Everyone has their idols and who they look up to – and for me, there are a bunch of different people who have influenced my life, one way or another. As most of you know, I’m into a lot of different fields, which inevitably results in me studying tons of unique people.
Therefore, I wanted to make this list of 5 incredible people that you probably don’t know – but should. Each one of these people has done something incredible in their life, and their talents range from all different areas.
1. Dan Gable
This guy is an absolute beast. I wanted to start off this list with Dan Gable because he’s one of – if not, the best – wrestlers to ever live. He had an incredible work ethic, stating “The obvious goals were there- State Champion, NCAA Champion, Olympic Champion. To get there I had to set an everyday goal which was to push myself to exhaustion or, in other words, to work so hard in practice that someone would have to carry me off the mat.”
He is most famous for winning the 1972 olympics in Men’s Freestyle – a style in wrestling where you get more points for how high and hard you can slam people. It’s an unbelievably grueling sport, and he won with an injured left knee and stitches in his head that he received from his first match. The most insane part is that he never gave up a single point in any of his matches.
To be honest, that absolutely blows my mind. I wrestled for years, and it’s very difficult to win a match without a point being scored on you. Combine that with the intensity of the olympics, and the numerous matches you have to perform in, and it’s tough to imagine how it could even be possible.
And he didn’t stop there – after his wrestling career, he went into coaching, and became the most successful coach in American collegiate history. From 1978 to 1986, he brought the University of Iowa to every NCAA championship – winning a record 9 years in a row. He was so well respected in numerous fields that in 2002, George W. Bush named Gable to the President’s Council on Physical Fitness.
2. Milton H. Erickson
Milton H. Erickson has influenced the world of psychology tremendously, however it’s amazing that he’s rarely mentioned in textbooks. He is known for being an absolute genius when it came to reading people, and since the time he was extremely young, he studied various psychological approaches to therapy.
Although he influenced the fields of brief therapy, strategic family therapy, family systems therapy, solution focused brief therapy, and neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), he is most famous for his studies in Hypnosis. He had very unique approaches to Hypnosis, many which are mentioned in the book Uncommon Therapy.
Erickson was a master of implementing ideas and creating lasting change, as he viewed the unconscious mind as something that is constantly watching and being influenced. A lot of techniques revolve around the idea that you can easily influence someone without them knowing, as it didn’t matter if the patient knew they were in a hypnotic trance or not.
There are numerous books written about the works of Erickson, as the techniques he developed are incredibly complex at creating lasting change. The first book I ever read by him was Hypnotic Realities, and it absolute blew my mind in terms of intricate linguistic patterns and how they can influence people at a foundational level.
The combination of his techniques created a field in hypnosis that involves indirect suggestions, as oppose to direct suggestions, which were previously used in Hypnotherapy. He is one of the most interesting people I’ve ever studied, and anyone interested in psychology would be blown away by what he’s done.
3. Roger Bannister
Everyone has different idols for different reasons, and for me, I love anyone who can really create a massive paradigm shift. Before 1954, it was conceived that the four minute mile was an impossible barrier that no-one could break. It was even stated that you could “scientifically prove” that anyone who would run a Sub-4 Minute Mile would die or even spontaneously combust.
Now, enter Rodger Bannister.
Although he didn’t have much training compared to other runners, he set his sights on working to break the 4 minute barrier. After a lot of intense interval training, he focused to break it as soon as possible, as he was getting closer and closer every race.
On May 6th, 1954, at a meet between British AAA and Oxford University, Roger Bannister set the historic record. After an intense race, he finished with a time of 3:59.4, setting a world record and destroying the “4 Minute Mile” barrier. The entire story was later made into a movie by ESPN called Four Minutes, as it is considered the most famous record-setting event in the mile, and is ranked the 13th greatest sporting moment in history.
4. Alfred Kinsey
Before the 1930s, sex was considered an incredibly taboo topic that was very rarely talked about. As a result, people kept sexual problems and issues to themselves, and a lot of incorrect information was spread around. Luckily, Kinsey decided to explore the taboo and unknown.
He is considered the Father of the Sexual Revolution, as Kinsey was the first person to openly study sexuality and remove the taboo-ness of the subject. He conducted numerous surveys to figure out what people like and dislike, and tried to understand the psychological components of sex as oppose to just procreation.
In 1935, he gave a speech to a faculty discussion group at Indiana University, where he bought up the issues he found in his research and explained his personal concerns. He directly attacked the social ignorance towards sex, and how silence about the subject can have harmful consequences in the long run.
Although some of his research has been argued against, he’ll always remain a crucial component to sexuality, as he truly was the first one to knock down the social barriers and look at the information objectively. He paved the way for numerous changes in the way we view sexuality, and in 2005 the movie Kinsey was released to demonstrate the adversity he went through and how he overcame it.
5. Alan Turing
Last but definitely not least, Alan Turing. He is considered the Father of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, and the craziest part is that is a severe understatement. It can be easily argued that he, single handedly, changed the course of history forever.
In World War 2, the Germans created an encryption device called Enigma that was considered unbreakable. After the top code breaking experts failed numerous times, they contacted Turing to see if he could accomplish the task. He went on to build the first ever Turing Machine, which implemented the algorithm that broke Enigma’s code. He was truly the first person to ever formalize the idea of an algorithm, which is a formula for solving a problem, and put it into action.
After breaking Enigma’s code, Turing and his team went onto stealthily influence the war and beat the German army. It’s even been estimated that his work alone shortened the war in Europe by 2-4 years.
His work has continued to be the foundation for both computer science and artificial intelligence, and me writing this post and you reading it would probably not be possible if it weren’t for him. There was even a movie released in 2014 called The Imitation Game, showcasing his true genius and how much he radically changed computing forever.
