Biomechanics gives you the time to iron out your character flaws

And so it's better to invest in good biomechanics over a good 'personality' over the longer-term

Today I want to talk about another observation that I find interesting.

As it demonstrates how I think biomechanics influence character over time.

A lot of folks like to think of personality as being this sort of innate thing that is different from who we are physically.

But in my view they are so tightly intertwined and today I want to give an example that I’ve found intriguing.

The backdrop… working in Russia in 2007

In 2007 I was working for a Russian strategy consulting firm that was called Strategy Partners.

They liked to position themselves as the sort of Russian equivalent of McKinsey, but the reality was that they were pretty far behind.

And they’d hired me because there was massive demand for consulting work for international clients that had entered Russia at the time… because the GDP of Russia was increasing very rapidly back in 2006-8.

So i’d arrived in late 2006 with a couple of suitcases and was the only non-Russian in a Russian office, which was both challenging and interesting.

Honestly, they welcomed me with open arms and it was overall a really terrific experience. The Russian people were warm and curious to know more about this new American that had entered their lives.

And I enjoyed working there a lot… and still have many friends from that company and time of my life.

I would manage the international client projects and became known for taking on as many interns and unassigned analysts as possible. Because they were like free resources for my projects that I could use to try and overdeliver results with.

One of those interns was a smart young lady by the name of Anya who is very successful today.

Introducing Anya’s husband

Both Anya and I shared the trait of being very hard workers and working pretty long hours.

As such she sometimes had her boyfriend (and later husband), Felix, come visit us in the office.

They were both in their early 20’s and both quite smart and ambitious. A future power couple.

But Felix was also a pretty loud, arrogant guy who rubbed a number of folks the wrong way. He was pretty short and so it seemed strange to some of us that he bragged so much.

One of the things he loved bragging about was that he frequently went to this club ‘Dyagilev’, which was the hottest club in Moscow at the time. And probably the hardest to get into.

But his family was quite wealthy (not quite ‘oligarchs’ but like ‘mini-oligarchs’) and so he had no problem getting into the club past the notorious ‘face control’.

At the time Moscow was probably the only place on earth where you could find a line of model-level looking women waiting outside a club in the freezing cold wearing nothing but tight skirts, but then see a short, high school-lookin dude walk past them all and go right in like he owned the place.

That was Felix.

He had that swagger that said… “i’m a privileged kid and I know it.”

Needless to say, me and some of my friends were not Felix’s biggest fans.

How Felix evolved the past 18 years

During those early years Felix was working in investment banking for some big international bank in Moscow that everyone figured his parents got him in.

He seemed destined to be one of those ‘golden spoon’ kids who’d finally screw himself up and develop a drug habit or something.

I, personally, never thought he would evolve into much at all. And yet he ended up evolving into probably one of the most successful people I personally know today.

He’s successfully run a very large tech company, is a successful VC investor, and has done a lot of other things. I really need to hand it to him. He came a long way from the little arrogant twit that I remember him as back in those days.

I even see photos of him online sometimes at various events… and I see character and charisma in his face.

You can tell that the people that work for him and surround him respect him a lot. And are loyal.

How the hell did he make this seeming 180?

You see… Felix had great biomechanics

With what I now understand about these biomechanics the rise of Felix doesn’t surprise me at all.

Even though he was short, he always had excellent biomechanics. The body type that he could eat anything and still probably have a six pack.

And the energy level of a person that just never seemed to tire.

Back in those early days his personality was rough around the edges. But his biomechanics gave him the time and ability to shape it over time.

He kept his confidence but learned to direct it better. Into ways that would encourage others to believe and follow him.

You see all of foundational elements were there… the healthy neurology, the natural confidence, the energy, the crisp voice, the health, etc.

And so he just kept iterating on the ‘character’ part till he found what works.

Contrast that to another guy I know from about the same period who was known for having a great personality, but had pretty bad biomechanics.

Things have not evolved well for him. He’s had various health issues, his career has not evolved well, and now that we’re all married with kids… not many folks appreciate his ‘character’ as much anymore.

We’re all too busy.

We just see the exterior.

Which is that of a person that looks like he’s falling apart physically and has seemed to just struggle more and more in almost all other aspects of his life.

His biomechanics were draining him… not pushing him forward like Felix.

Closing thoughts

I tell today’s story as a cautionary tale to those that have bad biomechanics but spend a lot of time working on their ‘character’.

I’m a perfect example of how that ends up.

I travelled and lived around the world my entire twenties and thirties… thinking that I was building this ‘character’ that would make me successful.

And yet in 2014, at age 37, after a TMJ dentist drilled my back teeth almost flat I had the weakest character of my entire life.

Nobody was interested in being friends or spending time with me in that state. The team that I was trying to manage scorned me.

I remember the looks I used to get…. as if they lacked any respect for me.

Now I know better… I focus on my biomechanics and invest nothing in my character lol.

I also don’t really invest any time in trying to develop relationships (as i’m just too busy), and yet more and more people try to spend time with me (perhaps because i’m naturally happy all the time? lol).

This game is not about effort folks…. it’s about optimizing your biomechanics.