For many years, I used this quote as my email signature:
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.”
— Aristotle
Intuitively, I knew it to be true. I just finished reading The Power of Habit after it was recommended by a colleague. This provides much more detail regarding the nature of habits and how they define individuals, organizations and societies. It’s a quick read and well worth your time. Two great quotes:
… it may seem like most organizations make rational choices based on deliberate decision making, but that’s not really how companies operate at all. Instead, firms are guided by long-held organizational habits…
This is the real power of habit: the insight that your habits are what you choose them to be. Once that choice occurs and becomes automatic, it’s not only real, it starts to become inevitable…
