The Excellence Habit – Continued
By: David Freund, Chief Leadership Officer

Last week we looked into habits and how they get started. I shared that Aristotle said, “To be excellent, we cannot simply think or feel excellent, we must act excellently.” Somehow Aristotle knew there was a connection between actions and our habits. It has also been said that whiners wait until they feel good to do something, but winners do something so they can feel good.

We really can act our way to good habits, good feelings, and success in life. Understanding the process of establishing neural pathways in our brain and how frequency strengthens those pathways allows us to develop the excellence habits we choose. Over time, things that we thought were very difficult become second nature to us.

Let’s take a look at one good habit that might surprise you: maintaining a positive outlook. Studies have proven that people with a positive mindset are happier, healthier, more successful, and yes even better looking. Okay, maybe science hasn’t proven the last one, but we all know that people who smile are better looking than people who always look miserable. I bet the happier people even look younger. So how do we develop a habit of being positive?

We start by looking for something positive every day. That’s right, every day. Begin recording in a journal at least one thing that went well each day. Since we don’t always do what we say we will do, get an accountability partner to help you. Perhaps you make it a dinner time ritual. I heard about one manager whose children would not let him eat dinner until he told them one positive thing that had occurred that day. Trust me this works. Several months ago my oldest son commented at a family dinner “Where is the grumpy, negative dad we once had.” Now I will tell you that some days it’s tough. In fact just this past Sunday evening, grumpy, negative dad was back, but thankfully he didn’t stay long.

We are a product of our thoughts and actions. Why not build Excellence Habits into your daily life. It’s not hard, but you do need to be intentional about it. Let me know what habits you are going to build. Contact me at [email protected].