My interview on the future of Handwriting and Graphology

I was recently asked for an interview by Ms. Jam Kotenko from http://www.digitaltrends.com for her

research into the topic of Handwriting Analysis. The basis of the research was the below story as she narrated-
Recently the Georgia Bureau of Investigation closed its Handwriting Analysis Unit, which has been in operation for the last 20 years. According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, experts say that the long-established crime-solving tool of handwriting comparison, which came into use more than a century ago, is going the way of snail mail and cursive penmanship.

Her work was eventually culminated into an article titled- "Can pen and paper survive in a world of touchscreens and tablets? " where i and other Graphology experts were quote. The article eventually came up quite well and would recommend everyone to read.
I am just sharing my full interview (parts of which were referred in the article) for readers-

1. What is it about handwriting analysis that you find most fascinating?
There are many things about Handwriting Analysis that has kept me hooked on to it for years.
But if i have to pick-up just one thing, it would be the sheer power that Handwriting Analysis gives to you as an individual to understand a person's personality by not even talking with them formally. There has been many instances where i told someone something about their personality by just looking at how they scribbled on the board. The accuracy of observations left them flabbergasted.
Handwriting Analysis is a science and depending upon the skill of a person analyzing the handwriting, the accuracy results are great (90-95%).
[I have captured some of my views in an earlier interview here. Just sharing in case you want to pick-up some lines http://thehandwritinganalyst.blogspot.in/2010/03/new-beginning.html]

2. Why do you think some consider it a "dying art"? Do you agree with them? Why/why not?
This is an interesting question. Varied thoughts zoom past my mind on reading your question. One is that calling it as a "dying art" is more a perception that is born out of a semi-fact that people have virtually stopped writing given the revolution around mobility and computing. "Keyboard is the new Pen" is what many would prefer to say. While it will be naive for me to not admit that the advent of new generation mobile devices have not impacted the frequency with which people write but holistically there are other facts to be considered. And they are-
a) Even though adults do most of their writing work with some form of keyboard, still every kid learn to hand-write the first thing. If writing with hands were not that important, then kids would be just given keyboards at the beginning of their education.
b) Most of the major mobile or desktop Operating system provider have a feature called "Handwriting Recognition" and other features like the one that allows people to scribble on the phone or tablet. Infact this has been projected as a differentiating factor in many new generation phones. This makes me think that even though the medium on which you write (earlier Paper) have changed (mobile screen), the handwriting itself is not dead.
c) One interesting observation is that Handwriting Analysis research has a great deal of basis in English and English like languages (like European languages). With the advent of Asian countries like China where lot of stuff is still written in local language, i am not sure if there a fool proof way of conducting Handwriting Analysis on those scripts. But English is still a strong business language across the world, so the handwriting analysis remain and will continue to stay relevant/
Thus, i believe Handwriting as a means of expressing thoughts is going nowhere but like with many things with life around us (because of advancement in technology) is undergoing a shift.
I have a problem with Handwriting Analysis being called as an "Art" because it’s a science.
 When we write, we use our conscious mind to think about the content. Whereas the subconscious mind influences the way the text is written, i.e. the letter formation, slant of writing, strokes etc. You never really think before writing certain letter such as "t", or "m" or "o" or anything else, it just flows. This is what gives vital information about personality. In fact, the word handwriting is a misnomer; it should be actually mind writing, as the brain is involved in guiding your hand to move.

3. As someone interested in it, what do you think would the world be like if handwriting analysis as a method for a) finding out more about a person's personality, and b) cracking criminal cases, became totally obsolete? Will it have a huge impact?
First of all, Handwriting Analysis as a science itself need a lot of upward push from the community that endorses it. I think its an science with a huge untapped potential. Most of the ways to understand out someone's personality are done through psychometric tests. Only problem with psychometric
tests is that they are reactive in nature but on the other hand require no skill from the person assessing. Whereas Handwriting Analysis is more proactive in nature but require a skill. Learning any skill takes time and in today’s fast paced, quick fix world- people don’t always give first priority to learning something new if they find faster and even less accurate means.
I will look at your question a bit differently and rather answer what will happen if Handwriting Analysis stays and become more powerful. In that case, the world will be a better place in which people understand each other better, the organizations will have less people conflicts and lot of people specific decisions can be taken quickly and accurately.
Infact, there is one more important but lesser known use of Handwriting Analysis and that is the stream of science called as Grapho-Therapy, which simply means that one can instil changes in one's personality by practicing the change in the way one writes. Yes, it’s a powerful use of Handwriting Analysis, which i have seen worked really well.
Even in criminal investigation, it will have a huge impact depending upon the case. If it’s a case that involves handwritten note, then not involving handwriting analysis, one will lose an important clue that could solve the case. Do read this case involving Indian President to understand how handwriting analysis can help is such cases.
There are a myriad of such examples where handwriting analysis have helped solve a case. So I believe justice will be poorer if Handwriting analysis were to really die, which I think won’t happen.

Images Source:
http://matchbin-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/public/sites/274/assets/4IFW_gbi.jpg
http://divinepower.co.in/graphology%20introduction.html
http://theworldofjoeriggs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Graphology.jpg

Why successful people do a Sreesanth ? Some insights from analyzing his signature.

The two "similar" stories:

"Sreesanth" is not an official phrase yet but I found it apt to use it as a metaphor for the people who have achieved something great in life but still somehow found a way to stumble and fall to disgrace. Indian pacer Sreesanth is cynosure of media's eyes these days because of his alleged involvement in the case of cheating in Cricket.

Let me narrate two instances in the recent times that shook me to disbelief.

Rajat Gupta was one of the most cherished success stories of Corporate America. With a career spanning multiple decades he was one of the most respectable names, perceived as an epitome of professionalism. In March 2011, the S.E.C. charged him in the largest insider trading case in the United States' history. Given his impeccable reputation, his acquittal was a sort of jaw dropping moment for the world. One factor that made the whole saga unexplainable was accepting the fact that a person of Gupta's stature, who was worth more than $100 million dollars, cheat just for gaining a mere few million dollars. It was his past mighty reputation that made big names like Bill Gates, Kofi Annan, Mukesh Ambani write to Judge to show some leniency in the verdict. It is said that some members of the Jury were seen weeping on passing the judgement on him. This case proved that even the best in business suffer from what Rajat later called "Error of Judgment".

Second instance that is dominating the headlines these days  is related to spot fixing in Cricket. S. Sreesanth who has represented India and was a part of 2 World cup winning teams was nabbed by Police on the charges of fixing the portion of the league Cricket match. The instance of Spot fixing is not new to Cricket but what is more surprising is that a person involved in the national team did it. The national team in India are more than handsomely paid through contracts and also for all the attention the players get, they become the face of many a products via heftily priced advertisement contracts. For instance, in Indian Premier League where Sreesanth was caught spot fixing. his franchise paid him around INR 2.2 crores per season spanning close to 2 months. This equates to playing about 16 matches. With the rotation of players throughout the season, an average player may get to play say half the matches. Equating all this, it could be safely calculated that Sreesanth was getting paid a staggering (approx) INR 1.15 Lakhs for bowling a single ball! For a person to still indulge in spot fixing despite earning so much so effortlessly would really take a different kind of motivation. I would be careful before using the word "effortlessly" in the last sentence because I do realize that sportsmen do work very hard and the especially the ones who have made it to the top would have done after making so many sacrifices in life. The same would be true for Sreesanth for making it big in life and he deserves credit for that part of his life.

An intriguing question:

These 2 stories are similar in some ways and dissimilar in other few ways. Dissimilar because both Rajat and Sreesanth belonged to different professions. Rajat was at the fag end of his career and had worked hard to establish a world class reputation before he was caught in insider trading whereas Sreesanth was more often in the news for wrong reasons and didn’t per say had a stellar reputation. He was more or less at the mid of his career.

The similarity of both these instances lie in the sheer stupidity of their act despite having achieved so much monetarily and otherwise. Some moments of bad thinking set them towards the path of failure causing almost an irreparable damage to their reputations. Their acts hung their heads and more so of the professions they represented in shame.

More intriguing question for me in these episodes is- Why do people after reaching the peak in their careers would ever think of getting into such an act ?

Its a hard question to answer but one quote from Mahatma Gandhi probably may help put things in perspective. It goes like-

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed'”

The keyword here is "Greed". And these cases prove that Greed sometimes plays a more dominating role in the minds of people who have achieved spectacular things in life. It’s as if a voice rings in the minds of these people that says "I have achieved so much in life, why not a little bit more before i sign-off". In achieving that "little bit more" people tend to lose the basic sense of ethics- a sense of deciding what is right or wrong. Even a momentary lapse in ethics can cause the problems of huge proportions as we can see in these cases.

What is greed, actually ?

Wikipedia defines Greed as

Greed is the inordinate desire to possess wealth, goods, or objects of abstract value with the intention to keep it for one's self, far beyond the dictates of basic survival and comfort. It is applied to a markedly high desire for and pursuit of wealth, status, and power.

Merriam Webster dictionary defines Greed as

a selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is needed

To summarize, some of the phrases that Greed gets associated with are-

Excessive, Desire to possess wealth, Selfishness

Sreesanth's signature:

I got interested in seeing Sreesanth's signature only after the Spot fixing incident that took place. Given the way the investigations are going currently, i am somewhat sure Sreesanth has already delivered his final autograph to an affectionate group of people called as Fans. For this analysis, i had to rely on the signature sample available on the internet. I do not trust these public samples often but the traits i am going to list in the following words were found in various versions on Sreesanth's sample available on the internet, so we could be rest assured this close to accurate.

Does Greed show up in Sreesanth's signature ?

One of the traits that is significantly prominent in Sreesanth's signature is his desire to acquire or in other words- acquisitiveness. This trait primarily deals with desire to possess something material or intangibles like knowledge etc. Greed, in some sense is a function of Acquisitiveness in one's personality. This is represented at the kind of hook formation at the start of letter. In his signature, it can be found with starting "S" of his first name and last name.

Desire to acquire need not always be bad as being human beings, there is a need to have some ambition to acquire things or knowledge. Like the saying goes- "Excess of everything is bad", the same could be thought of as true in the case of Sreesanth. For numerous signatures and handwriting that i have seen and analyzed, i have hardly seen any person having such big hooks at the start of word. That certainly is a proof of something excess at play here and when any trait is in excess proportions in human personality, it often causes problems in behavior or general response to many life situations.

If i have to make an informed guess about the pressure exerted while writing signature by looking at Sreesanth's signature sample, i would go for High pressure. High pressure is often treated as a trait intensification portion of handwriting or signature.Trait intensification portion meaning that presence of these portions in the handwriting usually intensifies other aspects of the personality. If we add this fact to excessive desire to acquire, we get a person who could do go out of this way to meet his excessive desires to gain the material wealth.

Another interesting observation from Sreesanth's signature is the presence of Stubbornness in his personality. Stubborn people are more braced towards their own ideas and don’t want to be confused with the facts after their mind is set on something.Stubbornness is actually a defense mechanism. It develops from the subconscious fear of being wrong. Stubborn people think that they are right all the time. With this defense mechanism in place, Sreesanth would have turned down the voice of any external person, who would have tried to show him the right path once he set his eyes on the wrong doings.

  
The final words:

The world that we live in today often teaches us to learn hard from failures and become better.  But as these cases prove, more than failures, the successful people could do well to learn to handle success better. Most of the ills in the world come from lack of expertise in handling success.

Here's wishing all the sporting heroes of the world understand this and realize that the whole world looks up to them for inspiration.

Image Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Sreesanth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajat_Gupta
http://www.fakingnews.com/2013/05/sreesanth-accused-of-stealing-towel-from-hotel/
http://www.123rf.com/photo_3071047_hand-with-money-greed-concept.html
Signature Source:
http://www.startiger.com/myStars/l.php?i=&s=195309&u=20768

Yuvraj Singh and his extraordinary comeback- Some insights from his handwriting

Over the last year or two, the name Yuvraj Singh has become synonyms with many impact words like- Victory, Comeback, Glory, Perseverance, Hard work, Cancer survivor and many more. The last one epitomizes his journey in the past one and a half year or so. His story seems almost surreal- within a month of being the Player of the Tournament for 2011 Cricket World cup, he got detected with Cancerous tumor and within a year of that he was back in the team playing demanding International Cricket. It is a story that reflects life at its best- nothing is certain, when you are at the zenith of your achievements in life, bad times would be queuing up and when you are bogged down by despair, the good times will be round the corner. He obviously had luck by his side in getting all the support and best possible treatment for cancer but looking at a long list of high profile people who lost their battles with cancer, one can only say that one needs more than just vanilla luck to surpass the deadly cancerous situation. While things like getting the treatment started timely is important but more than anything Cancer survivorship is about exhibiting a Strong mind and a steely human will to live despite odds. I will correct myself here in saying that "Cancer Survivor" is one of the phrases that better define Yuvraj Singh, he actually did much more than "just" Surviving cancer. Within months after his cancer treatment, he went through the hard pain of training, committed himself to domestic Cricket and was selected to play for India and even did well on his return the very same year. What he did was mind boggling and got me looking for  parallels of this achievement in history. I would be scared to name a certain Lance Armstrong, the disgraced cyclist now. Not so long ago I heard the story of Anna Bretan from California. Not a known household name but what she did was out of this world. Within 6 weeks of delivering a baby girl, Anna participated in Oakland Marathon and won with the timing of 2:57:33 (A Full marathon, mind you is 42.1 Km). Arguably, Yuvraj went through more stress on mind and body than a pregnant person but it is the stories like these that helps one not lose faith in life and to deal with obstacles heads on. These stories helps one believe that no matter how much down are you, tomorrow can indeed be better than today.

Yuvraj Singh's Handwriting sample:

Story behind Yuvraj's handwriting sample:

I recently got to read the latest book by Yuvraj- The Test of My Life from Cricket to Cancer and Back. This book is a biography of sorts as it looks at his life at various levels but with a focus on his fight with Cancer. The initial pages of this book had a message with Yuvraj's handwriting. As much as I found the book interesting, I was excited to see his handwriting that helped me analyze his personality.

What personality traits helped Yuvraj Singh's comeback to life ?

As a part of what is written in the next few paragraphs, the focus is on a few strong traits that helped Yuvraj stage an almost impossible comeback to life and Cricket. (A complete analysis of his personality through the handwriting sample would be more elaborate). Here we go-

Stubbornness:

Wikipedia defines Stubbornness as-

Stubborn, is a description of someone who is seen by others to steadfastly refuse to change their opinions, despite being presented with what others consider are good reasons to do so. 

A Stubborn person thinks he is always right and takes a stand. He may not even look at the other side and weigh other possibilities.

His handwriting clearly shows visible signs of Stubbornness in his personality. In fact, In his biography, he even mentions himself as Stubborn. An except below-

“I know i am a dheet. Not easy to translate into English but it means i am a kind of person who can make the stubborn people of the world look flexible and obliging.”

By its definition, it may give one an impression that Stubbornness is a negative personality trait. In my experience, it is often not all that right to classify human traits as good or bad because a given trait could be good or bad depending upon the context or the lens we choose to see them in.

At the early stages of detection of Cancer, Yuvraj was Stubborn to accept that he had a tumor that could be life threatening (even on insistence of his Doctors). Without realizing the enormity of what was growing inside him, he instead played the Test series as he didn’t want to lose an opportunity to seal his spot.

And later during his fight with cancer, it was his stubborn personality that refused to bog down to Cancer. No matter how miserable Chemotherapy made his outer body and the chemicals weakened his brain, it was his stubbornness to not give up to Cancer that made him be mentally prepared against the biggest opposition that he had faced in his life. Stubborn people are braced to their own ideas and once their mind is made up, that how they intend to keep it.

Defiance:

A Defiant person is the one who resists other's authority. This trait is often seen as resentment at being told what to do and as rebellion. The defiant person doesn’t like to be "managed" and is always alert for any sign of unjust authority. 

Yuvraj’s handwriting shows presence of Defiance personality trait as well.

There is an interesting story in Yuvraj's biography about the days when he started practicing Cricket. He was practicing at a Club with his Dad in his early days and Navjot Singh Sidhu happened to be in the same club. His father (a former Test Cricketer himself) requested Sidhu to assess his son playing.

Sidhu on seeing him practice had said that Yuvraj was not made for Cricket and showed no promise.

His Dad on hearing had apparently said to Yuvraj-

Apna basta utha aur ghar chal. Ab mein dekhta hoon ki tu cricket kaise nahi khelta (Pack your stuff, we are going home. I'll see how you don't play Cricket.).

He had the origins of Defiance traits arguably from this incident but inherently in his overall upbringing. This again like stubbornness can be seen as a negative trait but this is also a trait needed in some Leadership situations.

In his treatment of Cancer, he remained Defiant in his mind that he won let Cancer boss over him and even though he went through unexplainable pain and discomfort, he came back.

There is an interesting anecdote in his biography that speaks about Defiance in his personality. During his treatment, on one of the better days, one of his friends challenged him that though he may be good at Cricket, he can never beat him in Table Tennis. The stage was set and Yuvraj, still weak due to his ongoing treatment lost the first set of games 3-0. Even though he was physically fading and vomiting during the game, he asked for another set of games and made sure that he won 3-0 before he left the table.

Determination:

Determination simply is Firmness of purpose; resoluteness.

Yuvraj's handwriting shows the clear traces of Determination in his personality. Determined people hold on to a positive belief and ingrain that solidly in mind to sail through the tough times in life. Holding on to positive beliefs makes one a believer from non-believer.

At the start of chemotherapy sessions, Dr. Einhorn who treated Yuvraj said-

"After three cycles, you could walk out of here like a man who never had cancer.”

As Yuvraj points out-

“I remembered what Kapil Dev had said to us in the dressing room once when he came to speak to us. He said that there is an old adage which is annoying to hear in good times and wonderful to hear in bad times and it is : 'This too shall pass'.”

Rather than allowing himself to be fully distraught from the situations, Yuvraj continued to make himself more determined during the course of treatment and emerged victorious.

It was his determination that led to him starting his training in just a month after his return to India post treatment. A few months later, with Yuvraj playing all 3 formats of the game, was one of the most unbelievable things to have happened around.

I think it will be just fair and uncontroversial to say that Yuvraj Singh staged the most grand and difficult comeback in Indian Cricket's history. Media has often labeled him with incorrect adjectives during his early days but his come back to active life in recent times is more than a proof that this man is special. He is a hope for the lesser mortals who tend to give up all so easily on seemingly trivial things.

Here's wishing more power to Yuvraj in all his endeavors and especially towards Yowecan (a foundation to generate awareness and facilitate early Detection of Cancer) and success with Cricket.

Image Source:

http://myfitnesscare.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/yuvraj-singh.jpg

http://www.lrgiles.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/stubborn.jpg

http://www.fuelrunning.com/runnernotes/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/11.png

http://healthythoughts.in/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/determination.jpg

A peek into Oscar Pistorius' personality via his handwriting

The subject of this handwriting analysis- Oscar Pistorius has been in news recently for all wrong reasons (allegedly killing his Girlfriend). To clarify upfront, the purpose of this article is not to dissect the current situation that he is in but this is a general personality analysis about the man that Oscar Pistorius is. With media always looking to cash in on the vulnerable situations of celebrities to gain the eye balls or Website hits, it often has tendency to put in so much negativity into the already complex situations. This is what i see happening with Oscar's situation now. My attempt here is to maintain the balance in providing a perspective and that can only be done if we first understand the various facets of his personality better.

This article is the first of the two part series and i would scratch the personality surface more deeply in the next article to provide a perspective on the current situation i.e. Did Oscar really pull the trigger intentionally on his girl friend ? So the answer to this question will be the focus of next article, lets enjoy the basics of what made Oscar so huge figure in the World of athletics.

So Who is Oscar Pistorius?

- Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius is a South African sprint runner.

- Although both of Pistorius' legs were amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old, he competes in events for single below knee amputees and for able-bodied athletes.
- At the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, Pistorius became the first amputee to win an able-bodied world track medal.
- At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Pistorius became the first double leg amputee to participate in the Olympics when he entered the men's 400 metres and 4 × 400 metres relay races.

- Oscar was a reluctant runner earlier in his life. He was preparing to be a serious Rugby player when an serious Injury in one of the game "forced" him into running as a part of the Rehabilitation program.

The Handwriting sample:

The Source of his handwriting:

The handwriting sample being analyzed here was much in new last month primarily doing rounds across the news sites where some handwriting analysts claimed to have found some reasoning behind Oscar's behavior. 

This actually is a  thank you note penned by Oscar Pistorius was uploaded onto a fan's blog sometime back. (Stated source: http://insidemybraintoday.tumblr.com) Since this handwriting sample made so much news and was so visible, i would assume it be a real one. I usually do not trust the samples available on Internet unless backed by some serious data and information related to it being real.

The handwriting Analysis:

The handwriting and signature sample as present in this sample can give a lot more personality information than what is shared below. But in interest of time and size of analysis, i will restrict myself to the major personality areas revealed here.

Low Self esteem:

One of the aspects of his personality that surprised me the most was Low Self esteem. It in quite evident in his handwriting sample. The reason it surprised me was because High Self esteem has been one of the constant personality traits among the high achievers, whose handwriting i have analyzed so far.

In simpler words, Self-esteem is the total value one gives to self. It is one of the most important ingredients’ of success in one’s professional and personal lives. Self-esteem is a soft skill that has a maximum bearing on other Soft skills a person possesses. 

Oscar being such an high achiever and his having Low Self esteem is indeed interesting for me to assess further. Some characteristics of people with Low self esteem-

- Such people are harder on themselves than they really need to be.

- Such people fears failure and fears change that could bring failure.

- Most of the times they think about self, they think of imperfections and constantly question the self-worth.

- They tend to be in bad situations for too long.

After having gone through his biography, there are several aspects that come to my mind regarding his Low self esteem. After having born with deformed feet, his parents pursued his case with doctors worldwide and eventually settled on a decision that his legs have to amputated. Their chosen doctor advised them to go with this decision even before he learned to walk i.e. if he never experienced the role of feet, it would be easy for him to adjust to the artificial legs. As a result, he was amputated when he was not even an year old. So, Oscar had to go through questioning of his state various times in his life. Though he had a very good support system, the constant reminders that he lacked something from the strangers or people lesser known to him could have contributed to him having low self esteem.

Persistence:

In the handwriting sample that i studied, there was one instance where i could notice Persistence in Oscar's handwriting. If at all anything, one thing that is cornerstone of Oscar's life it is Persistence. Almost born in less than normal circumstances and to achieve what he has would require Persistence more than any trait. That Never-Give-up attitude is reflected at the various instances in his life.

His parents instilled the belief in him to Never give up. It is quite evident of his stories of childhood when he almost always played the sports with the able bodied kids. 

Even when he was an adult and competing in the able bodied athletics championships, he had to face a lot of difficulties to get used to the running stance for example. He had difficulties in perfecting the running stance before the stance of the run because of his prosthesis. He was actually not able to feel  the blocks. He overcame this with great deal of practice. This is another example of Persistence that he showed.

Also the instances where IAAF almost disqualified from participating in the able bodied events considering the results of some tests done that proved that, his prosthesis gave him unfair advantage he (with the help of his support system) went through the painful process of going through series of tests and contested the ruling and even won. All this could not have been possible had he lacked Persistence. 

Fierce ability to focus:

Oscar has a great ability to focus on an activity at hand. He can have the ability to eliminate all outside noises, thoughts, interference, and ability to concentrate fully on one subject. When he concentrates, he could become oblivious to everything around you.

Oscar had been into sports all his early life. Its only around the year 2004 or so that he got into running (mostly by accident). To focus on just one Sport and curbing his tendency to do cycling, Wrestling, Rugby and others and become as good as he eventually became needed just sole focus on purpose that he had in mind. In his case, the ability to focus has been extraordinary. Becoming a world class athlete requires great deal of discipline and i believe the discipline is hard to come by if one does not have the right kind of focus. 

His biography states the below about his mindset about his training, which again is a strong reflection of Single minded devotion to his chosen craft-

"The minute i wake up in the morning, I start thinking about my training, about my preparation, about concentrating on being quicker. Everything I do, in my day and in my life, is centered on training and running hard."

Dominant:

The person who is Dominant likes to be in control and likes the feeling. He likes to take charge of the situation. He makes a very interesting mention in his biography on how he likes to exercise the dominance-

"I am a kind of athlete who prefers running from behind. In short, i prefer chasing to leading and so i try to avoid the eighth lane where you are out in front of everyone else. I like the first three lanes, since that way i always have someone in front of me to chase."

Positive Orientation:

I dont think he could have achieved what he has on the track and field without being a Positive thinker to almost a fault. This aspect is very evident in his handwriting as well as signature.  He says in his biography-

"People often ask me what it is like to have artificial limbs but i am unable to answer that question. My prostheses are my legs, I have never known others and so I invert their question and ask them to explain to me how it feels to have legs. One should try to celebrate, or atleast enjoy, what one cannot change".

This reflects his positive thinking even in a situation where most people would have chosen to given up or even succumbed to fate.

Emotional intensity, Objectiveness:

He has very deep and enduring feelings. Any emotional situation or feeling will stay with him for a long time. He may forgive, but will find it hard to forget. Such writers feel situations intensely.

He is objective and given to evaluating facts before taking decisions. At best, he is quite non-judgmental.

His biography at quite a few instances states how his mother's untimely demise left an indelible mark on him and his personality. By his brother's narration, the passing away of his mother brought in more focus to his life and that incident made him more inwardly focused towards the goals. He went through almost a quiet transition during this phase of his life and let all the energy out on field. He could accomplish such phase primarily with his high emotional intensity.

Stay tuned for the second part of this analysis!

Image Source:

http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2013/02/18/1226580/133438-130218-pistorius.jpg