#42 - “Imagine If”: Simon Whitfield on Mastery, Visualization & Joy

Dec 20

Today’s guest is Olympic Medalist Simon Whitfield

How to sustain a meaningful, healthy high-performance life—during and after peak achievement—by turning pressure, identity shifts, and fear into purpose, calm decision-making, and daily practices that actually stick.

In today’s conversation Simon Whitfield explores the mindset behind his Sydney 2000 Olympic gold and Beijing 2008 silver, and how visualization, breath control, and teamwork shaped those races. He shares the “imagine if” habit from his training log, the deliberate use of a domestique strategy in 2008, and the “do-nothing defense” for regaining composure in decisive moments. Simon opens up about the costs of fame, the post-career identity pivot, and why rebuilding around nature—specifically time on the ocean—restored his presence with family and joy in daily life. The result is a practical blueprint for anyone navigating pressure, change, or reinvention.

You will learn how Whitfield used mental rehearsal—“seeing the race” countless times—to solve scenarios before they happened. You will learn how a team-first plan (with Colin Jenkins as domestique) let him dictate Beijing’s race dynamics instead of reacting. You will learn a field-tested calm-under-duress protocol: nasal breathing, relaxing grip/tension, and delaying reactions—the “do-nothing defense.” You will also learn why seeking empty space (water, nature, boredom) is not a luxury but a performance tool that improves focus, relationships, and decision quality.

You will discover that mastery is largely the precise application of attention and energy—repeated with joy—more than raw talent. You will discover how simple pre-commitment cues (“imagine if…”) and environmental design (water, horizon, quiet) reliably flip your physiology from panic to presence.

Feeling hijacked by pressure or transition. Simon shows how to reset identity and agency—breath first, choose the controllable move, and build rituals that make composure your default under stress.

Key take aways:

Visualization is rehearsal; solve scenarios in advance.
Dictate the race; don’t just react.
Breathe, relax, delay—do-nothing defense.
Seek empty space: water, nature, boredom.
Mastery is joyful, precise energy.

“Mastery is the precise application of one’s energy.”

— Simon Whitfield

Today’s Expert Guest - Olympic Medalist Simon Whitfield

Simon Whitfield is a four-time Olympian, Olympic triathlon gold medalist (Sydney 2000) and silver medalist (Beijing 2008), Canada’s flag-bearer at London 2012, and a member of both the Olympic and Canada’s Sports Halls of Fame. He earned over a dozen national titles and multiple World Cup wins across a 16-year elite career.

Whitfield blends world-class race craft—visualization, scenario planning, and team tactics—with a candid lens on post-podium life: the cost of fame, identity drift, and rebuilding around nature and service. Today his work spans investing, advising, and guiding, grounded in a simple credo—invest, roll up sleeves, lean in—while teaching leaders how to engineer calm, clarity, and agency under pressure.

Adopt the Do-Nothing Defense: when stress spikes, pause three nasal breaths, unclench hands/jaw, and wait one beat before acting; then choose a single controllable move. It’s a tiny habit that prevents errors at work, at home, and—yes—on the blue carpet.

Follow Simon Whitfield on Instagram & Linked In.

Check out his website.

Simon Says Gold:

Simon Whitfield’s Pursuit of Athletic Excellence

In Simon Says Gold, Simon describes his personal journey to Olympic glory as he recounts not only that glorious day in Sydney, but also the anguish of failing to repeat as Olympic champion in Athens in 2004, and his dramatic comeback at the 2008 Beijing Games, when his exhilarating race to a silver medal enthralled millions of fans around the world.

This podcast contains advice and information relating to health and wellness. It should be used to supplement rather than replace the advice of your doctor or another trained health professional. If you know or suspect that you have a health problem, seek your physician’s advice before embarking on any medical program or treatment. All efforts have been made to assure the accuracy of the information contained in this podcast / interview / article as of the date of publication. The author and publisher disclaim liability for any medical or other outcomes that may occur as a result of applying the methods suggested in this material.

Greg Wells PhD

For Dr. Greg Wells, health and performance, particularly under extreme conditions, are personal and professional obsessions. As a scientist and physiologist, he has dedicated his career to making the science of human limits understandable and actionable. Dr. Wells has spoken to audiences all over the world at events such as TEDx and The Titan Summit, where he has shared the stage with Robin Sharma, Richard Branson, Steve Wozniak and Deepak Chopra.

For over 25 years, Dr. Wells has worked with some of the highest-performing individuals on the planet, including Olympic and World champions, and with organizations ranging from General Electric to BMO, Deloitte, KPMG, BMW, Audi, Sysco Foods, YPO and Air Canada. He is also committed to inspiring children and young adults through his close working relationship with school boards and independent schools.

A veteran endurance athlete, Dr. Wells has participated in the grueling Nanisivik Marathon 600 miles north of the Arctic Circle, Ironman Canada and the Tour D’Afrique, an 11,000 km cycling race that is the longest in the world. He is also a travel and expedition adventurer who has journeyed through every imaginable terrain and conditions in over 50 countries around the world.

Dr. Wells is author of three best-selling books – Superbodies, The Ripple Effect, and The Focus Effect – and hosted the award-winning Superbodies series, which aired on Olympic broadcasts worldwide in 2010 and 2012.

Dr. Wells has a PhD in Physiology, served as an Associate Professor of Kinesiology at the University of Toronto and is an exercise medicine researcher at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

He is the CEO and founder of The Wells Group, a global consulting firm committed to achieving the moonshot of helping teams, schools and businesses become places where people get healthy, perform optimally and ultimately - reach their potential.

http://www.drgregwells.com