The Surprising Benefit of Trying Something New | Henk Van der Klok | TEDxFryslân

Henk van der Klok has always been known as a serial quitter, the guy who never finished anything. He quit two universities, a wrestling team, the Dutch Marine Corps, and many other things.

In 2011 he reinvented himself as an adventurer to prove to himself and others that he could stick with something.

In the years that followed he walked from England to Rome, cycled from Holland to Istanbul, spent several months leading pack horses across the wilderness of Canada, and paddled the entire Mississippi river in a kayak in 110 days.

He slept in graveyards, ate raw eggs, walked across Spain thrice, was chased by feral dogs in Romania, and stood face to face with a grizzly bear in the Canadian wilderness.

However, even though he started his travels for these somewhat dysfunctional reasons, over time he discovered that trying all these new things had a surprising benefit. Henk van der Klok has always been known as a serial quitter, the guy who never finished anything. He quit two universities, a wrestling team, the Dutch Marine Corps, and many other things.

In 2011 he reinvented himself as an adventurer to prove to himself and others that he could stick with something.

In the years that followed he walked from England to Rome, cycled from Holland to Istanbul, spent several months leading pack horses across the wilderness of Canada, and paddled the entire Mississippi river in a kayak in 110 days.

He slept in graveyards, ate raw eggs, walked across Spain thrice, was chased by feral dogs in Romania, and stood face to face with a grizzly bear in the Canadian wilderness.

However, even though he started his travels for these somewhat dysfunctional reasons, over time he discovered that trying all these new things had a surprising benefit. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx