Rediscovering Excellence

" 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 (384 BC - 322 BC) Greek Philosopher"

Habits are amazing. My habits can liberate me or enslave me. Take this blog for instance. After I got my iPad I found it convenient to write and post my blogs from it. But then there was some code problem between the iPad and Blogspot. I couldn't get my posts to save as draft or to post. Then, instead of changing my habit, I let my habit of only blogging from my iPad stop me from blogging at all. Luckily I've checked out Blogspot again and the issues seem to be worked out (maybe its that incredible iOS5 upgrade!).

It happens with my health and fitness as well. I get into the habit of eating and exercising a certain way or time, and it keeps me going, improving. But when "life" interferes and causes conflicts or changes, the habit - if it is too inflexible - is no longer my liberator, but my enslaver.

I moved from my 4 year apartment stint into a house in August. The house is great, but I no longer have the free time that I had before. The drive into town is further, the yard demands attention, cleaning the kitchen just takes more time because there is more space to be covered moving around. And though there is a great space I've dedicated for exercise, I'm allowing my habits from a more leisurely paced life to block my fitness and nutrition goals.

Okay, so yet another lesson learned. This is another example of how easy and how incredibly complicated pursuing health can be, and often both at the same time. This is a change in focus here, but this simple fact (that health can be easy and complicated at the same time) underscores the importance of having accountability or success partners for this journey.

So, the challenge before me I the next few days is reactivating powerful liberating habits. After all, excellence is a habit.