We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle
Do you want to be a man of honor, integrity and character? Then you have to act like a man of honor, integrity and character. Not just once and a while, not just when you are in a good mood, not just around people who you consider important, but all the time. In fact, don’t act like a man of honor, be a man of honor.
You have to get into the habit of living a life full of honor. It doesn’t just happen automatically. You have to practice it and work at it. Sometimes you have to just plain grit your teeth and do it despite your feelings, until the time when acting with honor and integrity becomes automatic.
Aristotle also tells us that excellence is an art form and that it is acquired by training and repetition. You do not do the right thing because you have virtue, but rather you have virtue because you do the right thing. Your actions and intentions form your character. Later, when your character has been formed and becomes a habit, it determines your actions.
The warrior must be careful to make his actions and intentions right. He has to make a habit out of this until he has perfected his character. Once he has begun to perfect his character, acts of honor and integrity come naturally, without conscious thought. When you get to this point, living a life of excellence will become your nature. Your actions determine who you become; and even further what you are. What do your actions say about you?
Bohdi Sanders
excerpt from the NEW BOOK
The Warrior Ethos
