of growth and acceptance.

It is not seeking stress, drama nor danger.

4. Follow The Flow

Progress is realized only with what is available to us here and now.

It is activating our current capacities.

It is not searching or finding for a point we do not have yet.

5. Every Run Is The First Run

The freedom that every action is a part of a process fueled by iteration, experimentation, innovation.

It is the best effort to perform consistently, experience discomfort, and excited to learn.

It is not swinging the fences.

6. Simplify Accountability

Make owning the process enjoyable and easy.

It is full body yes or no.

It is not a gauge of guilt or blame.

7. Creativity Steers The Boat

We don’t have to know where we’re going… but we must know how we’re going to get there.

It is embracing the track.

It is not ignoring science, metrics, or feedback.

Joe Jacobi

Olympic Gold Medalist, Performance Coach & Author

Follow Your Flow, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves

Ready to position the art of surfing waves as a process for deep reflection and meaningful life transitions?

Subscribe to Thinking In Waves

I vividly remember stalling.

Carefully consider the question and possible life situations that could affect my answer.

Just over an hour into our podcast conversation, we had started a deep dive into Thinking In Waves. I am feeling a sense of shared curiosity and discovery.

Then the host asks me,

“Are Waves predictable?"

It's not like I had not thought about this before. I even wrote about it here a few months ago.

My thoughts are shuffling through different events that appear in life...

Through the range of Waves we don't expect.

After the pause, I respond,

“Yes and No."

-- -- -- --

In the conversation, here's how I was thinking about "Yes and No."

On the side of Yes, the Wave we are riding right now conveys information about the next Wave.

Leaning into our intuition, awareness, and curiosity of the current Wave expands our ability to adapt to what comes next.

In life, this prompts us to better Follow The Flow of the day, sustain momentum, and expand joy.

But, on the side of No, while acknowledging that every Wave has unique qualities to itself, I was clearly thinking about the unexpected Wave that merely pushes us a little off course.

In life, these show up as interruptions, running a few minutes late, rescheduled meetings, or a minor disagreement with a colleague.

Perhaps it was general optimism or the feeling of the moment in the conversation, but I avoided a truth about life - the unexpected Wave that reaches us with a powerful, disruptive, and chaotic force.

This kind of unexpected Wave:

Presses Pause

Changes the plan

Unsettles Life and

Brings Focus to what Truly Matters Most.

This unexpected Wave pushes us more than a little off course.

It resets the course...

And declares,

"A new and unplanned surf session begins now."

-- -- -- --

After the course-altering unexpected Wave reaches us,

And beyond a moment of pause and intake of our surroundings,

What remains is a unique and personal choice of response.

This is where leaning into the Yes of Wave predictability and the art and science of Thinking In Waves

As a daily practice

Shape the unique and personal response.

How we Follow The Flow on small unexpected Waves

Guides us how to Follow The Flow

When a big unexpected Wave arrives

And the new and unplanned surf session begins.

With gratitude, Joe

PS - The podcast from which today's essay originated was a wonderful conversation and one I'll be sharing for a long time to come. To watch, listen, and see the resource page that accompanies the conversation, simply go --> HERE.

Joe Jacobi

Olympic Gold Medalist, Performance Coach & Author

Follow Your Flow, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves

Ready to position the art of surfing waves as a process for deep reflection and meaningful life transitions?

Subscribe to Thinking In Waves

For many years, I was certain that

Finding my purpose

Was critical to success.

Without a clear answer to

“What is my Why?”

Wouldn’t I be leaving out a huge force of power

From the performance equation?

When it comes to finding purpose,

I have read the books, watched the TED Talks, listened to podcasts,

And

Deeply reflected upon this journey of searching.

Is it just a search for purpose? Or maybe a desire to make the search less complex?

Recently, my thoughts about purpose shifted directions...

As surfing Waves

Shaped a new outlook.

When I started to paddle the surfski a few years ago,

I was in a constant state of searching.

Searching for

More efficient paddle strokes

Follow Your Flow, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves

Ready to position the art of surfing waves as a process for deep reflection and meaningful life transitions?

Subscribe to Thinking In Waves

The title of the podcast overwhelmed me a bit when I first saw it… But when you watch it, the conversation feels more like “The Re-Thinking Of An Olympic Champion.”

As someone who has appeared as a guest on many podcasts, I believe this exchange on Everything They Don't Tell You with Josh Zolin will help a lot of people.

If you are:

A leader with a clear vision but stretched at the limits of transition
An athlete curious to dive deeper into the key moments just before, during, and after Olympic success
An investor or Founder struggling to find that next gear...

This is the conversation will challenge you rethink High Performance... in way that doesn't suck.

Listen on Apple Podcast --> HERE or Watch below. Enjoy!

Two last points, After this conversation:

If you want to explore a coaching collaboration, let's schedule a discovery call --> HERE.
There is a resource page dedicated for this podcast, which you can view --> HERE.

Joe Jacobi

Olympic Gold Medalist, Performance Coach & Author

Follow Your Flow, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves

Ready to position the art of surfing waves as a process for deep reflection and meaningful life transitions?

Subscribe to Thinking In Waves

Welcome to my website, Everything They Don't Tell You collaborators! I have the wonderful opportunity to appear as a guest on many podcasts. But this conversation with Josh was one of my favorites... AND, I believe this conversation can help business owners and entrepreneurs like you. So as a follow-up to the conversation, I created a resource page designed for the challenges and opportunities unique to this community.

As we get started here, if there is a part of conversation you wish to continue, ask a question, or explore opportunities to collaborate, let's make that happen via a call - please schedule a time HERE.

As mentioned during the podcast, I created this space for us to continue our journey together, share resources, answer questions, and stay in touch. With that, let's jump in...

A Few Favorite Podcasts Conversations About High Performance

Navigating The River Of Life (The Kintsugi Podcast) - Listen on Apple Podcasts; Watch on YouTube

How To Win Gold By Aiming For The Rocks (The Unlock Moment Podcast) - Listen on Apple Podcasts

Navigating Transitions (The Soloist Life Podcast) - Listen and Read Shownotes at the Host's Website

A Few Favorite Books About Life Perspective & Transitions

Falling Upward by Richard Rohr

Strength To Strength by Arthur Brooks

The Middle Passage by James Hollis

Awareness by Anthony De Mello

A Few Favorite Books About High Performance

The Power Of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr

Range by David Epstein

Peak Performance by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness

Inner Excellence by Jim Murphy

Of course😀, Slalom: 6 River Classes About How To Confront Obstacles, Advance Amid Uncertainty, & Bring Focus To What Matters Most by Joe Jacobi

My Journaling Framework

This journaling practice is the longest standing reflective exercise in my life. This practice began as my Training Log following my very first practice session with the athletes and coaches of the United States Canoe/Kayak national team when I was 12 years-old... And more than 40 years later, the structure of that Training Log is now my journaling framework and remains a fundamental part of my growth and evolution. See the full framework and instructions about how to get started --> HERE.

Reflective Questions I'm Asking Myself These Days (shared in the podcast)

About testing current beliefs: Could the opposite be true?

About Process Orientation: How could I enjoy this a little more?

About Value Orientation: Is the world asking this of me? Or is my life asking this of me?

Connect With Me..

The easiest way to connect and benefit from my approach to my own redefined version High Performance is throughThinking In Waves. my short weekly essays that transfer lessons learned and strategies from surfing these offshore waves to an innovative model for clear and creative thinking. Readers love it and now is a great time to join us. Easy to subscribe --> HERE.

For a visual look into these essays and what the acquisition of Free Energy looks like in real time, check out the video below that I made while surfing waves this past summer in Llançà on the Costa Brava.

About my coaching collaborations and working through transitions, I believe in the leverage of the opportunities and adventures we can create together here in Catalunya's incredible nature.

From rivers and trails in the mountains (including the 1992 Olympic canoeing venue where I live in La Seu d'Urgell) to the waves and coves in the sea on the Costa Brava, we could not ask for a more ideal setting to reset your next chapter of Midlife Peak Performance and practice the accompanying skills, mindsets, and actions through experiential learning in the outdoors.

Whether in a 1-1 format, a group you create, or one my adventure coaching retreats, we can design a collaboration in which you will disconnect from your current routine, immerse in a new and different environment, and transform your approach to performance with connection, kindness, and impact. Easy to explore fit and alignment --> HERE.

Finally, my website here is a great place to find more of my essays and conversations as well as all of my social links. (Most active on LinkedIn.)

And please email me any time at Joe@JoeJacobi.com

Also, I shared a fun video reel from a recent downwind adventure that shows a wider perspective of this amazing activity. Watch on Instagram --> HERE

Thank you and look forward to connecting in the mountains or at the sea!

Joe Jacobi

Olympic Gold Medalist, Performance Coach & Author

Follow Your Flow, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves

Ready to position the art of surfing waves as a process for deep reflection and meaningful life transitions?

Subscribe to Thinking In Waves