In addition to marking the 1 year anniversary of the last week before COVID-19 shook the very foundation of the world as we know it here in the U.S., last week was also Spring Break for my kids. As seekers of adventure, we took an opportunity to load our minivan with bags full of warm clothing and ski gear and headed north west to find some New Mexico powder in Taos Ski Valley. We were very excited about getting out of San Antonio for a bit to clear our minds and get a good start to the spring after last months historic snow storm here in Texas, which double downed our “stay at home” strategy for about a week. As we made the 11 hour track through the single lane farm roads of upper west Texas, my mind was focused on having some fun, making some memories with the kids and learning some more technical skills on the slopes. This was only our second time as a family coming to Taos. The first trip, we were all fairly new to skiing, yet given the technical difficulty of the mountain we had to level up fast and left Taos yearning to come back to ski the other half of the mountain we didn’t get too. We are by no means expert black diamond skiers (yet), but our approach has been to take private lessons the first day on the mountain and look to learn something new and get better each time we come. These mountains at the far south end of the Sangre De Cristo mountain range can be intimidating and the runs at Taos are narrow and fast. Most blues and greens at Taos would be blacks at more beginner level mountains (i.e. Sipapu, Red River, Angel Fire). In three short days, our entire family left the mountain smiling, laughing, sometimes crying while the memories we made will last a lifetime. In addition, we definitely met one of our goals of leaving better skiers than we arrived on Monday.
The feeling of accomplishment was high as we drove through the windy roads back to the rental home in the town of Taos, leaving the valley that last day. I felt good, yet was intrigued by how fast we were able to significantly increase our skills in 3 short days. Taos has some of the best ski instruction and I’m absolutely sure our commitment to lessons that first day had a significant impact, however when you think about the risk associated with going up to 30 miles and hour down a mountain coupled with the physical nature of learning new body movements and techniques to keep yourself safe and preserve energy, you have to wonder what is the science behind how we were able to increase our skill on a pretty difficult mountain to where we went from bunny slopes to blacks in just 3 short days?
Let me introduce you to Steven Kotler, author of several books on peak performance and flow. He also recently wrote a book called the “Art of the Impossible”, which I happened to be reading last month. In this book, he talks about this concept of the Challenge-Skill ratio. Which in it’s most simple explanation is when the challenge in front of you, is slightly greater than the skills you possess it’s enough to push you out of your comfort zone and allow you to achieve things that you thought you were in capable of achieving. The key to this is finding the right challenge-skills sweet spot. Kotler uses a metaphoric percentage of 4% as this threshold. If the challenge is 4% greater than the skill you possess, then you will be dialed in correctly for the task at hand and tuned for the highest level of your performance.
One of my favorite examples of the challenge-skill ratio is the story of the impenetrable 4-minute mile. Back in 1954, Roger Bannister, broke the 4 minute mile record by setting a new record of 3 minutes, 59 and four-tenths of a second (3:59:40). Up to that point, it had been documented that people were chasing this mythical sub-four minute mile since the late 1800’s without success. Although, Bannister will go down as the first to break this record what happened 46 days later was just as amazing. Another runner beat Bannisters record! And then in just 1 year three more runners ran sub-four minute miles in a single race! All it took was for someone to break the mental barrier of the sub-four minute mile, and then after the challenge-skill ratio was perfect for others to achieve what was thought to be impossible for almost a century.
In researching, high performing individuals you start to see patterns emerge as it relates to the scientific and neurobiological factors that drive great achievements. Goals play a big part in the challenge-skill ratio. If you set too high goals, then they fall outside of the 4% and you will end up frustrated and disappointed. If you set too low of a goal, you won’t get the returns on performance you are looking for. This will take some tweaking as you work through your goals, but if you can land on the sweet spot you will get better and see noticeable improvements. For example, when we were in Taos one of my goals this time was to do a black diamond slope. This was clearly out of my skill set. But because of my lesson and 2 days doing greens and blues, I felt that a black diamond was well within the 4% range. So, on day 3 I took a black diamond with a lot of moguls, it wasn’t pretty at first but as I made my way down it, my skill kicked in and created more and more confidence as I made it down to the bottom. I closed the gap on the 4%, went back to the lift and did it again, getting better and feeling more confident each time. Next time, I’ll do the double black summit of Taos Skill Valley Kachina Peak (12,481 ft).
In everyday life, I believe we are faced with challenges that seem so far out of our reach, yet within our grasps if we took a 4% approach. I can’t help but imagine what I personally could accomplish within that 4% threshold. We don’t always have to focus on only the large scale life changing goals. The 4% rule teaches us that we can take on challenges in our day to day life and still realize the gains of progress, which ultimately create momentum toward those large scale life changing goals. You want to blog more, start out by writing 250 words every morning. Work your way up to 500, then 1000. You want to be able to run 6 miles, run 4 miles, 3 times a week and work up to 6 miles. You want to get better at guitar, start with learning blues scales and work your way up to jamming at an open mic night at a local bar. These are simple examples, but the idea is to be intentional about your Challenge-Skill ratio and work to actively set the challenge in the sweet spot. Constantly evaluate and adjust and take the daily progress over a life of stagnation.
Skiing is a blast. I love the adventure, the challenge and the bonding a family can make on the slopes. It’s one of those vacations that you work really hard during the day and then come back to the rental home and sit in the hot tub and talk about all the fun and close calls you had on the mountain. I love chasing flow, whether that’s on my own running, mountain biking, coding or hiking. However, getting into group flow with my family is a whole other level of life and one I’m looking forward to experiencing more of. We captured lots of group flow on the mountain over spring break and I’m looking forward to next year and building upon our progress. On our way back to Texas, I drove in peace as we closed out a week of living it up, loving hard and realizing the gains of a life that is 4% better than yesterday.
Reference :
Bluescoder I/O 
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