What I Learned Skiing 130+ Days This Year

And how it impacted my ability to do good work

This year I skied more than 130 days. We had an epic winter in the Sierras and near Tahoe.

However, I had to re-arrange my work and personal life to make it happen. Here are some of the lessons I learned from doing this:

Re-organizing your day to sleep even earlier and wake up earlier provided structure. I tend to be an early riser and early to bed person. However, to do backcountry skiing before work, I usually needed to leave my house by 530AM to be at the trailhead by 6AM. This required building a structured sleep schedule and a plan in the morning to be out the door on time. However, I really liked the structure. It was stressful some mornings, but overall, it ensured a great workout before starting work most days.

Being in nature before work really makes it easier to be in front of a screen all day. I found that having a few hours in nature working uphill and skiing down to be a great mental and physical cleanse. It meant my body had already accomplished something but it was also a clarifying way to clear your brain and get priorities well aligned. There’s something incredible about seeing the sunrise before starting your day.

It’s great to do something really hard before you start working. Most days I’d climb 1500-2000 feet when skiing before work. That’s not a crazy amount, but it’s pretty hard work at 6am with a headlamp on. It also makes work things that you perceive as hard feel a bit easier. You’ve already done one of the hardest things you’re going to do all day, figuring out growth and marketing plans feels less daunting.

Forced prioritization becomes key. I found the fact that this compacted my morning to be a great thing. I have a tendency to wake up and spend some time going through work early before starting workouts. However, inevitably that will involve google/wikipedia deep dives and general wastes of time. The great thing about this was that it cut down on some of that wasted time and re-directed it towards physical activity. It also meant that I was much more purposeful with my time for work and I often found myself more efficient with better results.

I of course don’t recommend that everyone undertake something this extreme. But if you can make it outside or at least to a meditation or workout session that allows you to reset and disconnect before the day, it can add a lot of value.