But he also seeks to minimise risk, using training, technique and skill to avoid any injuries in his sport.
"I try to steer away from the things that have really high consequence," he said.
"To me, it’s not worth it.
That common sense and focus seem a part of his career in the extreme sport, in which he said there was an element of luck, "but then you create your own luck".
"You’ve got to be fit enough, strong enough and technically sound enough, and also mentally, to be able to put yourself in a position where you can be lucky."
Having won the world championship silver in September, Butcher, who was home in Alexandra to catch up with family and friends over Christmas, received funding announced by High Performance Sport NZ in mid-December, making Butcher’s career self-supporting for the first time.
"This is the first season I can call myself a professional.
"I can pretty much run a no-compromise programme all the way to Paris, to the Olympics."
Butcher just missed selection for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which he said was "pretty gutting", but he started his Olympics cycle that year, putting him ahead in preparation for Paris 2024, where extreme slalom will make its Olympic debut.
He has just completed a bachelor of sport and exercise at Massey University, after first beginning a bachelor of applied science in design technology at the University of Otago.
Dunedin was not ideal for training for whitewater slalom and he resorted to setting up gates in a pond in the Leith "just before it goes under George St".
When the Vector Wero Whitewater Stadium opened in Auckland, he had to decide whether to continue studying at Otago or see where his paddling could take him.
Paddling won out, hence the move from Dunedin, and he spent a year in Europe before switching to Massey in 2016 via distance study.
He hopes to be back in Europe by early June, 2022, "assuming I make the team".
National team selection races take place in mid-January and mid-February then the national championships are held over Easter.
The extreme slalom was a more combative sport than racing the clock on a flat course or regular slalom, where you negotiated 18 to 24 gates, he said.
"It’s head to head, four in each heat, and we still have gates to negotiate but the gates are a lot fatter and inflatable, and you don’t get penalised for hitting them.
"You can get into the head-to-head and get your elbows out and have a bit of fun."
- Tracie Barrett
