Eleanor Roosevelt famously said, “Women are like teabags. You don’t get their full flavor until you put them in hot water.” The same could be said for men, I suppose–but why? Why is it that when put in hot water, we rise up to do extraordinary things, things we never would have thought ourselves capable of–but in the ordinary everyday moments of life, motivation is much more difficult to muster up? What is it about the dangerous or challenging situations that allows us to be above and beyond normal attitude, strength, ability?
I know in my own life, it’s easy to get caught up in the monotony, and I don’t always access the same level of leadership that I might in a more intense situation. It’s almost as if this monotony masks us from ourselves–in its midst, we fail to see our true potential. We fail to see what we’re capable of, and so many of us live lives of mediocrity on a daily basis.
What would it take to see ourselves through the everyday doldrums in the way we are capable of representing ourselves when it really matters?
The answer?
Habits.
When we rely on just the right circumstances to pull us up to our greatest potential, we are merely a broken clock that occasionally tells the correct time if you catch us just right. But if you wind that clock by cultivating the habits of greatness, habits around learning, connecting with people, cultivating vision, gratitude, meditation, exercise, responding vs. reacting… then you are more likely to tell the correct time consistently. Yes, like those old clocks your habits will need attention and rewinding as you practice new behavior, but the thing to remember is the ability to lead an extraordinary life isn’t luck or the right motivation, it’s a well-crafted and well-maintained habit.
Take the average and make it exceptional. Create the habits to live an extraordinary life. Make that choice today.
Photo via Bird Eye of flickr via CC license
