John Scott’s Marathon Swim Story

Today I spoke with the world record holder for the fastest solo crossing of Lake Ontario in 1994, John Scott.

While John found balance and took care of his body and mind to prepare for long marathon swims, a career in leadership led him astray. John tells us, not only, about his swimming background and preparations for breaking the world record, but also how he came back from work burnout, finding a passion for helping others move through challenges and be their best self.

The idea that John shares, “Sustainable performance”, is music to my ears. Both in my own training and as a coach, I emphasize quality, backed by sustainable quantity. It breaks my heart to hear of swimmers burning out or worse, getting injured, before they have a chance to start their big swim. It’s a fine balance that we need to strike in life, and as endurance swimmers.

I hope you enjoy John’s story!

In his own words:

John worked in sales and leadership in the financial industry for 30 years. For part of that time, he experienced a great deal of stress and didn’t know the way back. As a result, John’s health and wellbeing suffered. Becoming burnt out was the stimulus to wake up with a determination to do his life differently.

John began a private journey to understand and overcome the negative stress he was experiencing. He found a formula for sustainable performance he now shares to help people move through common challenges to experience more great and less grind.

John has completed Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR, U. of Massachusetts), Foundations of Applied Mindfulness Meditation (U. of Toronto), and the Certificate in Applied Positive Psychology (CAPP, Flourishing Center, NY).

John’s adventures include:

• Two record-breaking swim crossings Lake Ontario (51km)
• The first to swim from Christian Island to Collingwood, in Georgian Bay (32km).
• Has assisted 20 people across Lake Ontario.
• Chairman, 1997 Special Olympics World Winter Games (Toronto & Collingwood)
• Climbing Mount Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro.
• Two dog sledding trips to the Canadian Arctic.
• Author of My Magical Moments Journal and More Great. Less Grind.

John brings his experience in life, learning, and adventure to help people do life and work well through writing, speaking, and coaching.