The Secret Life of Gordo Clute | E90

His co-workers know him as Gordon, but when he’s not working – which is often – his secret alter ego is Gordo, and all Gordo wants to be is outside. Whether it’s sailing, surfing, foiling, skiing, running, biking, swimming 22 miles from Catalina to San Pedro or hiking 2600 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, Gordo Clute has never in his life worked more than he can play. Over a successful 30 year career in shipping sales, Gordo elaborately lived a lie, being perceived as a dedicated hardworking employee when he was instead outside playing, his real dedication focused on finding the flow state we all seek. Gordo’s dedication runs so deep that he secretly moved his entire family to Mammoth for three years when his boss thought he was living 10 miles across town from work headquarters in Orange County. In Episode 90, we chat with ultra-Core Lord and Mind the Track superfan Gordo Clute, and the many life hacks he’s developed in shirking work to prioritize play, time with family and putting his mind in the track.

3:00 – Summer shenanigans and tourist dodging in Tahoe

5:30 – Introducing Gordo Clute core lord superfan of MTT

10:20 – The benefits and drawbacks of riding dirt bikes

14:30 – Learning about Gordo’s background in sailing, ship captaining and becoming a ski bum

17:00 – Solo endurance swimming 22 miles from Catalina to San Pedro starting at midnight and swimming solo 12 miles across Lake Tahoe

23:30 – Who is Gordo Clute? There’s no information on the internet about him. Man of mystery.

26:30 – Secretly moving his family to Mammoth from Orange County without his boss knowing

29:00 – Gordo’s secrets to slacking success so he could be outside playing instead of working

33:30 – “Diarrhea” – the magic word to get you out of any work jam

37:00 – Coping with the redundancy of doing sales to make it work for an outdoor lifestyle

40:10 – Buying ski resort lift tickets with the work credit card and expensing season passes for clients that he could end up using

44:00 – Training clients, playing offense versus defense and using procrastination to your benefit

46:00 – The “Action Required – Not Really” flowchart – using procrastination to test importance

49:20 – Shirking work and getting paid to do as little as possible

52:10 – Time is the most valuable thing in existence. The only thing you can’t buy back.

53:50 – Getting into mountain biking in the 1970s in Marin County at the dawn of the sport

55:30 – The stress of crafting a life built around lies and being busted while caught in a lie

1:02:00 – Two years into “funemployment” without a full-time job

1:04:00 – Using Waymo as a wing foiling shuttle

1:11:00 – Uphill vs downhill trail traffic – who has the right of way?

1:21:10 – Lightning round questions with Gordo

1:23:30 – Gordo’s ice cream man story, except he’s the propane man in Mexico

1:25:55 – Burning Man – Gordo went from anti to pro Burning Man

1:29:00 – Attempting to through hike the Pacific Crest Trail 2600 miles

1:37:00 – Mountain biking the PCT with a permit after having to drop out with foot issues

1:47:30 – DOPE or DERP – fireworks on the Fourth of July

1:48:50 – What does Mind the Track mean to you?