Cross country skiers are made in the offseason. I’ve found that statement to be rock solid. Evidence of this came crashing home to me as I enter winter ski season a couple of years ago, feeling ready to take the trails by storm. Race coordinators might just as well elevate me to an elite wave start position with a personal wax crew and new Subaru, or so I thought.

These high aspirations were crushed by a fifty-plus-year-old man with a beer gut who looked as though he had just left the local bowling alley. As I toiled up the trail thinking I was God’s gift to Nordic sports, this duffer in a sweat-streaked ski suit, stretched two sizes larger than the intended body type, relatively danced past me uphill unflustered. Well shucks!

It turns out this guy has been skiing since childhood and has devoted years to perfecting smooth technique to humble the daylights out of the greenhorn’s and support a Lebowski body, a by-product of efficiency and control. This level of skiing is the result of a lifelong pursuit of perfection.

In retrospect, this encounter has served as a valuable lesson in striving to make tomorrow better than today. If you’re chasing perfection, excuses such as a short ski season are irrelevant on the road to self-improvement. Put your best efforts forward to not only reimagine your own personal best but inspiring those around you. The manifestation of perfection may vary, from long-term career goals to daily personal betterment or even fat Thor on skis. The bottom line is the pursuit of perfection is always worth the chase.