It is so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment” James Clear clarified “and underestimate the value of taking small steps on daily basis”. And this small steps on daily basis is what separate ordinary from extraordinary, experts from amateurs. This tiny steps is where people dare greatly in the face of powerful and painful circumstances and it is where breakthroughs become possible and achievable.
This art of showing up though infinitesimal is both incremental to building a sustainable and rewardable habits. And as Aristotle declared in Nichomachean Ethics, Habit, is simply, an excellence. When Aristotle made this bold declaration almost two thousand years ago, not many believe a time would come when habits of highly effective people will be the touchstones and guideposts for people wanting to get the best out their lives.
Aristotle did not define habit, because in the broader definition of that word, we can literally say he packed more questions in those three words than he answered. Conversely, we are also going to be wrong if we dismiss that beautiful and deeply thoughtful declaration because it lacks the conventional understanding of the word. For one, it means we would miss out merely because his idea on habit failed to give explicit meaning to the word. And that will mean we are on a path, where our potential would crater and our strive for excellence would falter.
Habit, though an automatic response to a specific situation is learnable, cultivable, and not in the contentious class of nature/nurture dichotomy. And that’s where Aristotle got it right. No one is born with a superior habit. Excellence as in greatness is what anybody can strive and struggle for. Nobility or background has little or no difference in this phenomenon. And the fact that your background does not mean your back will be on the ground forever implies that habit when rightly cultivated will make an individual wholesome. This understanding must have informed Aristotle to have that declaration. And that habit with excellence in mind should be our watchword. In other words, if habit is not intended to shine light on our darkness, or take us from ordinary to extraordinary level, whatever that is should be dropped and jettisoned.
Interestingly, excellence and greatness are simulacrum. If you strive for Greatness and excellence, you must be ready to follow same path great men and women of yesterday followed. That is, to strive for excellence, we must be ready to build habit that will deliver greatness mostly in line with those before us who have achieved what we plan to achieve. Habit is made up of four loops: cue, craving, response and reward.
Every habit runs through this loops. As I often asked my students, why do people eat? “People eat when they are hungry for instance”. Or when they perceive an irresistible aroma. Fine. From the cue, to craving, to response then to result. Cue is the signal. And that signal comes without notice. What you’ve spend your life doing, shows up automatically. What you do repeatedly becomes automatic. Once the signal is on, then desire follows. You crave for it. And that’s where the response to such external stimuli got turned up. Then finally the feeling of satisfaction that follow.
Habits are built on this four loops. Same as greatness. Same as excellence. In other words, to dare greatly and excellently, you must be prepared to take those tiny, incremental and small steps in the right direction with the right set of people.
Muftau Gbadegesin writes on self development and personal growth every Monday. He can be reached via muftaugbadegesin@gmail.com and 09065176850
