Personal Challenge

In the movie "Cheaper by the Dozen", the father Frank Gilbreth (played by Clifton Webb) is an efficiency expert. He is constantly challenging himself to improve efficiency in everything he does. "Ah!" he exclaims, "I knew it was quicker to button your shirt bottom to top!"

There was once a television program where two of the characters used to often challenge each other to do silly things. For example, they were once in a supermarket and one turned to the other and said, "For $5 I challenge you to ask the person over there where the lettuce is. But you can't say 'lettuce', you can only say 'lett-yuse'" And, of course, his friend took up the challenge. Predictably, the poor victim didn't understand what 'lett-yuse' was and started to get all aggrivated and upset, providing the sort of comic relief one would expect from a "wannabe-intellectual yuppie drama-comedy" show. But, although I haven't yet made my point, I digress.

Challenges: Sometimes I provide myself with challenges - small ones, like: 'let's see if I can get to the door before it closes', or 'let's see if I can time my walk across this room so that I meet the person walking in the opposite direction at a particular point'. Silly, I know, but these sometimes things make life a little more interesting. Actually, the Guiness Book of Records is full of people who "try to make their lives a little more interesting" - like the guy who challenged himself to visit all 275 tube stations in London in under 19 hours (result: 18 hours, 35 minutes and 43 seconds).

I was thinking that perhaps it is time that I challenge myself to something a little more worthwhile. But the challenge has to be achievable in one day - a short-term goal. But it has to be difficult enough to actually be a challenge. And it has to be more meaningful than trying to tie my shoelaces in record time (BTW: single knot, both shoes, 28.3 seconds).

As you may know from a previous blog, I was thinking of trying to see what would happen if I didn't sleep for 3 days. I have decided that, being a potentially self-destructive and masochistic activity, prolonged self-enforced sleep deprivation isn't the sort of challenge I am looking for right now. So, after some thought I decided that today's challenge will be to make someone I don't know laugh - not smirk or smile, but actually laugh. I think that this challenge will be harder than it seems, especially since this blog has made me so famous, it will be difficult for me to find someone I don't know ;-)

I'll let you know how I go on this one. If you can think of other suitable challenges, post them as comments to this blog.

UPDATE: 27 April 2006:
I have not had a chance to undertake this challenge yet. Friday is the day. I will keep you posted.

UPDATE: 30 April 2006:
I intend to post the results of this challenge shortly. See my follow-up blog called Personal Challenge: The Results

It just occured to me that another of my "personal challenges" can be found on this very blog site! See my one of my more entertaining blogs entitled: Jerry Garcia's Missing Toiliet