Aristotle once said (or might been interpreted as so by Durant) that "quality is not an act, it is a habit", he ancient Greek philosopher try to pass ideas like this to his disciples regarding life and excellence.
Misquoted or not this quote is so powerful and relatable to our time.
We see lots of people trying to become successful over night in social media and other platforms.
People think they got the perfect piece of content, but once they put it out, nothing happens. All your viral dreams seem to vanish away in a split second, and now you feel discouraged. Sound familiar?
This happens mainly because:
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”
It might be a complete/alternate version of the quote, but nevertheless the meaning is better understood, let's analyze it regarding your possible errors:
- First, you might think your piece is awesome but it's not! You didn't take the time to perfect your craft, to grow your audience, to develop the habit of constantly posting quality content.
- Second, one quality act won't replace a dozen of mediocre ones.
A basketball player doesn't hit hundred of shots in practice for no reason, he can hit one perfect quality shot. But he knows he must train a lot of times that movement, so it can become a habit. When the time to perform in a game comes, he'll hit that shot perfectly and naturally.
So you can't expect to have quality in your work, if you don't practice it, and, take the time to develop it into a habit.
Lets get a closer look at the meaning of this quote below:
Quality Is Not An Act It Is A Habit Meaning
1. One Quality Act Won't Do It
You're doing one quality act and expect to change things? That's not how things work.
You have to do it time and time again, hopefully you will impact things to change in the future.
But you can't expect to have immediate impact, even less, with only one action.
To reach excellence you need to know how things work, really well.
You can only do it by experimenting (trial and error method), which means you need to do a it lot of times: learn what you're doing wrong, correct it, improve and eventually after many times repeating this process, you can become an expert at it.
It can take months or even years, so don't expect to reach excellence and quality in your field of expertise, with one solo act.
2. Why A Habit
Well, a habit is something that sticks, and once it sticks it's hard to give up.
Just imagine that you could create the habit of being excellent at what you do, wouldn't that be amazing?
Of course! But to create a habit, you need to repeat a specific action over and over again.
It's about hard work, dedication but also being smart about what you need to improve. Understand the mistakes you're making along the way and become better with time.
Another reason for you to create the habit, is that you'll be in auto-pilot mode.
In the first stages you need to think about everything, but once it becomes a habit, it will come naturally to you (just like the basketball player that hits the shot in a game after countless hours of practicing).
3. Repetition Will Bring Change
So... how do you create the habit of being a quality performer/worker?
Know what you want, set specific goals to get it and plan specific daily actions to reach those goals.
After these simple 3 steps, it comes the time to execute!
Repeat, repeat and repeat those actions every day.
Creating new habits to reach excellence demands a deep change in your routine, but you must do it regardless.
Repeat until what you've planned becomes your new routine, a natural thing in your day.
That's how powerful a habit can be, so don't hesitate to create one. Practice and practice it!
4. Put Your Content Out There
Don't get cocky by thinking your content is already perfect from the start.
Put your things out there for the world to see and provide you with feedback.
Now... not all feedback will be worth it, but some of it is needed for you to understand how to become better.
You might be surprised to see what works and what doesn't work, because in our head we see things how we want not how the world sees. The only way to really grasp this is to expose your content.
We know that quality over quantity is important, but for the sake of improving, it's important that you incorporate quantity in your actions.
Be always on the go! Producing content non-stop, and understanding how you can develop and enhance your capability.
After a while of executing a considerable quantity of actions and learning with it, your quality will improve, and you'll start to produce a great quantity of quality actions. Get it?
5. Quality Becomes Your Trademark
Follow these steps and you will be producing work with great quality.
You should look this as a mission your business/brand must have:
To provide to your customers/fans, quality in everything you do.
People will recognize you as someone that provides a excellent work every time, so quality will become your trademark.
And quality work has a quick way of spreading, this will open new opportunities for you for sure! So embrace this philosophy, you have nothing to lose!
We hope you liked this reading and suggest you to share this page with your social connections.
Inspire them to reach excellence, it's on you and them to continue to...
Be GREAT!
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