What are the 3 most critical turns on a ski run?
Despite the title, many people get this wrong. The answer is the last 3 turns when the slope is flat and easy. A former Olympic downhill skier, Billy Kidd, shares this lesson in Tim Ferris’s book Tools of Titans.
Here is why:
When you end a ski run with bad form, your brain internalizes poor mechanics the entire ride back up the ski lift.
Poor mechanics = poor quality = poor growth.
You must internalize high quality into your last three turns to be extraordinary.
This includes your daily business activities.
So I installed a 14-minute end-of-day routine to internalize quality overnight and supercharge my daily performance.
Here is the process I use:
Reflect on today’s work for 4 minutes
Plan tomorrow’s work for 7 minutes
Close down the office for 3 minutes
In the past, I would abruptly quit, not realizing I was signaling to my brain poor quality.
That will never happen again.
Reflect on today’s work for 4 minutes.
Even the smallest (atomic) habits can have remarkable effects.
I ask myself 4 questions:
Did I follow my daily plan? (if not, why?)
What is one high-level lesson I learned today?
What is one thing that worked well I must carry forward to tomorrow?
What is one thing I can do tomorrow to continue my growth?
Plan tomorrow’s work for 7 minutes.
Thinking requires a lot of energy.
If you have to guess what you will do throughout the day, you will experience decision fatigue.
Fatigue leads to poor decisions.
To plan my day, I use a timebox calendar by writing down these 5 elements:
My year-long theme (at the top of the paper each day)
3 goals to achieve in 90 days
3 milestones to complete in 30 days (related to those 90-day goals)
3 micro tasks to do today (to hit those 30-day milestones)
The calendar of activities by the hour (6 am to 6 pm)
Close down the office for 3 minutes.
Cal Newport, author of Deep Work, says you’ll ruminate over ideas at night if you don’t signal your brain that your work is complete.
I have trouble shutting down my brain completely, but taking 3 minutes to prepare the office for tomorrow quiets my analytical, problem-solving, and client-focused brain and lets me keep the creative side running.
It helps me prepare for the next day’s writing.
