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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
-Aristotle
photo by CharlieBrown8989
Excellence seeks pursuit of perfection. We measure success in our life in many different ways including wealth and fame yet true success resides in the pursuit of “goodness” in life.
There is “goodness” to a day that begins with bright sun, to flowers that bloom and to water that flows. They all tend to perfect their karma through repetition in excellence.
Virtues are incubators of the habits, attitudes, thoughts and emotions we need to develop to bring best of us in the form of human excellence. For example, a surgeon must develop certain skills and habits to enable him/her excellence in surgery. He/she must be disciplined, must possess depth of knowledge and experience to become excellent. Similarly, an athlete needs discipline, practice regularly and take instructions well in order to achieve excellence in sports.
Life is much the same, if we wanted to achieve excellence in living. A virtuous person develops focus, discipline and consciousness to live in goodness consistently. We need to develop certain habits and skills in life if we wanted to excel in life. These habits and skills bring best of our “goodness” and repel worst of our vices.
Make habit to do what is best for others
If my quest is to be wealthy, I shall try to make others wealthy. If my quest is to be spiritual, I shall try to seek spirituality in others. If my quest is to be happy, I shall try to make others happy. Start habit of gratitude by thanking those who inspired goodness in you. By investing in others, we tend to align with just, moral and virtuous habits. By being just, we tend to learn to deeply care and serve what is best for others. We tend to listen more than to speak when our intention is to seek what is best for others. This virtue will repel vices of greed and selfishness that destroys best intentions to excellence.
Forgive what happened
As we begin our journey of excellence, we confront unexpected challenges. Some help us overcome these challenges while others try to hinder our journey. Some are kindhearted and many others are malicious and manipulative. We face many setbacks in the form of loss of business, loss of loved ones and sometimes loss of life savings. We face financial setbacks, business failures and loss of a great relationship. We need to develop virtues of courage and forgiveness to overcome seemigly in-surmounting difficulties in our lives and to repel vices of anger, hatred and jealousy.
If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.
- Collin Powell
Develop courage and imagination
Our quest for excellence in life faces difficult trajectories, sometimes from external elements but many times from within us. We get angry when things do not go the way we expect. We get jealous when a friend gets promotion or a competitor wins lucrative contracts. We tend to seek behavior that reminds us that, by being resentful, angry and stressed, we are not quite gracious enough for the test of excellence in goodness. By developing virtue of courage and imagination, we tend to repel vices of bitterness, jealousy and the tinge of envy. With courage, we tend to play an offensive with these character dangers. We tend to develop character of perseverance and determination to continue our journey of excellence regardless of dangers that we face externally as well as internally within us.
How can I develop virtues to begin odyssey of excellence ? It is quite simple. Virtue is a form of “goodness” habit. Every habit takes focus and discipline. Focus to develop burning desire and discipline to practice it consistently so that virtue becomes second nature. It’s been known that any habit requires 28 days to become a second nature for our mind. We all have virtues within us but until we make conscious efforts to practice these virtues, we cannot become virtuous. We always tend to gravitate towards goodness, but we cannot claim excellence in goodness, unless we practice it daily.
Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
-Aristotle
I have written down and posted these virtues of excellence on a paper and posted them on my desk and in my bedroom to remind me of their significance for excellence in life.
- Attitude: I will choose and display positive attitude today.
- Family: I will care for and love my family today.
- Courage: I will show courage to display highest standard of ethics today.
- Values: I will embrace and exemplify values of compassion, forgiveness and kindness for all today.
Other Blogs: Leo Babauta has great article - A Guide to Escaping Materialism and Finding Happiness
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To Your Success,
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This kind of reminds me of the law of attraction or the idea that we attract what we focus on and what we demonstrate in our own lives. If we focus on and spread misery then that is what we attract more of into our lives. If we demonstrate goodness and generosity, than we will attract others who exhibit the same qualities.
It’s hard to remember this on our darker days, but giving out what we hope to receive does seem to generate positive results if we can stick with it.
Lori,
Excellent point. We become what we feel and practice in our life. My focus of this article is to remind that we all have goodness in us but we have to make a habit to bring that goodness to the forefront.
Shilpan