We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jeff Jay Whitaker a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jeff, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
I’ve been challenged multiple times in my life, tested to the maximum. And during those tests I’ve become conscious of the love I have for myself and my sport basketball. I was tested on car accident which had me with 4 spine fractures in 2020, and had to relearn how to do everything. And most recently the dengue disease in 2024 which led me to a 3 week coma, in which it was medically easier for me to die than recover from.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My name is Jeff Jay Whitaker, I’m from providence island colombia, a really small island with around 5,000 habitants. I grew up basically bouncing around all sports, So I’ve been really athletic and active since I was a kid and learned discipline and self respect from a young age. Currently I’m a collegiate basketball player at palomar college, looking forward to have a break out season that eventually lead me to getting to the division 1 level
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The first thing everyone should have is a flexible mind, this means you gonna find a lot of opinions and perspectives on different things, you might not share that opinion or point of view, but you should always be able to listen to what others have to say, there’s never too much to learn or to less to learn.
Second thing definitely is discipline, this can be explained but it can not be thought, this is something that starts in within a person, it depends on the level of hunger you have for your dreams and how much you are willing to sacrifice and put in work for, but if you break it down and learn to have self respect for you and the people that believes in you, you will get anywhere you feel like going.
Having a mentor is crucial for when u meet them mental roadblocks. Having somebody that already went through what you are going is really important, especially dor athletes, frustration can lead to depression and burnout, so having somebody takk you out of those mental states is crucial.
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
My mom. My mom has never let me down, or has let me deal with anything alone. She has taught me the real love meaning and what putting effort means when it comes to family. For example when I was in the coma for 3 weeks she didn’t left the hospital one minute, she stayed there the entire 3 weeks sitting on a hard rock couch waiting and praying for me. So everything I am and will be is thanks to her
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