I love penetrating, thought-provoking, high-impact quotations. I constantly look for them, save them, and share them via my websites, articles, books, and presentations.
In my opinion, it is hard to find a more penetrating, thought-provoking, high-impact quotation than this one attributed to Aristotle:
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
No truer statement has ever been made. We are what we repeatedly do. We are slaves to our habits. Our habits control and dominate our lives. Our habits control and dominate our leadership and our success, or lack thereof. Our habits determine our legacy.
As leaders, we should constantly be reminding our colleagues and those we lead and influence, through our words and more importantly through our actions and our personal example, that “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Every leader, and every human being on the planet, is dominated by and a slave to their habits.
Want to improve the personal, professional, and organizational performance of your colleagues and your organization? Focus on improving your habits and their habits!
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
