Nik Wallenda | The 11-Time Guinness World Record-Setter and Tightrope Walker Shares How to Face Fear

Show Notes

American acrobat, aerialist, daredevil, high wire artist, and author Nik Wallenda who is known for his high-wire performances without a safety net shares how he faces fear. He holds 11 Guinness World Records for various acrobatic feats, but was best known as the first person to walk a tightrope stretched directly over Niagara Falls.

NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.” – Adolf Hitler 

1. Yes, yes, yes and yes!!! Thrive Nation on today’s show we are interviewing Nik Wallenda who is the face of “The Great Wallendas,” the circus family famous for performing crazy feats without safety nets…Nik, welcome onto The Thrivetime Show! How are you sir?!
2. Nik Wallenda, throughout your career you have done tightrope walks over Times Square, Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, and most recently over the active Masaya Volcano (2020)…what was your first intense tightrope walk?
3. How did you know that you were good enough at tightrope walking to risk your life to tightrope walk over it?
4. I am getting nervous and filled with fear right now just thinking about your tightrope walking over the Grand Canyon. How do you overcome the fear?
   1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N8fUOLcSak
5. Let’s talk about the Chicago Skyline tightrope walk…tell us about the conditions and details surrounding this tightrope walk? 
   1. https://youtu.be/ho5uYKGIxBE?t=136
6. You tightrope walked across Niagara in 2012…what inspired you to do this?
   1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK_oW62-zrc
7. What has been your toughest tightrope walk thus far?
8. So Nik, tell us about your new book…what inspired you to write Facing Fear: Step Out in Faith and Rise Above What’s Holding You Back.?
9. Nik Wallenda, I understand that your book was written to be a practical guide for overcoming fears. I would love for you to share with your listeners what you are saying to yourself as you are risking your life walking on a tightrope? 
10. Nik, how do you think your book could benefit our listeners?
11. Nik, you are the face of the The Great Wallenda’s, the famous circus family known for performing crazy feats without safety nets…tell us the story of how the The Great Wallenda’s began? 
12. Nik, I understand that you are a seventh-generation member of the The Great Wallenda’s…did you ever consider doing something else with your career?
    1. NOTES: Nik has been walking the wire since he took his first steps, but he had never experienced fear until a tragic accident in 2017. The eight-person pyramid he and several members of his family were practicing collapsed, and five of its members fell thirty feet to the ground. Miraculously, they all survived, but the accident changed Nik’s life forever. For the first time, he felt fear, and he had to learn to get past it to get back out on the wire.
    2. Most of us will never walk a tightrope, but we face things that scare us every day. Whether putting ourselves out there socially or seeking a dream job, all of us allow anxieties and fears to hold us back. Facing Fear is a reader-centric memoir, interweaving parts of Nik’s personal story of the accident and how he conquered his fear with practical advice for readers to overcome whatever fears are holding them back. This practical book will help everyday people step out in faith and trust that God will hold them steady, even when they’re afraid.
13. Nik Wallenda, in your book I understand that you discuss, Finding Your Footing (it takes perseverance, faith, integrity, and positivity)…I would love for you to share about this with our listeners?
14. Nik Wallenda, what does your book teach readers about Silencing Shame (“no one will understand”)?
    1. NOTES:
       1. Facing Your Fear (being bold and calling your fear by name!)
       2. Walking Towards Healing (rebuilding trust)
       3. Taking Fresh Steps of Faith (resurrecting your dreams)
15. Nik Wallenda What is your favorite old school jam?
16. What advice would you give the younger version of yourself?
17. We find that most successful entrepreneurs tend to have idiosyncrasies that are actually their super powers…what idiosyncrasy do you have?
18. Nik Wallenda You’ve got the mic, what is one thing that you want to share with the Thrive Nation before you drop the mic?