Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Dennen.
Hi Jason, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I am an inspirational speaker, author, skydiver, mountain climber, triathlete, explorer and have spent over 25 years as a leader in financial services. I was born and raised in New Jersey but felt a pull to explore and test my limits in the wide-open expanses of the west.
After years of searching to find my limits, one day I ran into my greatest challenge—a skydiving accident that nearly took my life. The impact of the crash thrust my heart from the left side of my chest to the right, 3 other organs were badly damaged and I broke 20 bones. Even doctors couldn’t explain how I survived the traumatic injuries I incurred. After enduring 8 days in a coma, 3.5 months in the hospital and 11 months of rehabilitation I decided to sign up for a triathlon because I was told that I would never run again. 364 days after the accident I crossed the finish line and overcame the impossible. And then I kept going and started climbing mountains again because I was told that would be impossible. I had unknowingly spent my entire life training my body and mind for this moment. Every philosophy and principle I proclaimed to live by, every test I had survived and habit I had built over my lifetime of living on the edge proved to be exactly what saved my life. I have spent years decoding exactly what allowed me to survive the impossible and I have built a framework to help others conquer their greatest challenges. This framework transforms individuals, leaders, and organizations into resilient powerhouses who have the tools and mindset to overcome the impossible again and again.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I took up skydiving as a way to challenge myself. On my 327th jump I was coming in for a landing and a huge wind gust hit me from behind and picked me up in my harness and slammed me violently forward through a cattle fence and into the side of an airplane hangar going 30 mph. I hit so hard on my left side that 10 of my 12 ribs broke and impacted my heart so violently that my heart was moved from the left side of my body to the right side. I was airlifted to the nearest level one trauma center via a flight for life helicopter for emergency lifesaving surgery. The doctors couldn’t believe I lived as they had never performed the surgery they performed on me previously. No previous patient had made it into the hospital alive with the heart injury that I sustained. After they fixed my heart over the next 8 days, they kept me in a coma to protect me from my injuries and performed numerous surgeries to fix the 20 bones that I broke and 4 organs that I injured in the crash. After waking up from the coma I was not allowed to move for 10 weeks. I laid in the bed and assessed my life. I never thought of all the amazing things that happened in my life or the good things that I did but the things that I didn’t do well in life. I vowed to live the rest of my life concentrating on the things in life that were most important and refocus my life. I also started to discover my new purpose in life, which was to help others going through difficult challenges in their lives. I realized I had to go through the toughest challenge in my own life and come back from it before I could help anyone else going through their most difficult time in their lives. With a reinvigorated purpose I realized coming back from this accident wasn’t just for me but for all of the people that could benefit from having an uplifting story and encouraging word from someone who survived an accident that I shouldn’t have survived and came back against all the odds and came back to do something that no one even considered as a possibility. With that new infusion of purpose, I went to work to race in a triathlon again. First, I was told I wouldn’t walk out of the hospital after I told the therapists that was my goal. I was told I would be leaving the hospital in a wheelchair. Five weeks later I walked out of the hospital with the assistance of my crutches. When my doctor told me I would not likely ever run again I signed up for a triathlon to prove his prognosis was incorrect and to show all of the people that helped me in my recovery that miracles do happen and you must have faith and be willing to push yourself beyond what the average person would consider pushing themself if I was going to make the extraordinary comeback I was expecting to make. One day short of the 1-year anniversary of the accident I lined up and raced a triathlon and finished it within the time cutoff with no special exceptions, in a driving rainstorm in the worst conditions I have ever raced in while hearing that doctor’s voice in the back of my head all day saying you will probably never run again. I ran that day for the entire 6.2-mile distance of the running segment of the race after first swimming 1500 meters and biking 30 miles.
As you know, we’re big fans of Jason Wesley LLC. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
My keynote speaking program is about exploring the limits of what is possible and then breaking through those limits. Together we explore: unlocking the potential of your people, leading transformation and forging a path where nothing is impossible. I am on a mission to empower people by providing the tools and mindset to overcome challenges that were once considered impossible. My keynote takes the audience on a journey to confront their biggest fears and failures. I dig into what holds them back and challenges their assumptions about what is possible. My willingness to be vulnerable and authentic creates a strong connection with the audience, often leading to emotional breakthroughs. Audiences leave changed, with a clear playbook to guide their transformation. The real shift begins the day after the keynote, when they start applying the Overcome the Impossible framework in their daily lives and begin to grow.
The Framework
To Overcome the Impossible, you must have a framework that supports a new belief system and it consists of 6 steps.
Overcome the Impossible Framework
1. Build an Unbreakable Foundation-Doing hard things prepares you for one thing and that is ability to do more hard things, build a track record of breaking through barriers
2. Never Accept the Limits being placed on you by others or by yourself-Accepting limits prepares you to fail
3. Find a way to make progress everyday-small progress everyday compounds over time, compounding is the 8th wonder of the world
4. Test yourself often-Use testing as a diagnostic tool to adapt your plan of action
5. Overcome Fear-fear can protect you or hold you back
6. Create a Compelling Why? -Your why must be just as big as your Impossible Challenge
Once a person embraces this new way of thinking and puts these steps into action each day, they transform into someone that views all challenges through the lens of this framework. Where action and results create the belief that overcoming impossible challenges is possible. Instead of seeing adversity and tragedy when they face challenges, they see gifts and opportunities. They become equipped with the tools and the mindset necessary to overcome what they thought was once Impossible.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
People assume that I live without fear and that is what allows me to take on high risk activities. Fear can either protect me or hold me back from things I am capable of accomplishing. Determining what kind of fear I am feeling gets more difficult the closer I get to the edge of what is possible. Most of my big adventures and challenges start with an idea and then an immediate fear that I am not capable of accomplishing it. That fear drives me to push forward and test myself. The more I test myself I realize there is always going to be fear when I am truly testing myself. It is just part of the process and is never going to be comfortable and easy to overcome. But if I am not willing to push past it I will never achieve my greatest goals.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://JasonDennen.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jwdboulder/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jason.dennen.5/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasondennen
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@JasonDennenspeaks
- Other: https://linktr.ee/dennenj
