How Not to Die | How Alex Honnold Trains His Mind to Stay Calm 3,000 Feet Above Ground

How Not to Die | How Alex Honnold Trains His Mind to Stay Calm 3,000 Feet Above Ground

How do you stay calm and focused when you’re 3,000 feet off the ground — with no ropes, no safety lines, and no room for error?

Legendary climber and free soloist Alex Honnold returns to The Finding Mastery Podcast for a raw, insightful conversation about mindset, being great with fear, and what it means to live at the edge of human performance.

Alex is best known for his historic, ropeless ascent of El Capitan — captured in the Oscar-winning film Free Solo (which you should watch if you haven’t seen it yet). But in this episode, we go far beyond climbing.

We explore:

  • How Alex manages fear, consequence, and risk with rare mental clarity
  • What it takes to perform under pressure — and when to walk away
  • How fatherhood and loss reshaped his relationship with ambition and danger
  • The underrated power of optimism and framing hard moments as growth


This isn’t just a conversation about climbing. It’s about the psychology behind pushing your limits, the skill of regulating your mind under stress, and how to chase a bold, purposeful life — even when the summit feels out of reach.

Whether you’re an athlete, entrepreneur, or anyone seeking mastery under pressure, Alex’s honesty, humor, and hard-earned wisdom deliver lessons for all of us.

___________________________

This episode is brought to you in part by Momentous. In a space that’s crowded with bold claims and limited regulation, Momentous stands out. Every product is rigorously tested, NSF Certified for Sport®, and developed alongside leaders we deeply respect, people like Dr. Andy Galpin and Dr. Stacy Sims. To experience the Momentous Standard for yourself and get 35% off your first subscription, use the code FINDINGMASTERY at livemomentous.com.

___________________________

Subscribe to our Youtube Channel for more conversations at the intersection of high performance, leadership, and wellbeing: https://www.youtube.com/c/FindingMastery

Get exclusive discounts and support our amazing sponsors!

Go to: https://findingmastery.com/sponsors/

Subscribe to the Finding Mastery newsletter for weekly high performance insights: https://www.findingmastery.com/newsletter

Download Dr. Mike's Morning Mindset Routine: https://findingmastery.lpages.co/morningmindset!

Follow on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Avsnitt(609)

Ariana Kukors: Swim

Ariana Kukors: Swim

In this conversation we learn from Ariana Kukors, who is a USA Olympic Swimmer, current American Record holder and former World Record holder in the 200-meter individual medley (long course). A 2-Time...

14 Okt 20151h 38min

Luke Tyburski: Endurance Adventurer

Luke Tyburski: Endurance Adventurer

Luke Tyburski has designed the past three years of his life to push the limits of what “we” think to be possible. He’s designed an event to test his mental and physical skills over the course of 12 da...

7 Okt 20151h 22min

Keith Power: High Performance

Keith Power: High Performance

Imagine working to optimize the human performance strategies and outcomes for an entire nation’s elite sport efforts. It’s challenging enough to do so for an elite sport franchise, let alone an entire...

30 Sep 201559min

Fik-Shun: Dance

Fik-Shun: Dance

Shownotes: 4:30: Reasoning behind not choreographing his dancing 7:15: Trusting your instincts and creating an organic experience for the audience 11:05: Why instincts are the necessary choices 15:20:...

16 Sep 20151h 16min

Baggio Husidić: Soccer

Baggio Husidić: Soccer

Sport is a way to learn more about who we are — how we handle success, failure, pain, loss, friendships, challenges and opportunities. In this upcoming conversation, sport becomes the initial “handsha...

9 Sep 20151h 42min

Tom Osborne: Leadership

Tom Osborne: Leadership

While in graduate school, a psychology professor asked the class to draw a line across the middle of the paper. He asked us to write down, above the line, three people that have helped shape who we ar...

2 Sep 20151h 14min

Kai Kight: Violin

Kai Kight: Violin

Some conversations will be with those who summit the pinnacle of their profession —or break molds attempting to scale untold peaks. In this conversation, I was fortunate to sit down with a contemporar...

26 Aug 20151h 13min

Volleyball Great Karch Kiraly on Leadership, Passion, Risk

Volleyball Great Karch Kiraly on Leadership, Passion, Risk

Volleyball legend and three-time Gold Medalist, Karch Kiraly joins the show to discuss his path to Finding Mastery. The ‘winningest’ player in the history of the sport, Karch Kiraly is considered the ...

19 Aug 20151h 1min

Populärt inom Utbildning

historiepodden-se
rss-bara-en-till-om-missbruk-medberoende-2
det-skaver
harrisons-dramatiska-historia
alska-oss
nu-blir-det-historia
johannes-hansen-podcast
rss-foraldramotet-bring-lagercrantz
not-fanny-anymore
roda-vita-rosen
rss-viktmedicinpodden
sektledare
allt-du-velat-veta
rss-sjalsligt-avkladd
sa-in-i-sjalen
rss-max-tant-med-max-villman
i-vantan-pa-katastrofen
rss-basta-livet
rib-podcast
rss-traningsklubben