Habits...Another Rant... It's something I excel at ;)

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a
habit." -Costco Connections July 09 pg 11 ( I think it's originally from Aristotle)

I read this quote the other day and I've been thinking about how true it is. The few things I am excellent at are something I have practiced perfectly long enough for it to be part of my routine and become a habit. Whether it be drinking enough water, certain routines used in teaching, etc, etc. (OK so not really etc, there aren't many things I'm excellent at!)

But the same is true for all of the things I'm horrible at, eating junk, lack of exercise (which thanks to Lindsay has been getting lots better :), not thinking before I speak/react, my lack of patience, etc, etc, etc (and yes all of those etc count with many many more!). These are things that have also become a part of my routine either in a counter productive form or they are non existent. I have not practiced perfectly long enough for it to be a habit. There is much I still need to become excellent at by repeatedly doing them correctly/well/best for me.


Stepping away from me to be a tad bit... ok a lot... judgemental.
I guess what I've noticed is that some people in my life (including myself) complain about things that only THEY have control to change. Complaining about not being good enough at X, not liking how they responded to Y, and wishing they wouldn't have done Z. So my advice is practice perfectly what YOU want YOU to be and excellence will eventually come.


Here's the issue...Don't pretend to be one way when you're really not, just because you think it's what I or anyone else wants you to say or what type of person you think I want you to be. We're human, we're not always going to make everyone happy (believe me I never make everyone happy EVER!) I'd rather know the REAL you than the you you think I want you to be.

I guess my thing is be who you are, not who you think you should be because of me or anyone else.


Ok so moving on to the nicer (only slightly) version of me :)
So I have a few things I'm going to work on doing repeatedly so that I can be excellent at doing them. I have a spiritual goal (daily scripture study for 20 minutes), a physical goal (continuing to walk 5 days a week with Lindsay), and a relationship goal (writing to my brother every week for the rest of his mission, :(I've been the opposite of excelling at this).

What do you want to do repeatedly so you can excel at it?