Dr Frederik G. PferdtFrom Stanford & Google — To You

How I overcame my two greatest fears

3 Feb 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:32

Dr. Frederik G. Pferdt jumped off South Africa's highest bungee platform and spoke to bigger and bigger crowds to face his fears of heights and public speaking. The fear doesn't vanish, but your story about it shifts from terror to curiosity. Real fearlessness means meeting fear head-on, not running from it.

Chapters

I used to be afraid of heights, so at some point I jumped from the highest bungee jump in South Africa. And I used to be afraid of public speaking, so I exposed myself again and again to larger and larger audiences. Until stages that once terrified me slowly became places of curiosity and connection. The fear didn't disappear, but the story I told myself about it changed. And every time I learned the same lesson Alex Honnold seems to live by. You don't become fearless by avoiding fear. You become fearless by meeting it.