Quality Is Not An Act; It Is A Habit
Aristotle has famously said, “Quality is not an act, it is a habit”. Consistency is one of the key pillars of success, be it personal or professional life. Both good and bad habits when repeated over a period of time, become behaviour. Performing consistently well requires quality to be ingrained in your behaviour so that any task you undertake is thoughtful, critical and quality-oriented.
In an age where organizations continue to look for horizontal and vertical growth, they face intense competition. One way to differentiate from your peers is to develop a continuous quality improvement mindset and work on outperforming the competition.
We are what we repeatedly do
Will Durant echoes this Aristotelian sentiment when he said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.” If you like to turn quality and excellence into your core values, here are a few tips to make it happen:
1. Never give up
Have you seen a ballerina perform? Or a famous singer insisting on one more take because he is not satisfied with the previous one? Making quality your habit means never giving up or settling for anything less than excellence.
It is the same mantra that helps me make movies whether it is finalising a script, the actors, the location. Ensuring that the production value is optimal at all points of time, even if it means going the extra mile is what makes films like The Tashkent Files stand out at the National Awards.
2. Innovation
All innovation whether it is scientific or business related, stems from the thirst to improve quality continuously. Those who are satisfied with the status quo will never take a leap forward into being better and more efficient. Innovation and quality go hand-in-hand. When you start thinking out of the box, you pave way for great discoveries, inventions and advancements that improve the quality of our work, our lives and our systems.
3. Repetition brings change
Quality conscious people have a common trait. They know what they want, create specific goals to get it and then plan daily actions to achieve these goals. For example, you want to learn how to play the guitar. But not just play it like an amateur. You want to play it excellently so that nobody can tell you have learned it recently.
Right from researching guitar tutors to asking people who have learned the instrument for their advice and tips, to watching YouTube videos, you will do your groundwork before enrolling for a guitar class. Once you get started with your classes, you will keep rehearsing and repeating what you have learned, until it comes naturally to you.
Creating new habits to achieve excellence needs a discipline and change in your routine. Practice makes perfect.
4. Be receptive to feedback
One of the traits of a person who’s revers quality is that he/she is open to feedback. They seek advice and opinion, eliminate their egos and find out newer, faster, better ways of doing things. They take criticism well so that they can stay true to the path of continuous quality.
Remember, once you make quality your mission in life, you will never be able to accept anything but the best.
