Happy New Year 2017

Happy New Year 2017 to all my family members and friends.

The year started with lots of meetings and preparation for the months to come.

Some people are excited and some not so excited, how about you?

I was given the opportunity to design a new workshop content for one of our big MNC clients. Thanks to my team mate for the opportunity...

While designing the program, I stumbled across a saying by Aristotle (I do not have his photo, only a picture of his statue as above)...

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit..."

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and scientist born in the city of Stagira, Chalkidice, on the northern periphery of Classical Greece. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, whereafter Proxenus of Atarneus became his guardian. (Source: Wikipedia)

Born: 384 BC, Stagira, Greece

Died: 322 BC, Chalcis, Greece

Education: Platonic Academy (367 BC–347 BC)

Parents: Nicomachus, Phaestis

What did Aristotle mean by "We are what we repeatedly do."?

I am sure by now, if you are an adult (or in the process of growing wiser), you have acquired some skills; I cannot speak for others but for me, my favourite skill (one of them) will be cooking and that is one of the skills that I enjoy doing, learning, sharing... my passion.

How did I learn how to cook? I have a good mentor; my mother and also cooking shows, books and what not.

In the beginning, I struggle to learn and it was not easy; the food that I cooked was bland, too sweet, too salty or sometimes tasted funny... haha!

What I have learnt from Bruce Lee's saying, "Walk On...", to me, it meant, "Keep doing, keep going, do it until you master it..."

It takes time to master a skill and I believe that if you put in the hard work, with persistence, comes permanence (two of the 9 P's from my signature program, "Change Your Habits, Change Your World!" which I have renamed it to "Habit Change 2.0").

Today, I am glad that I am able to cook for my family members and getting compliments from them (always put a smile on my face).

What does "Excellence" mean?

Excellence means...

Outstanding quality, extremely good, superiority, supremacy, caliber, brilliance, greatness and simply... BEING the BEST!

One of my favourite quotes by Master Sifu, Bruce Lee...

"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times"

Just imagine, you practiced one skill for 10,000 times, hours... repeatedly mastering the skill, the art, the way... what will the results be? How will you improve? I trust that, you are going to be very good in that skill you perfectly practiced. There are many great people with different areas of expertise and I am very sure that they have put in a lot of effort to make themselves who they are today. They have definitely paid their price to be outstanding.

Thus, excellence is NOT an act... but a HABIT - what we do without thinking (unconscious competence). Routine, pattern, norm... (like when we asked our mother, how much salt did she put into the dish? Then you get the "look" from her... as she has been cooking for the longest time and she has mastered the art of cooking... she just know, how much to put in without measurement... that is mastery of cooking)

What are you going to master in 2017?

"Change Your Habits, Change Your World!"

#habit #excellence #best #aristotle #act #2017