Ted Talk 

9 life lessons from rock climbing

Matthew Childs

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Matthew Childs' Ted talk on the 9 life lessons is about the strategies and methods he has developed, and the lessons he has learned from his rock climbing experience.

Matthew presents 9 very basic, yet key points that could be useful to any rock climber, beginner or veteran.

The first lesson he presents is that one should never let go while rock climbing, since the mind fails before the body does, so you can always push your body further than you think you can. Secondly, he states that hesitation is bad, as once you get going and pick up momentum, it is much easier to keep going then to stop and hesitate about a movement. Thirdly, he suggests that you come up with a plan beforehand, so that when you are rock climbing, you're not constantly worrying about when the hardest parts will appear, since you will have already planned them out. In the fifth point he states that "fear sucks". Fear takes the focus away from the movements you're doing, which causes you to lose focus on actually succeeding. Matthew continues down the list with similar points, all sort of summarizing the main idea; organization and a good mindset lead to successful climbing. 

Overall I found this Ted Talk to be pretty interesting. At first I found the 9 lessons to be very obvious, yet Matthew described them in a way that not only related to rock climbing, but also life. These 9 lessons are basic enough to teach a beginner, yet also complicated enough to challenge a professional.   

Childs , M (February 2009). 9 life lessons from rock climbing . retrieved December 17th, 2014, from TED Web Site: http://www.ted.com/talks/matthew_childs_9_rules_of_rock_climbing?language=en