The Weekly Fill #03
What we can learn from Alex Honnold free-soloing the 11th-tallest building in the world...
Did you watch Alex Honnold free-solo the 11th-tallest building in the world, Taipei 101?
He climbed without ropes, a harness, or a safety net. Just a wild amount of capacity and a remarkably neutral nervous system.
Honestly, I felt a stronger fear response watching him do it while sitting safely on the ground thousands of miles away than how he appeared 1500 feet in the air. My hands and feet were sweating. I also had to physically look away more than once.
My mind was focused on what could go wrong, rather than what could go right.
That’s fear.
I was scared because I hadn’t been there. I hadn’t experienced that environment or witnessed it enough to know whether it was possible or even safe.
Fear tends to live more in places we haven’t been than in places we have. Which is exactly why it can keep us from moving toward places we want to go, especially because most of them are unfamiliar.
It’s also why doing hard things and putting yourself in new situations can build the wisdom and capacity to keep venturing into new territory. We become stagnant when we stop pushing our limits.
If you haven’t seen it yet, I really want you to watch at least a clip before taking in what I’m about to say. The full special is on Netflix, but even this short replay shows how much his demeanor and attitude mattered just as much as his strength.
Here are five things I processed while watching, aside from his obvious physical ability:
01: He Believed He Could
You don’t climb one of the tallest buildings in the world without believing it is possible. And not only is it possible for someone, but it is possible for you. This signifies the importance of how his relationship with himself shaped his ability.
TAKEAWAY: Your self-talk is shaping your capacity. How you relate to yourself either expands or limits what you attempt.
02: He Set An Intention and Trained For It
The documentary stated that Alex had conceived the idea and set the goal more than a decade before he attempted it. This wasn’t impulsive. It was an intention. He set a vision and worked for it, training consistently, even when it was hard and when progress was slow.
TAKEAWAY: Starting may get attention, but staying in it is the power. Consistency is harder than quitting, but it’s also where the payoff lives.
03: He Went Slow
In a world that seems to rush everything, addicted to urgency and fast results, his movements proved the opposite. They were slow, deliberate, and intentional both in the training and the climb itself. When you watch him move, it’s slow and deliberate. So slow, you could get the feeling it was going to take hours, and yet it didn’t.
His slowness actually made the process more efficient.
TAKEAWAY: Slow doesn’t mean harder and slower. It’s often the very thing that allows it to happen faster. It comes with less panic and more ease, which is what actually made it fast.
04: He Stayed Neutral
This one is hard to explain unless you see it. He was relatively emotionless, outside of the occasional smile. There was a neutrality toward him that wasn’t detachment but discipline. Through training and repetition, he learned that internal balance was the safest place to operate from.
Even at the top, his response was understated. Yet, maybe that’s the point. Maybe joy isn’t always found in the emotional highs, but in grounded presence.
TAKEAWAY: Your nervous system is always seeking balance. Feeling emotions isn’t the problem. Losing regulation is. Safety and strength come from returning to neutral.
05: Safety is Learned, Not Given
If I stood on a ten-foot roof, I’d be nervous. I can’t fathom 1,600 feet in the air. But one professional climber co-hosting the event said something that stuck with me: “repeated exposure is what desensitizes fear.”
You don’t wait to feel safe before you act. You act, and safety is learned through repetition.
TAKEAWAY: Safety is conditioned through experience. The more you show yourself that you can survive something, the safer your body learns it is.
Honestly, this wasn’t just a daring stunt like I thought it was, but it was a great picture of what is humanly possible.
What scares you the most about the changes you want to make in your life?
When you pinpoint it, you can stop living for it.
Remember, fear isn’t a sign you’re incapable. It’s often a sign you’re standing at the edge of something unfamiliar.
Hard isn’t punishment. It’s a strategy.
We’re living in our “gentle” era. And while I don’t disagree with the concept of gentle (truthfully, we could all be a little more gentle with ourselves), I think that we’ve assumed gentle is easy. In reality, gentle can be just as difficult, if not more so, than hard, and not in the way most people assume.
Gentle can quickly become an avoidance strategy or a form of complacency. It often comes with a lack of structure, and structure is what builds strength. Lived too long without balance, gentle can make us weak.
Humans actually benefit from a bit of pain. As Mark Manson says, “Strength is developed by consciously choosing and enduring, rather than avoiding what’s hard.”
Hard serves a purpose:
Hard rewires your brain and body.
Hard builds confidence, momentum, and consistency.
Hard turns knowledge into lived experience.
That doesn’t mean you need to stay in a perpetual state of hard, but approaching life strategically with hard challenges builds strength and capacity. Doing hard things is the very equation that makes hard things easier over time.
More things filling my week:
Morning Live’s inside the Health Blueprint. It’s always so good to chat with you and answer your questions. I’ve really enjoyed charging my body with you. You’re not too late to join. Become a member and join us each day next week.
Setting a new routine for February. January is not the best month to change, and the exact reason is that we don’t have the energy to change. That’s what February is for, and this month I’ve set a new routine to boost my energy so that I can catalyze change. Truthfully, I think every month could use a routine reset.
This baked seasoned chicken thigh recipe has been on repeat for the last month. It singlehandedly got us through January.
Red-light screen mode. This isn’t the perfect solution to blue light. Overall, it’s still best to cut back on screentime at night. But if you do look at your phone, you can reduce blue light by turning on red-light screen mode (here’s a video explaining how to do it). Using this not only reduces blue light exposure but also your usage. Screens are far less enticing without vivid colors.
**Do you already do this?
What’s Filling Your Month?
We’re in the heart of winter, although I like to think February is beyond the climax of winter (regardless of what the grounhog said). Remember, it’s going to be harder to maintain your energy, which means you should be more intentional about filling your energy tank.
What has been filling you up lately?
Here’s to charging up this weekend!
