Thick fog dims the moonlight.  A tunnel of crooked, weaving branches shrinks my world as I follow the dirt tail. The sharp crack of a branch speeds my footsteps along the path. It’s my second day alone in California. My stomach fills with anxious excitement as I follow the dimly lit path. 

I passed many unfamiliar faces on the Pacific Crest Trail. All of them with the same goal. To follow the path north. To open their senses to beauty and diversity. And meet the thousands of others embarking on this 2,650 mile journey.

2 years and 5,500 miles later the brisk mountain air is replaced by the smell of freshly ground coffee. But I only need to close my eyes to travel back to that eerie night alone on the Pacific Crest Trail.  Or to visit hundreds of similar moments dispersed through those 13 million steps.

Many of those moments scared me – face to face with a bear while squatting over a cathole, hiding behind a thin cactus as a bull rooted through my camp, shivering underprepared through days of freezing rain, and sleeping under an ominous sky deep in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

At the time those experiences felt normal. They were just another day on trail. Looking back, the sum of those moments has become foundational. They taught me to find peace in simplicity. That acceptance is more important than perfection. That beauty is wherever you look with an open mind. 

You’re probably reading this because of the miles I hiked. But there’s another story I haven’t shared. Before backpacking, I spent 6 years as an early employee / executive of a startup. That was a different version of myself. A version obsessed with productivity, goal-setting, and growth.

The Start Up Journey

Year one was a battle to keep the lights on and find a market for our product. To succeed growth had to become my focus – my North Star. I adopted the mindset that the person I was in 2017 wasn’t the person Packback needed to succeed in 2018. I had to improve.

I dove headfirst into personal growth and productivity. I read books and blogs. I formed an accountability group with two other leaders at the company. Complacency was our enemy. My weeks turned into a systematic loop of goal setting, action, measurement, and reflection.

Against the odds, we kept the lights on year after year. We learned that any process can be improved with measurement and time. We learned than any goal – no matter the size – can be broken into manageable bites and accomplished. The key was disciplined operations within a well defined system. And now the company has impacted millions of students. It wasn’t education or funding that drove our success – it was a relentless drive to improve.

Throughout that time I worked on a daily journal. A system to prioritize goals and guide my day. Every few weeks I tweaked the layout in search of the perfect planner. I credit that system to a lot of my success. But it was never perfect. In fact, it wasn’t sustainable. I got burnt out by the relentless pursuit of growth and left Packback to follow a dirt path.

The Dirt Path

Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, Arizona Trail, and Appalachian Trail was my reset. A way to force myself into a life of simplicity and reflection. To throw out all structure and live in the woods. I met some of the happiest people I’d ever seen. Trail changed my perspective of success and taught me how to sustainably progress toward a goal.

On trail I was forced to give myself space and time. The amount of miles I could walk in a day were limited. I removed the “should dos” and “could haves.” I accepted myself each day. I accepted that whatever I accomplished that day was enough. Even if that day was spent laying alongside wildflowers on an abandoned forest service road.

Your actions form the story of who you become tomorrow. And that version of yourself is exactly who is needed to continue toward your North Star.

The Worlds Overlap

My failures and successes as an executive set the foundation for my system of growth. On trail I learned to make progress sustainable. I simply needed to be present and let time pass. Confident that each step, no matter the direction, will take me closer toward my truth and passion – my North Star.

Both experiences are interwoven into my next goal – to share a daily planner that helps you operate in your highest state of mind.  It’s futile to control every minute of your day or beat yourself up over daily missteps. Instead, use a daily planner that sets an unwavering system and guides each step closer to your North Star.

The most impactful change you can make is to design a day that puts yourself in the highest state of mind.

What I’m Focused On

A week after finishing the Appalachian Trail in 90 days, I rejoined Packback (July 2023). We needed a new majority investor. It was my last chapter at Packback. And now it is finished.

It’s finally time for the dirt-bag backpacker to meet the start-up executive.

Goals

Short Term

• Launch Build A Pack – a website that empowers people to experience the beauty and simplicity of trail life (I’ve been passively working on this for more than a year)
• Publish a daily planner and system of productivity that incorporates my learnings from start-ups and backpacking
• Convert a sprinter van and road trip the 63 national parks

Long Term

• Thru-hike the 8 remaining national scenic trails (finished PCT, AT, and AZT)
• Open a growth retreat near a national scenic trail

My Truth

I will refine a daily system that facilities personal growth. A system that allows me to operate in my highest state of mind. Then make it available to anyone who wants to find their North Star and make daily progress toward a goal.

TLDR: I’m launching a backpacking website in a few months, publishing a productivity journal in a year-ish, and one day building a growth retreat near a long trail. While it’s scary to share my ambitions without a firm plan or timeline. I don’t care. Because this is my truth. Failure is part of this journey. And I will take as many small steps forward as it takes.