These are the questions that I am constantly asked, how did I do it?, why did I do it? can I be to taught to do it?, and could I break a World Record?.
Looking around the Internet I realised that there really are no resources for people who might be interested in breaking world records, or seeing what has to be done to break one. I will not claim to be an expert in this field, but I have however made lots of friends over the years who hold or have held World Records, Such people as Steve Briers The world's fastest backwards talker, Chris Greener The UK's Tallest man, and third tallest person in the World, the Most Pierced woman in the World etc.
Between us we have a wealth of experience to offer for any potential Record Breakers, So I have started a Mailing list for anyone who may be interested in finding out what it takes to break a World record, or even who to talk to about breaking records.
This is totally unofficial, and not connected with any orginisation, and Lots of record breakers haven't got web sites (yet!), however I am in contact with them, and I am sure between us we can offer any help or advice that someone would need.
Anyway enough of my Waffle, here is the mailing list, and below that are my thoughts on record breaking.
I wish I knew the definitive answers to all of these questions, but I am sorry I do not, I can however relate my own experiences and give my own advice.
To break a World Record I believe you need several things going for you.
Lets concentrate on the first of these.
This is the most important quality that you need, if you don't have this, then you don't have anything.
You cannot just pick a record at random and decide to break it, you have to have some sort of natural ability at the discipline you have chosen to do. This is something that cannot be taught, or acquired, you have to have been born with it.
Some people are champion swimmers, some are champion runners, etc, all of these people have a natural ability at their chosen discipline.
As a child, I could always talk fast, I would go on and on about anything and nothing for hours and hours, and I would always do it at a very fast speed, so much so that few people could understand me. Many, many times, over the years I have always been told that I am speaking too fast, That people cannot understand me, this was a major problem for me as a child, when I reached my early teens This really started to be a problem for me, so I had to teach myself to slow my speech down. While I was slowing myself down, I started to analyse just what it was that was making me talk fast, once I had found it, I knew what to do to slow myself Down, but more importantly I knew how to speed myself up again (More about this later).
At about the same time as I was slowly down, I was trying to fulfill an ambition of mine, I have always been (And am still now) a very powerful swimmer, And I wanted to swim for England in an an olympic final, much to my sadness, and no matter how much, and how hard I trained it was never going to happen, I was fast, very fast, but I just couldn't find that extra burst of speed that would take me from being a good swimmer, to being a great swimmer. I just didn't have that ability.
Another of my "Talents" was Air-pistol shooting, again I would have loved to have represented England in the Olympics, but again, I was always just short of what was needed to do that, I just didn't have the natural ability needed to be among the best.
It was becoming clear to me, that to be the best at something, you had to have been born with an aptitude for that something, and no matter how many different things I tried, I was not going to be the best at them. My only sport that I take part in now, is Ten-pin bowling, I am an average player (my average is 150) and I am content with that, because I realise no matter how hard I train or practise, I am just never going to get to the very top in this sport, so I have just settled for being the best that I can be.
So instead of trying to be the best at everything, I focused on the one thing that I knew I had a natural gift for, and exploited that the best way that I could. Many times I have been asked what my secret is, How come I can talk faster than anyone else, well it's because I was born with the ability to do it. I have over the years tried to train people who want to talk fast, to talk faster, but unless they have the natural ability for Fast Talking, they just won't get anywhere. Training will only improve what you have, but to get that edge, the certain something that makes you better than the rest, I am afraid you have to born with it.
If you want to break a World Record, then look at your natural abilities choose the best of them, and concentrate solely on that one.
TopTo break a World Record, you have to have determination, the will and the absolute desire to do it, to the exclusion of everything else.
Over the years I have met many people who would aspire to breaking a World Record, but I know that they will never do it, because they just don't have the Will needed. I Won't bore you too much, but suffice to say when I first discovered that there was a World Record for Fast Talking, I thought I would be able to get close to the speed, or maybe even better it, so I timed myself, I managed about 475 words per minute, the World Record than was 480 words per minute. It then took me almost a year to improve my speed, everyday after work, I would lock myself in my bedroom for 3 hours, and practise, and then practise some more, I would practise on the way to work, on the way home, during my breaks, and during vacations. I set myself a target of at least 3 hours per day practise until I broke the record, no matter what else was happening in my life.
I Let my family life suffer, I let my work life suffer (in fact I was almost sacked twice, because I had suddenly gone from being punctual, to being late in to work, because I was staying up late at night to get in my three hours a day). Nothing else in my life mattered anymore, I HAD to break that World Record, No matter how I felt, if I was Ill or drunk, I had to practise each day, every day, without fail.
Finally after two years of this regime, it paid off, I attempted the World Record, and not only did I break it, but I added over 50 Words per minute to the speed at that time.
Once I had the record under my belt I was content, for all of three weeks, and then out of the blue, I lost my record, a woman had beaten my speed my 3 words per minute, it was a major blow to my ego after I had worked so hard for two years to get my little bit of fame.
At this point, I just didn't think that I could get the World Record back again, I had reached the fastest speed I could and no matter how hard I tried, I wasn't going to get any faster.
I was about ready to give up, but I remembered what I was like as a child, how I was always the fastest talker in my class or my peer group, My determination kicked in again, but this time I did things a little differently, I unlearnt everything I had trained myself for in Fast Talking, and I started from the time that I tried to slow myself down, and I was determined to find out what it was as a child that made me talk fast, and what I did to slow myself down.
You guessed it!, I found out, I realised what made me talk fast, and what I had done to slow done, I then concentrated on the natural ability that I had been born with, and with my own determination I got faster, and faster, And then I did it, I got my World Record back.
I was then challenged to a "Talk-off" by the person whom I had taken the record off of, and by the woman who had beaten me, this happened in New york in 1990 live on breakfast TV in the States. In the month leading up to the "Talk-off" I could think of nothing else, I took the time off of work, and all day every day I did nothing but train and practice for a whole month, to the exclusion of absolutely everything else.
It worked, not only did I beat my two challengers by a long way, I also set yet a new World Record in the process.
Like I said it was determination that did it, the absolute desire to succeed above everything else, and you haven't got that desire, then you will never ever break a World Record.
TopTo break a World Record, you have to have another thing going for you, the ability to focus. I count myself lucky I have been blessed with this ability.
What do I mean by Focus?
The best way to explain this is through my Wife's perspective, my wife Donna says That the most annoying thing about me, is that I can be an ignorant so-and-so (she actually uses other words, but you can work them out for yourself), especially when I am reading a book, watching TV, or playing with my PC. It's not ignorance, it's focus, it's the ability to "switch-off" from every external input, except that which I am concentrating on.
Each time I have broken the World Record, for the time that I am doing doing it, I am 100% completely immersed in the task, to the exclusion of all other external and internal inputs, so much so, that sometimes I actually forget to breathe, that's how total my focus is.
Speaking to others about this, I guess you could call it some sort of "Self-Hypnosis", I can put myself into a sort of trance, where I only have one thing and one thing only on my mind, During this self induced trance, I am oblivious to almost everything else going on around me (in fact it normally takes a major input of pain, like a slap or a pinch to bring me out), I have been with others who have tried to achieve this level of focus and I find That most people just can't do it, they just can't concentrate on any single thing for more than a couple of seconds, without reacting to other external inputs.
TopAfter being asked many times, why did I do it?, the only answer I can truthfully come up with, is "because I can", and how I did it is listed above, with the exception of my little "hook", There is one other secret that I have, and it helped me to break the World Record, this is something about Fast Talking that I only appear to know, and something that I have never revealed to anyone else, not even my wife, and nor will I ever (well you don't really expect me to tell you how to break my World Record do you?) reveal it to anyone else, however if you want to break a World Record and you have the three things that I listed above, then go for it!, if you want to break my World Record, then you need the three things listed above, but I am afraid you will just have to find out what took me almost 3 years of hard work to find all by yourself.
If you have any questions or comments about this, please feel free to E-Mail me.