In the book Microhabits, written by the American author James Clear, he discusses how personality affects our habits, and how we should find the opportunities and habits that are right for each of us. Interesting! How do we find out where we have the best chances?
Choose the right habit! Progress is easier then. Choose the wrong habit, and life becomes an eternal struggle, says Clear. The habits you choose are easy when they suit your natural abilities. E.g. play a game that matches your strengths. Choose habits that suit your personality and skills, and focus on activities that you find easy to do.
In the book, Clear talks about the athletes Michael Phelps and Hicham El Guerrouj, both world-class. Phelps is an American former swimmer and in 2016 was the all-time winningest Olympian with 23 gold medals, including 8 gold medals in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The Moroccan El Guerrouj is one of the greatest middle-distance runners of all time, including Olympic gold in Athens in 2004 in the 1500 meters and 5000 meters. For many years he also held the world record for an English mile.
Phelps and El Guerrouj are very different in height, i.e. Phelps is 193 cm and Guerrouj is 175 cm tall. However, both their legs are the same length measured from the inside of the thigh from the crotch to the ankle. Phelps has relatively short legs and an unusually long torso, a perfect body for swimming. El Guerrouj has exceptionally long legs and a short torso, a perfect body for running.
Imagine if Phelps and El Guerrouj were to switch sports? It is unlikely that Phelps, with his muscular body and weight, could become a world-class middle distance runner. It is equally doubtful that El Guerrouj's relatively short back and height would qualify for Olympic swimming. Phelps passed perfectly in the swimming pool and El Guerrouj in the athletics arena.
The genes give you great advantages under favorable circumstances. It is not easy to dunk a basketball in a basket that is 305 cm above the ground if you are 170 cm tall, if you are not Spudd Webb. He is a former American professional basketball player in the NBA who played for the Atlanta Hawks. Webb shocked the world when he won the NBA's dunk contest in 1986 over teammate Dominique Wilkins. Webb was 170 cm tall and Wilkins was 32 cm taller, i.e. 202 cm.
Clear challenges us to understand our personality, to find where we have the best chances and how we can find the opportunities and habits that are right for us.
Read the next blog post about personality.
Reference: Clear, James (2018). Micro habits. An easy way to get good habits and get rid of bad ones (5th edition). Oslo: Strawberry Publishing.