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I’m not sure I see how my interpretation is out of alignment with yours (with which I don’t disagree), but nonetheless, thanks for commenting and sharing that perspective – Jeff
ReplyI love your post, except for item 6… I feel like the quotation you provided leans toward a different meaning than what you have assigned.
The virtue that Aristotle is intending to protray (i belive) is that the center is always the goal. Virtue is the perfect middle road. You aren’t too agressive, or to passive… neither passivity nor agressiveness are ideal, the middle road is the perfect one. So, what he means here is that sometimes, to find that middle road, you have to aim high or aim low. Your initial intent is off the mark, but you do this knowing that you are correcting for other circumstances.
Suzanne – Thanks so much for sharing these thoughts. And congrats on doing exactly what you want to be doing in your big picture! That’s certainly a huge help when it comes to discipline. Stopping, taking a break, and getting involved in something else is also very good advice. Just this past week I found myself picking up a potboiler mystery every few hours and reading several chapters to help clear my mind so I could keep plowing ahead on a big client deliverable. It definitely helped. – Jeff
ReplyVery nice post. Thank you. When I talk to people about learning, going back to school to get a degree, or upgrade skills, we often come to the part about actually doing it. The discipline part. Yes it’s a mindset, habits, just something you decide to do, day by day, task by task.
Personally I’ve never struggled with *discipline,* but that may be because I’m often doing exactly what I want to be doing in my big picture. Those little tips, reward structures and tricks to get me going on the days I don’t want to help as well. Some days, when it’s really bad, I’ll say to myself, “So what would I rather do?” I often come up with “nothing.” It’s comical.
I’ve learned what some of my barriers are to getting going.
1. Not wanting to put the effort in/the task is too hard
2. Not sure what to do/how to do it
3. Resentment due to exhaustion
4. Frustration connected to numbers 1 and 2
I overcome these by asking for help, breaking things down, finding another way to do something. Stopping and taking a break. Getting deeply involved with something else to clear my mind.
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