Alex Honnold discusses fear with psychology researcher Armita Golkar - Nobel Week Dialogue 2019 

“Reframe fear as excitement. They feel almost the same inside your body.” Super insightful and genius lifehack.

My palms start sweating just by watching Alex sitting in chair and talking. It''s some kind of Pavlovian reaction now.

Naturally introverted dude. Probably needed a good day alone on a wall to recharge after this.

He's a perfect example of a seasoned climber who never got overconfident, yet exactly confident enough

Let’s just say it. Alex is a genius. I’ve watched a lot of interviews with him and he clearly is a high-level thinker and could probably have mastered anything he wanted in life.. He happened to choose rockclimbing. I do believe that there are a handful of people on this planet that are capable of that level of thinking and Alex should be applauded.

Alex is brilliant. His risk-probability analysis is one of the best I've heard - in game theory, economics, or the law. And he has the goods to back it up; not only his amazing first ascents of El Sendro Luminoso, Half Dome, El Cap, and others - but the fact that no one has ever contemplated to do any of them, either before Alex or since his amazing achievements. We're lucky to have such an eloquent, erudite, and fun to watch icon among us...

I love how intellectual they were trying to be and alex is just like “yea that looks fun” 💀, such a down to earth dude

"I would say my job is to reduce uncertainty", thats a great phrase for research and science overall

I like that he constantly makes extremely profound or insightful contributions and then kinda ends it with 'eh', or 'but yeah...', as if hes like, 'was that any good?' Yes, Alex. It was very, very good.

Alex Honnold is to me one of the most ground to earth guy in this world that I personally admire, as an athlete and as a human being, just pure class!

Earth's population is almost 8 billion and no one else on earth has ever done what Alex has done. No one.. Until they do this dude is unmatched

"You know, I have no technical knowledge about fear except that I spend a lot of time being very afraid." - That made me laugh so hard :-)

The second most impressive thing about Alex is hes free soloing. The most impressive is that he knows that the Metric system is used everywhere outside USA..

Dude is a true stoic, visualizing death. Even visualizing the good feelings is good, because in the moment, you don't want any feelings, you want to be 100% focused and in flow. As a freediver, I can totally relate and this is very inspiring.

Alex has one shirt.

I like how Alex took control of the whole room almost mid-way of the interview.

Such a young guy to go through the rest of his life with everyone near him being kind of awestruck.

I really appreciate this discussion. Alex is great and his ability to translate and deconstruct such inconceivable actions and experiences into simple sport or mathematic examples, like his risk/consequence analogy and describing the psychological "Flow State" as simple muscle memory or performance reaches a much wider audience than the psychology behind it. But I loved how Armita reaffirmed the things he says, and also expounds upon them to ubiquitous fears in animals, having children, and within the general public, not just athletes or climbers. I think when that woman asked them what's the best way to counter fear at 22:40. Alex gave a very Alex and athlete-oriented response saying that it's all mental state. "I take fear and try to reframe it as excitement." He's focused on the his personal sensation and response to fear and how he, as a performer, can ignore it, subside it, or overcome it. Alex is smart so he's aware of the things he's feeling and why he feels them and can easily break them down to not be scary. One thing he said that I found particularly interesting was that fear and excitement feel the same within the body. On the other hand, Armita's response was much more sociological and psychological. Her response resting on research and can be applied to all fears and all people. She basically says that the only way to overcome fear is to associate that feared experience with safe experiences. Which all of Alex's training consist of, whether he was aware of it or not, that's why he was kinda talking over her when she got to her points because he was understanding and following along. He'll practice and study routes long before soloing to gain exposure and safe experience of the climb. So by the time he's up there there aren't unknowns, unexpecteds, he isn't afraid but familiar and therefore confident. Same with why people are more comfortable with driving vs. flying, because of exposure to driving is almost daily and you never really witness or experience crashes, where with aircraft you often hear of planes crashing and people rarely surviving. It's interesting seeing the responses they give and their similar but different perspectives. Armita is obviously knowledgable but uses long winded analogies and scientific terms to convey, whereas Alex is more familiar with the sensations Armita is describing leading him to easily and simply explain these wide ranging and deep topics.

Alex is a very intelligent person, extremely internally aware through constant self observation in order to know himself well enough to be able to do what he does. He has also read a lot it would seem.

He looks more afraid to be on that stage than he does to be climbing a big wall.

She wasn’t devaluing him in anyway. She was highlighting the fact that we take huge risks every day, but because they’re common actions, we don’t highlight them. Whereas what Alex does is so unique, it seems far more risky and threatening to us. When actually, he takes far more time considering what he’s doing, than say we do, getting into a car.

He's an expert Stoic and doesn't even know it.

This was a really good conversation on fear. It was a good combo to have a "practitioner" and "academic" discuss it together.

The best way to combat fear is to face that which you fear and expose yourself to it repeatedly. As you repeatedly expose yourself, survive the event or thing that you fear, you reinforce the fact that fear is almost unnecessary. I suffered from panic attacks due to several different things going on in my life at the time. My world shrank. The way Alex explained "expanding" your comfort bubble slowly is a great concept. When the panic would come, it gave me certain sensations, many uncomfortable. I began to exercise my mind to respond by facing it. I would tell myself I know what it is, it's uncomfortable for a finite time and it won't kill me. It almost began to become a game to me.

If you examine all your fears, all the things you’re afraid of, you’ll see you are not afraid of something. You’re afraid of the thought of that thing. That’s how thoughts create fear. And fear is connected to the desire to not be afraid.

"safe experiences" is such a brilliantly simple and concise way to put that. It really sums up everything else that was said and put it into two words.

I just learned I only like Alex interviews when he's solo.

We need people like Alex Honnold running America

I wish Alex a very long and prosperous life. He is The Beatles of rock climbing.

In order to reduce risk 'build a broad comfort zone', says Alex. This is profound. It is not enough simply to master the skills involved in what you intend to do. Just climbing El Cap with ropes however many times (Alex made multiple reconnaissances) would not have enabled him to free-solo El Cap. A varied training regime, a variety of climbing experiences, a variety of life experiences, a variety of modes of thinking over many years enabled him to tame El Cap in his own mind, thus reducing fear. It's a lesson in any field . . .

Amazing Alex , physically , emotionally and spiritually . So grounded . Wishing him the best for all his future climbs . Great talk .

I think passion overcome fears. There is risk, but your passion is so huge that you want to take that risk.

What an incredible panel! I was kinda worried about putting Alex with an expert and it getting very uncomfortable, but it is such a respectable, intelligent conversation they have here. Props to the organizers!

Such a great dude, and I’m super stoked how willing he is to improve science as well as his craft. Very few brains that work like his and have the experiences he has.

Amazing the introspective level of Alex, the way he dissects fear as somebody whose life deppend of his hability to manage it is something that no psicology college can teach.

If you're looking for viewers to project on to Honnold, you've come to the right place!

Alex Honnold is too amazing to live on this planet.

What I learned here is, do not argument e with Alex. Here he is sitting on the side answering questions. As always analytical of the situation and having a solid thought out response. The brain on this guy is quite interesting.

Alex Honnold is so good at sounding reasonable when he's completely not even a little bit reasonable.

The systematic way of explaining that Armita uses is so clear and satisfying.

You can see very clear the difference between the two: first the climber, with the direct experience of fear in his body (he can almost transfer that to the audience with his words) and then the psychologist, with all the technicism and theory about fear, whos words are emotionally empty, and also doesn't seem that she has experience real fear of death at all. Very interesting, thanks for the upload

100% agree with changing fear to excitement. You can train yourself to enjoy the unknown. Every time you conquer your fear and succeed at whatever the activity is you are building a foundation in your psyche for a positive response that feeling.

What a wonderful and intelligent discussion. So rare these days, everyone lets everyone else make their point, all of them shine with their questions and answers and surprise, nobody feels the need to create conflict or controversy on stage. It's just a calm and interesting discussion.

This climb not only brought him to the top of that mountain , it brought him all the way to the top with sensations , glad to have come across him he is a rarity

The irony of this presentation is that the most intelligent and imaginative person on stage is the one without a degree. Because what he does requires extraordinary mental prowess in risking real value where the reward is life itself.

The example of the fear we experiance when geting on a plane made me realize that, in that situation, what keeps us not being extremly afraid due to the high consequence is that we trust the PILOT(he is well trained, hes is an expert), so analogically, alex trust his ABILITIES. So he train his mental confidence stepping out of his confort zone and his phisical abilities by climbing a lot. PD: Sorry for the bad grammar i'm not an english speaker hahah

I love listening to this man talk. Hes so real, humble and open to talk about his experiences. I Have a new hero

Interviewer: So is it really scary? Alex: Only when it's really scary haha? Armita: Courage is just an illusion.

What i love about Alex is that how humble and calm he is. You can truly see he is a man that has looked worst fear human can know right in to the eye and beat it. He doesn't have to prove anything.

It’s so interesting to listen to Honnold! He’s clearly a master of fighting fear. He does it in his sleep without thinking of it I think. That’s why his amygdala is also sleeping.

His control of words is just as wonderful as his control of feet and hands.

I don't climb ( old dude ) but I ocasionally watch climbing videos because they are amazing. However, the point I want to make, is that I'm always impressed how articulate, precise ( & humble ) these great climbers are when discussing their achievements. I suspect that their deep linguistic analysis of their work is not unrelated to the physical & mental skills required for their successful completion.

Brilliant! That was not long enough; I could have listened to hours of this discussion!!

I find him so impressive to listen to. It's obvious he takes this very seriously and does everything he possibly can to reduce any risk he can.

The two speakers perfectly complemented each other, amazing talk!

This was a fountain of wisdom, thank you.

Man, that mask fear with excitement is spot on. Makes me think of the night before a job interview where you go between fearful/nervous to excited and back n fourth. Crazy good explanation and helps the simple man, like me, understand the mindset of a free solo climber.

how you combat fear? EXPERIENCE. how to get experience? COURAGE.

I wish they would revisit this discussion in light of the pandemic that came shortly after this went up. What an important bookend to this discussion.

One person is study life and other one living life.

As a climber, the love overpowers and obliterates the fear. From this comes enormous power and focus. It’s not cockiness but mastery of self in all aspects.

Alex is a such great ambassador for the sport of climbing - maybe even in the same class as Reinhold Messner, Chris Bonnington and Walter Bonattii. It will be interesting to see if he becomes tempted to venture into the high mountains and what doors he might open if he does.

Control and mastery to cope with fear "I spent a lot of time afraid" Reframe fear as excitement 10:56

Its seems to me that Alex felt very relaxed and almost a sense of relief having so much understanding from the other two participate when talking about the risk factors etc. I guess he's otherwise approached with the opposite and people just shaking there heads. I think its a really good way of thinking and to get out of the conditioning the norms of society have put us in. Through evaluation and practice we we overcome alot of obstacles and alot of fears in life. Its really inspiring for sure! I felt really inspired by another climber, Dean Potter and I still feel this emptiness inside me after he died in 2015. I really wish for Alex to be safe and to continue to inspire us for many years to come. We really need these role models in our lifes ❤

There are many situations in life where your ability to control your fear directly influences how dangerous the encounter is. Free soloing is certainly one. I feel like this is the entire crux of what the video should be about given the title. It's not about statistics, incapacitation or common vs rare instances of risk. It's about the psychology of fear or so I thought and how it could itself mean the difference between life an death on the extreme end of the spectrum. This is what really fascinates people when they watch or read about people they revere for their feats of courage. This is a human (animal too) thing. And that's why we all clicked on this video.

Great. Thank you for sharing.

I believe the antidote to fear is gratefulness. When you are grateful for what you have, you can't physically feel fear.

Alex is so clear in his thinking that is why I love to listen to him

I have had a huge fear of heights but over the last two years managed to over come it , I now go abseiling down deep mines and love it.

Even though Alex may have a reputation of lacking fear, one can argue that intense fear and insecurity may be what has driven Alex to increase his comfort "bubble" even beyond the comfort realm of most people.

He is just so humble and mellow 🥺

We all have fear. Alex has concurred his, at this point for climbing this way for so long, not all of us can comprehend. Imagine if you had no fear, or rather that the rewards trumped that. You are completely FREE.....solo

He's attained mastery, no question. but, don't fall into the trap of thinking it's training alone. The guy is a almost the embodiment of an outlier, hes naturally fearless, and also seems to have a whole range of traits associated with Asperger's while also being extremely athletic. Those factors alone are extremely rare.

I admire Alex for his courage and modesty and values. It's inhuman all he can do ! But I fear for him because during a free solo climbing you're not able to manage everything ( a strong wind that starts suddenly, a tempest, the need to pee, a strong headache etc), a very unexpected or subtle detail can change all ...

What an amazing Human Being! Love this convo.

At some point you have to just experience it in order to learn more about fear, something they both can agree on but how you handle it is something general science and expert “experiencers” will disagree on always. Great discussion.

You could offer anyone on earth $1 billion to do what Honnold has done and in 1 year you’d still have a billion in your bank. There is literally no one else on earth that can do what Honnold has done. And he’s 20 years ahead of every other free solo climbers in the world.

I'd like to hear Alex talk about complacency sometime. It occurs in every "adventure" sport or activity where at first you are naturally very focused and careful. After some experience you are at ease, after a lot more experience you start to know that there is a lot that you can't know and this leads to longer-term survival. However, in that need to keep fear in its place you can become complacent because you are now used to being in that extreme environment, nothing bad has happened and you can let your guard down a little. There is a point however, sometimes, where you treat that environment as non-life threatening and that's the complacency and it's easy to make stupid mistakes since all it takes is one to have a very bad day. It's also a downside of learning by rote. You are just on autopilot at times and maybe just one little thing changes and you don't notice and adjust and you can make a big mistake. I would like to hear Alex address what his experiences have been in that regard. Many good climbers have died, for instance, rappelling off the end of a rope on a not very difficult route knowing full well that you should always check for a safety knot, knowing full well that it's possible that the rope didn't go down as far as they expect it to go and knowing full well that others have died that way. Yet, it happens every year.

Interesting how relatable a man like he is as a someone who relatively recently started as a solo ultra distance runner. Some really good lessons can be learned from learning to understand risks, being prepared and knowing how far you control your body in connection to how your position is towards life. It won't be throwing your life upside down, it will just add to who you are.

The psychologist hits the nail on the head..we trust so.many different dynamics in our daily existence

He’s the most down to earth guy i know

Alex is amazing. But also something that is amazing is how they have analysed his brain in comparison to the average. His fear factor is so less.

Excellent discussion. I think Alex is a great public interface for climbing. When he speaks, he comes off as completely rational, intelligent and articulate. He is no dumb jock.

Knowledge is the key to overcoming fear. It all boils down to that simple equation.

Saw stuff about Free Solo on RU-vid. Was about to buy it but had it on Disney Plus. Just watched Free Solo today. Watching all of Alex's material on RU-vid. Love this guy

This talk was great.The "Doer" vs (for lack of a better word) "Thinker," "Applied vs Academic," Real Street vs Wall Street. Both are necessary though there is a difference, One is challenging his fears while the other is writing about how it feels

Alex Honnold is such a great inspiration to me.

What a very interesting discussion. Thank you.

The guy is fearless, respect him very much for what he has accomplished.

Alex climbs mountain: I have control of my body climbing a mountain. Alex goes for drive: I have no control of this mountain of cars.

I really enjoyed the insite of both the Dr. and Alex, I could not agree more with almost everything that was said👍

awsome talk I have liked Alex Honnold for a few years but this psychologist is concise and easy to understand. A very difficult topic to tackle but worth recognizing.

The enemy of fear is laughter. Try it.

I got a sense that he has way more knowledge and experience that her, and she was trying to keep up. Several times she reiterated exactly what he said. In my opinion, this is a good example of why experience in life wins out over book smarts.

Alex has a sharp mind. And he speaks well in public too

The idea of thinking about The negative possible outcomes pro-climbing so you dont think of them for The first time while climbing is just phenomenol and admirable thinking

Sorry I only listened to Alex and then waited for him to talk again.

I love how much respect, agreement and curiosity there is between Alex and Armita. You can tell they're both completely in awe of one another, both learning from one another. There's a lot of self awareness too.

I become calm when Alex speaks