Leveraging Habits To Change Your Life - Part Two

—Chelsea B. Ashworth

This is the second in a two part series discussing James Clear's Atomic Habits. If you missed Part One, read it here.

In Part One, I discussed James Clear's four laws of habit building. In Part Two, I want to explore his focus on personality and finding the right field of competition. If you feel like you are in the wrong career, or your current job seems harder for you than your colleagues, this is great food for thought.

Start With The Big Five.

According to Clear, the most proven scientific analysis of personality traits (as of the time his book was published) is "The Big Five," which is an inventory of five principle traits. Clear describes the traits as: 1) Openness to Experience (curious and inventive versus cautious and consistent), 2) Conscientiousness (organized and efficient versus easygoing and spontaneous), 3) Extraversion (outgoing and energetic extraversion versus solitary and reserved introversion), 4) Agreeableness (friendly and compassionate versus challenging and detached), and 5) Neuroticism (anxious and sensitive versus calm and stable). Where you fall on the spectrum of each of these traits can have wide implications. There is research indicating that each of these traits are related to our genes, such as extraversion being tracked from birth and the link of high neuroticism to hypersensitivity of the amygdala (the part of the brain that assesses threats), but Clear is quick to dismiss biological determinism. What he proposes is that we each recognize that our genes clearly nudge us in certain directions, and we benefit by building habits that work for our individual personalities.

If you are struggling to implement a new habit, ask yourself, "Is there another version of this habit that would work better for me?" Imagine Louise, a young lawyer who scores on the low end of openness to experience and the high end of extraversion and neuroticism. Louise is naturally anxious and cautious, but she's very outgoing and loves to socialize. She wants to boost her career by making a habit of presenting one CLE each quarter. If Louise has the option to give the CLEs solo, or to prepare and co-present with an experienced colleague, which experience is more likely to motivate her to keep her new habit? We are more likely to maintain habits that we enjoy, so keep this in mind when strategizing.

Consider the Explore/Exploit Tradeoff.

Once you know how you score on the Big Five Inventory, you can use that information to make sure you find the right job or pursuit for your skill set. For each activity that you engage in, ask yourself, "Am I winning or losing?" If you feel like you're winning, Clear says "exploit, exploit, exploit." If you're losing, "explore, explore, explore" new opportunities.

Clear presents five questions to ask yourself as you explore: 1) What feels like fun to me, but work to others? 2) When am I enjoying myself while other people are complaining? 3) What makes me lose track of time? 4) Where do I get greater returns than the average person? 5) What comes naturally to me? In answering these questions, you want to hone in on what makes you feel alive, authentic, and genuine, and head in that direction.

Let's say Dan has spent the last ten years as a litigator. His job makes him miserable and he wants out, but he doesn't know what he'd do instead. Dan takes the Big Five Assessment and scores on the high end of openness to experience and conscientiousness, but on the low end of extraversion and agreeableness. His scores make sense to him as he loves new things and being organized, but prefers to work alone and avoid client interaction. He then asks himself the explore/exploit questions. He knows he can really get into a flow state and lose track of time when he is doing legal research and writing, which seem easier for him than his colleagues. Now Dan has some direction and can look for jobs involving lots of research and writing with little face time.

Choose the right game.

In his book, Clear contrasts the physiques of swimmer Michael Phelps to runner Hicham El Guerrouj. Phelps' is 6'4" and has very long arms, while El Guerrouj is 5'9" and only 128 lbs. Clear's point is that each athlete's body gives them an edge in their respective sports, but were they to switch events, both would likely lose their advantages and perform poorly. Passion or not, a failure to progress is disheartening. As we covered in Part One, if a habit isn't satisfying, it likely won't stick. If you really want to ensure you will continue to feel a sense of achievement, you need to pick the game that best aligns with your personality and natural strengths. If you can't find one, create one! Take a multi-disciplinary approach and combine several modest talents to establish a niche for yourself.

Clear highlights the career of Scott Adams, creator of the office-themed comic Dilbert. Adams combined his years of experience working in business with his drawing skills and humor to create a comic that now appears in over 2,000 newspapers in 19 languages, according to Adams' website. Another example that comes to mind is comedian Bo Burnham, who sings in his standup routines. The more you master a specialized skill, the harder it is for anyone to compete with you.

Finding a habit that you enjoy and have a knack for sets you up for success, but it won't always be sunshine and rainbows. Clear makes a big point of differentiating between "professionals" and "amateurs." He says that professionals stick with their habits, regardless of their mood and life's complications, while amateurs let life and their emotions get in the way. A professional will work toward their goal with purpose and having fallen in love with the work, while an amateur will surrender to boredom.

The book closes with an admonition to avoid letting any single aspect of your identity define you, and I think this is really important for those struggling and thinking of switching careers. If you've already hit that breaking point, then you may have experienced the loss of identity that can occur. The good news is that Clear has advice about how to regain a sense of self. Redefine yourself such that you keep the important aspects of your identity, even if your title or role changes. Clear was an ESPN Academic All-American baseball pitcher, but when his athletic career ended, he learned to see himself as "a person who is mentally tough and loves a physical challenge." If anyone needs me, I'll be exploring career opportunities for a person with advanced writing and editing skills who loves the challenge of carrying in her latest bourbon find.

You can learn more about James Clear and Atomic Habits on his website. If you are interested in taking The Big Five assessment for free, click here.

Apochromatik offers something for all professionals, whether you'd like help building habits to boost your career, or want to find an entirely new path.

Please check out www.aposignup.com/achieve for more information on goal achievement and www.aposignup.com/goals for our next Goal-a-pa-loo-a scheduled for July 10!

Chelsea B. Ashworth is currently a licensed attorney in Nashville, Tennessee. When not lawyering, Chelsea uses her writing and editing skills to chase the greatest high she can think of: being understood. She is looking for new opportunities to bring clarity to messaging and deliver content that is clear, concise, and conveys confidence. Watch for future posts from Chelsea as she continues her career exploration.