“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit.” – Will Durant
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“Arete.” – Is a powerful word. To the Greeks, it meant ‘excellence’. It was the ultimate expression of human greatness—moral, physical, spiritual. It’s what the Stoics were chasing. It’s what you should be chasing today.
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But how do you get there?….. Well, it requires a certain philosophical approach. Because brilliance and inspiration and skill are not enough.
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“Virtues are formed in man by his doing the actions….” Aristotle said. The writer Will Durant, interpreted it as: “We are what we repeatedly do… therefore excellence is not an act, but a habit.”
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In other words: Excellence isn’t this thing you do one time. It’s a way of living. It’s foundational. It’s a habit.
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As Epictetus would later say, “capability is confirmed and grows in its corresponding actions, walking by walking, and running by running… therefore, if you want to do something, make a habit of it.”….. So if you want to be happy, if you want to be successful, if you want to be great, if you want to improve your martial arts, be a better karate-ka, you have to develop the ‘capability’, you have to develop the day-to-day habits that allow this to take place.
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There is nothing more powerful than a good habit. Nothing that holds us back quite like a bad habit. We are what we think. We are what we do. What we think and do determines who we can be. You’ve seen these forces at work in your own life, for better and—frustratingly all too often—for worse.
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These are difficult times we’re in. Economic uncertainty. Personal adversity. These things can sink you…or they can be opportunities to improve. They can be obstacles you triumph over…or setbacks that bring you to your knees.
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What will it be?
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If you want to be or do something, Epictetus said; make a habit of it. So let’s make a habit of; ‘arete’ (excellence). Keep asking yourself; ‘can I do better?’ – Strive for excellence. Don’t accept; ‘that will do!’ – Excell…..‘ARETE’. 
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References: Daily Stoic
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 Photo Credit: Rika Usami by Marcel Frechin
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