Why Not Have Both?

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I was a diver. I wasn't, I wasn't even willing to take enough risk to compete on platform. And that really held me back as a diver. What would you say to somebody like me who is still afraid of some pretty basic challenges in a sport? Well, if it's something that you're vaguely afraid of, but actually never happens or is incredibly unlikely, then you sort of have to work on ways to set that aside.

In 2017, Alex Honnold did what even the world’s best rock climbers thought was impossible. He climbed to the top of El Capitan– a granite rock mountain more than 3,000 feet high– without a rope, harness, or net. His audacious feat was the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary “Free Solo,” and it left Adam Grant with some burning questions about what we can learn from his unique approach to managing fear. In this episode of ReThinking, another podcast in the TED Audio Collective, Alex opens up about how he regulates his emotions when he’s hanging on by just a few fingers, what still scares him, and how he stays motivated to pursue ambitious goals. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/RWAG2. And for more conversations on how the world’s most interesting people think, follow ReThinking with Adam Grant wherever you're listening to this.