Human Potential, Your Potential, Part I

Questions

1. What is the world record for the number of push-ups in a calendar year?

2. What do you think was the depth of the deepest free dive?

3. Who and how long do you think it took for someone to free climb El Cap: a vertical climb of 2,900 feet?

4. How many digits was the world record memorized by a person?

5. What is the longest classical chess game in recorded history?

6. And in the book “The Baseball 100,” how long did it take to write 100 individual essays by Joe Posnanski?

Answers

1. Nate Carroll, a father of three, at 43 years old, did 1,500,231 push-ups in 2020. That averages to around 4,000 a day.

2. Herbet Nitsch, at 37 years old, completed a 702 feet dive in 2007. He also holds several other free dive records.

3. Alex Honnold and Hans Florine climbed the face of Half Dome in 2 hours 23 minutes 46 seconds in 2007. Several years later, Alex broke his own record, but he did so alone.

4. In 2015, Rajveer Meena, a resident of Mohocha village in Swaimodhapur district of Rajasthan, recited 70,000+ digits of pi. His record was broken by a compatriot a few months later, but it took longer to recite.

5. Nikolic and Goran played out a draw that took over 20 hours and 269 moves in 1989.

6. Joe Posnanski published his book this year in 2021. He wrote the 300,000-word book in 100 days.

The Thrust

This is just a glimpse of our human potential. Scientists say feats like these are bound to be broken because we are nowhere close to our biological limits. And given time, our minds and bodies can adapt and grow into something much more.

Despite such hope, how many of us try to reach our potential? I mean, how many of us sincerely try? And to my students—past, present, and future—how many of you try: try to aim for your dream university, strive for your dream career, and fulfill your extracurricular and curricular ambitions? Or do you follow the standard formula and conventions, stick to the crowd, and not take risks? I would wager the latter.

So why do so many of us humans don’t try to reach our potential? I have three answers.

1. Comfort

2. Conformity

3. Lack of belief

The first two pressures are not innately bad. In fact, there are necessary for survival for our ancestors. But now, as the world becomes wealthier and technology continues to minimize the threat of death, our innate drive for comfort and conformity is making us worse.

The most encumbering factor is the lack of belief.

We need self-efficacy to succeed. Self-efficacy is “an individual's belief in his or her capacity to execute behaviors necessary to produce specific performance attainments.” In other words, if you do believe you can achieve something, you are more incentivized to go after it.

I would bet that many of you who read this far are questioning your own ability to reach the heights of those aforementioned world record holders. You are thinking of many reasons why you cannot do like what they do.

Age? Many of those physical feats were done by those who are middle aged. Some actualized at a young age.

Resources? Rajveer Meena is a regular man who comes from a village in Rajasthan. The average person makes $1,500 per year in the Indian state.

Genetics and family? Alec Honnold doesn’t come from Olympian parents. He even faced adversities that could have derailed his climbing pursuit. At beginning of his college career, his parents divorced. Subsequently, his maternal grandfather and his father passed away in the span of two years.

What’s your excuse?