Who is Josh Waitzkin?  Yeah, I had never heard of him either until recently, but it is likely that you DO know who he is… he is the person the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer is based on.  Josh’s performances are mind-blowing because he has managed to be the best at two things that at first glance seem diametrically opposed.  Chess and martial arts.

Josh is an 8-time National Chess Champion, a two-time national Tai Chi push hands champion, and two-time world Tai Chi push hands champion.  Finding someone who can excel at an academic competition then excel at a physical competition is rare, yet the two share much in common, as much of winning any competition comes down to mental strength.

Josh has recently released a book called The Art of Learning, and has also given an interview at the Duct Tape Marketing blog about how to apply the Art of Learning to business.

*Photo from joshwaitzkin.com

Martin Strel, born in Slovenia, is a 54-year-old ultra marathon swimmer.  Strel made history last year, on 4/7/07, by swimming the Amazon River… all 3274 miles… in 66 days.  That comes out to an incredible 50 miles per day.

How did he do it?  Interestingly, he did it the way others have accomplished incredible feats before him… he found “holes” in the way things are traditionally done and used those to his advantage.  For example, Strel swam downstream in order to let the current push him along.

Strel admits to his mental performance being more important in overcoming such as huge obstacle, as oppossed to physical performance.

From the Four-Hour Work Week blog:

“3) What’s more important: physical or mental power? On my swims I’d say mental power. It is true it does not work with
great physical training but I do strongly believe that there are many
other good swimmers who could swim as I do, but they do not have their
mind ready. And this is mental strength where I am really good. I could
not do such great swim 20 years ago when I was much younger, now I can
do it. And the reason is I am now mentally matured.”

You can read the entire interview here (Swimming the Amazon) and see more about Strel and his feats at www.amazonswim.com.

*Photo from National Geographic

Alex Roy is best known for his antics in the Gumball 3000 car rally races, playing a German police officer.  However, in October 2006, Roy and his co-pilot David Maher raced in their BMW M5 from New York to Los Angeles (almost 2800 miles), setting a new record for a transcontinental run in 31 hours, 4 minutes, averaging 90.1 mph.

Roy explains in his new book, The Driver, that his father had wanted to run in the original Cannonball Run, but Roy’s mother argued against it, so he never went.  As Roy sat by his father’s death bed, he vowed to find someone whom his father referred to as the Driver, which eventually led Roy to study the U.S. Express (the follow-up to the Cannonball Run).  The last U.S. Express was run in the early 80’s, with the transcontinental record being set in a Ferrari 308 at 32 hours, 7 minutes, which happens to be the title of the upcoming documentary that Roy is producing.  The documentary will feature the Roy/Maher run across the U.S. and is due out in late 2008.

In reading about Roy, he used a number of psychological techniques to accomplish such an amazing feat.  He used simulation strategies by playing a racing video game for 35 hours straight, and displayed heavy amounts of self-discipline through preparation (some would say obsessive preparation- he had a friend fly a spotter plane to identify police ahead) and creating a set of rules and ethics for his run (for example, he would use a CB radio to ask permission from 18-wheelers to pass).

Imagine being 16 years old.  Now imagine yourself being the youngest person to ever circumnavigate the globe… SOLO!!  Well, that is exactly what Zac Sunderland is trying to accomplish right now.  He is posting regular updates on his blog about his adventures around the globe: ZacSunderland.com

Zac apparently grew up around boats, and bought his first sailboat with money he earned working on the docks (sounds like a kid who’s got his head on straight).  He is going to have to overcome a lot to accomplish this task (loneliness, the media, physical fatigue, PIRATES!), which will take him over 21,000 miles and a year and a half to complete.  Yes, he plans on continuing his education by doing his homework assignments on the trip.

Philippe Petit is a French high-wire artist who gained fame for his illegal walk between the Twin Towers in New York City on August 7, 1974.  It took him six years to practice and prepare for this stunt.

He was inspired after seeing an article about the then-unbuilt towers and had a friend go up with him in a helicopter so that he could get aerial photographs of the buildings.  He used those photographs to create a model for his practice.  To further complicate matters, he knew what he was planning was illegal, so he watched construction workers and other authorities enter the building to see who had the least difficulty in getting access to the top of the towers, and bought uniforms and created fake identification to gain access.  Knowing the Port Authority would question a man with so much cable going to the roof, he and his supporters took all of the equipment up to the roof the night before so that all they had to do the next morning was do the tight-rope walk.  Petit succeeded and the act was so amazing that the police waited for him to cross to arrest him, just so they could see him complete the stunt.

This stunt is now about to be a movie documentary called Man on Wire.