Increase your joy

Last night on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel they featured a man by the name of Ashrita Furman.

Ashrita is a remarkable individual who since 1979 has set 628 world records, of which 205 are still standing. He is featured in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Happiness is progress and reaching a goal, says Ashrita.

The Record Breaker from Brian McGinn on Vimeo.

Is Ashrita a model for “psycho executing” at the highest level ? I think so.

Let’s refer to a concept known as “Bloom’s Taxonomy”. Dr. Benjamin S. Bloom initiated “Bloom’s Taxonomy of learning in 1956 as a design and evaluation toolkit for academic education. Today it is applicable to all types of learning.

There are three domains in Bloom’s Taxonomy:

1. Cognitive Domain (knowledge)
2. Affective Domain (attitude)
3. Psychomotor Domain (skills) (Wikipedia)

Bloom believes that all three domains are important, however, Ashrita’s performances fall under the psychomotor “domain”.

“A domain simply means category. What is the Psychomotor Domain? The Psychomotor Domain is skill based and refers to the learning of skills. Physical skills are the ability to move, act, or manually manipulate the body to perform a physical movement. What is taxonomy? Taxonomy is a structure, a plan, or a checklist to assist in planning training to cover each development stage of the learner’s growth. It is important that each stage is mastered before moving on to the next stage.” 

There are five stages of Dave’s Psychomotor Domain: Imitation, Manipulation, Precision, Articulation, and Naturalization.

Where can you start to increase your “joy” ? You can start anywhere. Any goals, no matter how small or silly that you accomplish and train your psychomotor skills are useful.