blog

Making Excellence a Habit

I really like Aristotle’s quote, you might have read it, too… ” We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” Habits are the small decisions we make and actions we take every day. Our life today is essentially the sum of our habits since what we repeatedly do ultimately forms the person we are. When we learn to transform our habits, we can transform our life.

I have read several books on habits (forming good ones and breaking bad ones) lately, and here are a few takeaways I would like to share.

  • – if we are having trouble changing our habits, the problem is more likely our current systems and not us (good news!)
  • When in doubt about qualifying a habit, ask yourself-“does this behavior help me become the type of person I wish to be?”
  • If we want to master a habit, the key is to focus on repetition, not perfection. The more we repeat an activity, the more the structure of our brain changes to become more efficient in that activity.

One of the most effective things we can do to build better habits is to join a culture where our desired behavior is the normal behavior. New habits seem achievable when we see others doing them every day. Nothing sustains motivation better than belonging to the tribe; it transforms a personal quest into a shared one.

Thank you for belonging to our tribe!

Warmly,

Ursula and the IPY Teachers