school theme

2020

Thorne family back to school theme

WE ARE WHAT WE REPEATEDLY DO, EXCELLENCE, THEN, IS NOT AN ACT, BUT A HABIT” Aristotle

“A lot of people are afraid to accept just being ordinary because they believe that if they accept it, they will never achieve anything, never improve, and their life won’t matter.  This sort of thinking is dangerous.  Once you accept the premise that life is worthwhile only if it is truly notable and great, then you basically accept the fact that most of the human population(including yourself) sucks and is worthless…. The RARE people who do become TRULY EXCEPTIONAL at something do so not because they believe they are exceptional.  On the contrary, they become amazing because they are obsessed with improvement.  And that obsession with improvement stems from the unerring belief that they are in fact NOT THAT GREAT AT ALL.   These people become great at something because they understand that they are not already great! They are mediocre, they are average, and that they CAN BE SO MUCH BETTER.”  Mark Manson

This passage from one of my favorite books reminds me of one of my favorite quotes that I learned in one of my Dad’s philosophy classes at BYU.  “anything worth doing is worth doing poorly” G.K. Chesterton.

Any time you have ever witnessed a baby learning how to walk you will watch them fall down AGAIN AND AGAIN, possibly hundreds of times.  You never then hear a young child say anything like, “wow, I really am terrible at walking, I guess I’m just not cut out for it. I quit” NO, they believe walking is something they want to do and they know that it is worth doing even if they do it poorly at first.   Anything that ANYONE BECOMES GREAT AT became so by starting out mediocre at best and possibly terrible.  Any person who is now looked at as the BEST of anything became so  by trying over and over and over.  By going out and doing the thing they don’t think they are perfect at again and again and creating good habits.  Good habits create mental and physical strength. Good habits are why Michael Jordan went from a kid who didn’t make the basketball team to the greatest player of all time. The child or athlete or musician or scholar has to choose each day and each hour—-in fact, each moment—to DO what he wants to eventually BE.  This is the way of progress.  If you want to be a good person, start by doing good things repeatedly. If you want to be a good friend, start by BEING A GOOD FRIEND always.  If you want to be a star athlete, start by working harder than anyone else.  If you want to be a good student, start by studying harder than anyone else.  It is HABITS THAT CREATE EXCELLENCE…. ALWAYS.  YOU ARE WHAT YOU REPEATEDLY DO!