2nd December 2010
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle
I happen to receive the above quotation on my mail box today and I decided to write on the topic of habit once again. Isn't true that we are what we repeatedly do? When someone is called an excellent person, it means that the quality of his performance is of a superior quality. Excellence is a state of mind and when implemented properly, it becomes a habit.
Just as we got into any habit due to repetition, we can also get habituated to excellence performance by repetition. What is required is a conscious and consistent effort and a determination to do so. We can do the following simple exercises:
· Take a small job everyday and do it excellently well. It could be a very small job, like cleaning your spectacle.
· Don't jump into doing a job when you are not ready. Take some time. Decide if you have the resources to do justice for doing the job on hand.
· Decide which job you need not do excellently. You don't have to be a perfectionist.
· Make a public declaration of your intent to develop the habit of excellence so that you get the benefit of the peer group pressure to stick to your resolution.
· Mentally visualize how your life will transform if only you get into the habit of doing your job excellently.
· Know yourself. Find out which jobs you normally don't do excellently and check if you can improve the standard of your performance of those jobs.
Try the above small things and notice the effect of the same on your life!
N C Sridharan
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