Driving away from the devastating loss at the Patriots-Bills game in Foxborough last year, the seed of an obsession was planted. My coworker Alex tossed out a casual thought about what record he might tackle: “I got pretty good at flip cup in college.” (This would surprise no one who knows him).
I figured there had to be a record related to it. A quick search revealed an official Guinness World Record for the fastest time to flip 10 cups. It was 7.57 seconds (which is about the time it took me to bounce 10 pencils into 10 cups so seemed challenging but possible). I applied on the spot in the truck with our business partner John driving and acting as witness to the challenge. I thought Alex was going to try too and I thought I’d knock it out in a couple of weeks.
Reality had other plans.
With over 400 titles under my belt, I am no stranger to speed challenges. Yet getting 10 plastic cups to consistently land face down became a humbling lesson in probability. After a few weeks, I finally got good enough I could land about 50% of the cups I flipped. Statistically, that’s not enough. If 50% land, it’s expected only have 1 successful attempt at 10 in a row per 1,000. I practiced so much, even my 3-year-old joined the chaos and somehow got decent at it.
Normally, the friction of a stubborn record leads to a strategic pivot or a longer break. Not this time. Driven by the dare and a live assembly attempt at my niece Ali’s school, where I spent an entire period flipping until I nearly lost my mind, resetting after several agonizing near-misses, I kept grinding thousands upon thousands of flips.
When the tension peaked and doubt crept in I (because the well was going to ring within minutes) persistence won out. Final tally: all 10 cups successfully flipped in 6.63 seconds.
To everyone ready to drop a “pfft, I could do that” in the comments: I dare you to try.