It’s time for a party. Your friends are elated. You have earned their respect for having set a record that will go into the Guinness Book. What did you do? We’ll circle back to that in a moment.
“Mr. Versatility,” Ashrita Furman, has 121 Guinness World records, more than anyone else. What has he done? Well, the 56-year-old started in 1979 with 27,000 consecutive jumping jacks. He has, for example, run the fastest hula-hooping mile past Ayers Rock in Australia and walked the longest distance while balancing a pool cue past Egypt’s pyramids. “Wow!” you say. “I wish I could be good enough to bounce on a kangaroo ball on the Great Wall of China like Furman.”
All right, I know that you probably didn’t say ‘wow.’ More likely, you said, “I don’t see the need for balancing a pool cue, risking tendonitis in doing too many jumping jacks, or, while blindfolded, catching more lemons in one minute tossed by another person than any other person has ever caught in such a short period.” (Yes, catching lemons while blindfolded is one of his records). If you said ‘wow,’ it might have been more associated with his having set his ‘records’ on seven continents than his having set the records themselves. “Wow! He has seen the world.”
When you consider Furman’s records, you might think it’s just a matter of choosing some action that no one ever thought about doing. Who thinks about racing while hula-hooping? Granted, all Furman’s records require a bit of physical skill, a certain proprioceptivenss that not everyone has. Furman has capitalized not just on his agility, but also on his ability to think of doing something very specific he can do repetitively while most others, seeing the act, would fail to repeat because of their inability or lack of persistence.
What kind of a world record do you want to set? None?
There are three requirements for setting a record: Uniqueness, ability, and persistence. Whatever you do, you need at least two of them—anywhere in the world. So, there, just where you are at the moment, you might ask yourself, “What do I have the ability and the persistence to do beyond the capacities and endurance of others?” Abilities differ. We aren’t equally gifted. Persistence, however, is a matter of will. Ashrita Furman seems to have both, no matter how silly (or unique) you think his records are.
Here’s the record that your friends and you can celebrate: In whatever you chose to accomplish in any place, you were known to be more persistent than anyone thought possible.
http://www.livescience.com/33326-weirdest-world-records.html
“Mr. Versatility,” Ashrita Furman, has 121 Guinness World records, more than anyone else. What has he done? Well, the 56-year-old started in 1979 with 27,000 consecutive jumping jacks. He has, for example, run the fastest hula-hooping mile past Ayers Rock in Australia and walked the longest distance while balancing a pool cue past Egypt’s pyramids. “Wow!” you say. “I wish I could be good enough to bounce on a kangaroo ball on the Great Wall of China like Furman.”
All right, I know that you probably didn’t say ‘wow.’ More likely, you said, “I don’t see the need for balancing a pool cue, risking tendonitis in doing too many jumping jacks, or, while blindfolded, catching more lemons in one minute tossed by another person than any other person has ever caught in such a short period.” (Yes, catching lemons while blindfolded is one of his records). If you said ‘wow,’ it might have been more associated with his having set his ‘records’ on seven continents than his having set the records themselves. “Wow! He has seen the world.”
When you consider Furman’s records, you might think it’s just a matter of choosing some action that no one ever thought about doing. Who thinks about racing while hula-hooping? Granted, all Furman’s records require a bit of physical skill, a certain proprioceptivenss that not everyone has. Furman has capitalized not just on his agility, but also on his ability to think of doing something very specific he can do repetitively while most others, seeing the act, would fail to repeat because of their inability or lack of persistence.
What kind of a world record do you want to set? None?
There are three requirements for setting a record: Uniqueness, ability, and persistence. Whatever you do, you need at least two of them—anywhere in the world. So, there, just where you are at the moment, you might ask yourself, “What do I have the ability and the persistence to do beyond the capacities and endurance of others?” Abilities differ. We aren’t equally gifted. Persistence, however, is a matter of will. Ashrita Furman seems to have both, no matter how silly (or unique) you think his records are.
Here’s the record that your friends and you can celebrate: In whatever you chose to accomplish in any place, you were known to be more persistent than anyone thought possible.
http://www.livescience.com/33326-weirdest-world-records.html
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