Following the previous article, comes this piece, in my opinion having to choose what course to take is a decision that comes with a lot of responsibility but at the same time if you accomplish what you set for yourself all the glory awaits you, on the flipside if things don’t go your way, no one is to blame but you. After deciding which path to partake one must also have a virtue to serve as guidance to follow.
What is a virtue?
Oxford dictionary says:
– Behavior showing high moral standards.
– A quality considered morally good or desirable in a person.
Merriam- Websters dictionary:
– Conformity to a standard of right.
– A particular moral excellence, a beneficial quality or power of a thing.
It means a lot of things and everyone follows a certain virtue, some the same, some different.
My favorite explanation on what virtue is, came from Aristotle, he described:
“Virtue is a kind of craft, something to pursue just as one pursues the mastery of any profession or skill. We become builders by building and we become harpists by playing the harp. Similarly, then, we become just by doing just actions, temperate by doing temperate actions, brave by doing brave actions.”
Virtue is something we do, something that we do daily for ourselves and for other people,
Becoming a winner, with Aristotle’s views regarding virtues we also have the responsibility to embody what we believe in, as they say one must practice what he preaches at the same time we must give life to what we believe we are ought to do in life. We become what we continuously do on a daily basis, like a virtue, what we repeatedly do in our daily lives is what people will associate us with. When a person goes to the gym daily and leads the life of an active individual, people surrounding this person will associate him most with the persona of someone who lives a healthy lifestyle.
Here’s more:
The Artist, a person who is known for producing art, whether professionally or just a hobby, one associates artistry to people who constantly make art, be it drawing, painting, acting, sculpting or even writing in some capacity e.g Poems and movie scripts. A good friend of mine is not an artist by profession but he is known in my circle to be a skilled artist, he draws portraits of people expertly, he does so as a hobby, never to monetize on it, he may well never be known as an artist in this lifetime but if people find his stash of great art, they might appreciate what he could have offered to the world. —Share your gifts to the world
The Athlete, one who participates constantly in athletic activities be it, weightlifting, team sports or even martial arts e.g MMA or combat sports. People who are associated with the term are ones who are known by their peers or people in general as someone who takes part in sports activities of their liking on a very regular basis, most of my peers and associates can be categorized here because I spend most of my time pursuing sports and here is where I widened my circle the most, some have regular day jobs and some are full time athletes one thing we have in common is we spend majority of our waking life exerting effort through athletic activities.
Michael Jordan is a successful entrepreneur. The Jordan Brand has exceeded trillions of sales and is now a part of a very influential pop culture and fashion, MJ now an NBA franchise owner and was also in a lead role for the movie Space Jam, despite all of that we will always associate Michael Jordan as the legendary basketball player regardless of his accomplishment outside athletics.
That is because he rose to fame playing basketball and he was great while doing it, he was out there every day, constantly working on his craft on his skills and by virtue he became the NBA’s unquestionable GOAT.
“Virtues are formed in man by his doing the actions,” Aristotle said. The writer Will Durant interpreted it thusly: “We are what we repeatedly do, therefore excellence is not an act, but a habit.”
In other words: Excellence isn’t this thing you do one time. It’s a way of living. It’s foundational.
Becoming a winner by following what you set for yourself. A win can be anything, not all wins are measured the same, a small win can be a big victory for one person. Let me prove it to you, when you wake up in the morning a 24 hour battle ensues, by doing something you set for yourself on the day of, creates challenges for you, if you listed making your bed as a task for the day, you better make it because that will be your first dub, by listing flossing as a task and you end up doing it, that’s another W, every task you set for yourself no matter how small, carries over as you go through your day, by constantly and regularly completing these small tasks you are slowly winning and going throughout the day and by winning one small task at a time you slowly conquered the whole day without you noticing it, at the end of it all, you have done all of your tasks and now it feels like a whole lot bigger.
As you go through your list daily regularly and constantly these small tasks become more and more miniscule and you then start setting slightly bigger tasks for yourself, you have now made yourself slightly better because all of the small things became part of your habits, this is how progress begins, tiny steps turned into even tinier steps seemingly unnoticed until it becomes a part of your life a second nature so to speak.
3 years ago, I started this practice of making my bed every time I get out of it, today its now automatic, so much so that I cannot leave my house let alone my room until I fixed my bed, other practices I have championed are going to the gym, I started with 30 mins 1 day per week, it gradually increased to 2-3 and today I go 4-5 times a week for 1 to 1.5 hours a week and many more to mention.
By conquering small task or tasks 1 day at a time, you will never feel as if it is a chore, something so minute will not hinder your life rather improve it long term. As you take on these small task, newer task come about and you will just build on your winning mentality later on turning you into a whole new you.
Do not fret when you fail a small task, it is a small one after all, the real winner’s mentality here is getting back to it, you owe it to yourself. Your virtue calls and wants you to win your battles, it might take time but, in the end, every day when you wake up a battle ensues, what are you going to do.
See you at the top!
XERGIUS 