Homework.

I don't take any risks at all.  I do my homework.  And if you do your homework, you don't take any risks.

For instance, I've been a whitewater kayaker, and doing dangerous rivers, first descents of rivers and things like that.  The day I really learned how to kayak, I did a river next to may house in Wyoming that is a difficult river, it falls more than a hundred feet a mile, and I did it one day without a paddle.  If you don't have a paddle, you have to think way ahead, you  have to be seated correctly in the seat, and you basically have to go down a river like a fish.  I did that and I had a perfect run.  And so, people say, "Wow, that was a crazy thing to do.  That was really risky."  You know what?  It wasn't risky.  The worst that could've happened is I would've lost my boat, picked it up a few miles down, I would've swam out ...

But, by taking small risks, it gave me the confidence and the technique to not be so dependent on my paddle ...

Listen to the rest at NPR.