I open my eyes and I'm still underwater, but I have no idea which way is up.

All I see is dark, I remember thinking like, wow, I have never felt power like this

before. Then my foot touches the sand, barely had enough energy to make it to the surface,

and I thought, wow, if there's another wave behind this, I'm going to die.

This is Bianca. My name is Bianca Valenti. Bianca is a professional surfer, recounting

a close call, a time when she was literally and figuratively out of her depth. It was

a moment that changed her life and her ideas about risk in surprising ways. In this episode,

we'll take a look at gender differences around confidence, risk-taking, and uncertainty,

and how we can all better calibrate our bravado.

I'm Dr. Katie Milkman, and this is Choiceology, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. It's

a show about the psychology and economics behind our decisions. We bring you true stories

about high-stakes situations, and then we examine how these stories connect to the latest

research and behavioral science. We do it all to help you make better judgments and

avoid costly mistakes.

I started surfing on a boogie board in Dana Point down in South Orange County, so about

one hour south of LA, one hour north of San Diego. My mom put her chair at the water's

edge and said, don't make me come and rescue you. And that was the beginning.

Bianca Valenti caught her first wave at the age of seven. The first wave I caught was probably

six inches, and that felt like a big wave. Whoa, I can't believe I did that. That's the

feeling that has kept me going back in the water every single day.

Bianca was leisure-focused on becoming the best surfer possible. She wanted to compete,

but competitive surfing was a male-dominated sport. I started competing a couple years

...