Unleash the Monkey Army

Over the last several years I have spent much more time than I'd like working with people who have a hankering for the past. Like a drowning man clinging desperately to a piece of flotsam, they cling to the idea that the past was better. You know what, it might have been. But it's gone. Clinging on to it like an article of faith very rapidly changes it from a spur to restore greatness, to an albatross hanging around our necks. You can't have it back. Every actor in that screenshot has changed. In fact the stage it was played out on has changed too. If not because the stagehands have moved the scenery, then because you will now view it through today's lens made up of knowledge and insight garnered in between times. The trouble is, people tend to spend time dwelling on what they did or didn't do or else view the past through rose-tinted spectacles.And if you're in doubt as to humanity's ability to overlook the bad stuff in our past, look no further th...

I was lucky enough to get some coverage in the Bristol Post at the end of this latest burpee journey. The headline, and most of the comments I have had from people have focused on the 71,500 total burpees. The attention has been nice although a little odd since it simply doesn't feel like that big a deal. Let me clarify that. It isn't some sort of false modesty or humble brag. Truly. Firstly, the fact that I can do it, and have done it, strips the mystery away. It means that it is doable. And it is doable by the average, I would say normal but I think most people would miss the statistical nuance and focus on the fact that a predilection for burpees is anything but normal! Where was I? Oh yes, if it is doable then its achievement does not merit much more than a tick in the box and confirmatory nod. Second, I'm embarrassed by some of the suggestions of my fitness. Certainly that has inevitably improved in the last 12 months but other than that, I feel a bit of a fraud....