Energy Chews or Chocolate?

Before hiking the Inca Trail in Peru, I did what I do before any big endeavour. I talked to people who had done it before. I read packing lists. I looked at maps. I watched videos. I trained.

Leadership is like that too. So is learning any new skill, like public speaking or giving presentations. You can read books on leadership. Take courses on difficult conversations. Watch videos on presentation skills. Learn frameworks for conflict management.

But eventually, something happens that isn’t what you planned: a zoom share doesn’t work, someone asks a question you weren't expecting, a team member challenges you, a conversation doesn't go according to plan.

We spend a lot of time preparing to remove uncertainty. It’s effective and I highly recommend it. I often think people don’t prepare enough for important meetings or conversations. But many things we can only learn by doing: doing it badly, doing it scared, doing it imperfectly.

Nobody can tell you whether you'll reach for the energy chews or the chocolate. Or that something as simple as where you carry your water can determine how much you drink. You have to find that out yourself.

Many lessons only reveal themselves in motion. Eventually, you have to walk the trail.

All of it helped. But there are always things I can’t know until I am actually out on a trail with my gear on in random weather.

For example, I know from experience that if I carry a water bottle in the side pocket of my backpack, I drink about 80% less water than if I use a water bladder. It's not because I don't know hydration is important, especially at altitude. It's because reaching back with my short arms to grab the bottle and put it back is enough of a hassle that I wait until the next rest stop. When I use a water bladder with a hose, I take a sip every few minutes while I'm moving. No amount of research could have told me that. I have to actually hike to find that out.

The same is true for food. Before a hike, I can research the ideal nutrition strategy, I can buy the recommended energy chews, I can carefully plan my snacks. But until I'm six hours into a steep climb, I don't really know what I'm going to want. Sometimes it's the chews, sometimes it's trail mix, sometimes it’s chocolate. I can only learn that by hiking many times so that I know how much of each to pack.

One of the things I love about hiking is it’s so experiential: feeling the rough terrain beneath my boots; feeling the change in air temperature through different vegetation and elevation; the constant change of smells as I move through the different ecosystems; the burning of different muscles as I put one foot in front of the other. None of those things can be fully understood from a map or a video. 

It also highlights the difference between information, preparation, and experience. Preparation, maps, research, advice – they all help. But eventually, you have to stop learning about it and start doing it.