This season, we finally got back into skiing. For twelve years, it felt out of reach—first because we lived too far from a ski area, then because having young kids made the whole process seem too daunting. But this winter, we decided to give it a shot. We planned a quick weekend trip to Canada to see if skiing as a family was even feasible.
After the weekend, the verdict was unanimous: We wanted to ski more.
It would have been easy to stop there. We could have let logistical friction creep back in—the packing, the planning, the sheer effort of getting everyone out the door. Instead, I set a personal goal: Let’s get good at going skiing. Not just skiing itself, but the process of making it happen regularly.
So I figured out a system that made it easy:
- Standardized packing: We created dedicated ski gear boxes so everything had a place and could be packed quickly.
- Checklists: We made a list of what to bring and updated it every time we forgot something.
- Organized storage: Gear had designated spots when we got home, so the next trip starts with zero searching.
- Entertainment for the drive: Keeping myself and the kids engaged made long drives feel effortless.
And it worked. Going skiing now takes less than 15 minutes of preparation. The bar to getting out the door is low enough that I’ve decided to go skiing on a whim—like a random Saturday night, deciding at 4:45 pm and getting in three hours on empty slopes. As a result, we’ve gone far more often than I expected. We definitely got our money’s worth out of those season passes.
The power of removing friction
This isn’t just about skiing. The reality is that many things we want to do—things we genuinely enjoy—get blocked by friction. The effort to start feels too high.
Think about exercise. If you have to find your gym clothes, put together a workout plan, and psych yourself up to leave the house, you’ll probably skip it. But if your clothes are ready, you have a go-to routine, and the gym bag is already in your car, suddenly it feels easy. Also deciding up-front on your exercise program (selecting the Peloton class the night before or writing down your sets), packing your gym bag, making sure that you are set up for success, drives anticipation and makes the gym session something to look forward to.
Or take reading. If you have to hunt for a book, choose something new, and find a quiet spot, it’s unlikely to happen. But if you always have a book within arm’s reach—on your nightstand, in your bag, or on an e-reader—you’ll find yourself reading far more often. I now have an old Kindle at work and get some reading time in over lunch.
Systems over willpower
We tend to think motivation is what drives action, but in reality, systems make the difference. When something feels easy to start, we are far more likely to do it. The hardest part of most activities isn’t the activity itself—it’s the effort required to begin.
By designing systems that eliminate unnecessary friction, we stop relying on willpower and start building momentum. Systems lower the bar for success.
How to apply this to your life
- Identify something you want to do more of. Skiing, working out, reading, learning an instrument—whatever it is.
- Pinpoint the friction points. What makes it hard to start? What are the aspects you dread? What small obstacles add up to inaction?
- Build a system to remove that friction. Can you make setup automatic? How many decisions can you front-load, so that in the moment you have very little left to decide? Can you simplify prep? Can you create an environment where doing the thing is the default choice?
It’s a simple shift, but an incredibly powerful one. Try it in one area for a few weeks and see what happens. Then look at other areas of your life that fill you with latent dread. Life is too short not to go skiing.