What is Excellence?
Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. – Aristotle
I am excited to write this post as so many only quote part of what Aristotle said above.
That’s okay, the last two sentences stand alone and are very useful, but including the preceding is even better.
Excellence – aka Mastery – is indeed something borne of (and sustained by) practice.
It’s an ongoing gift granted, after some time, and then, over time to the devotee. A gift that goes to the one who does the work, who puts in the reps and keeps going even when it’s hard and/or no one’s looking.
Excellence, too, is its own reward. Yes, the Excellent may be well-compensated, but the satisfaction of reaping the rewards of practice and attunement to results and refining one’s method always precedes, and lasts, beyond any worldly compensation.
Excellence is experienced when one aligns themselves with the Truth of something and brings themselves up to a higher plane.
When one puts in the time they get to live differently. They are granted a different experience than others. They are no better, just more practiced, more developed – further along down a path.
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What calls you to Excellence?
What Truth do you aspire to be in alignment with?
Begin to walk down that path; there’s no destination as Excellence/Mastery is a practice, but the view and experience along the way is better is so many ways.