[美文欣賞]

Excellence is not an act, but a habit

Our character, basically, is a composite of our habits. “Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny,” the maxim goes.

Habits are powerful factors in our lives. Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character and produce our effectiveness or ineffectiveness.

As Horace Mann, the great educator, once said, “habits are like a cable. We weave a strand of it everyday and soon it cannot be broken.” I personally do not agree with the last part of his expression. I know habits can be learned and unlearned. But is also know it isn’t a quick fix. It involves a process and a tremendous commitment.

Those of us who watched the lunar voyage of Apollo 11 were transfixed as we saw the first men walk on the moon and return to earth. But to get there, those astronauts literally had to break out of the tremendous gravity pull of the earth. More energy was spent in the first few minutes of lift-off, in the first few miles of travel, than was used over the next several days to travel half a million miles.

Habits, too, have tremendous gravity pull- more than most people realize or would admit. Breaking deeply imbedded habitual tendencies such as procrastination, impatience, criticalness, or selfishness that violate basic principles of human effectiveness involves more than a little willpower and a few minor changes in our lives. “Lift off” takes a tremendous effort, but once we break out of the gravity pull, our freedom takes on a whole new dimension.

Like any natural force, gravity pull can work with us or against us. The gravity pull of some of our habits may currently be keeping us from going where we want to go. But it is also gravity pull that keeps our world together, that keeps the planets in their orbits and our universe in order. It is a powerful force, and if we use it effectively, we can use the gravity pull of habit to create the cohesiveness and order necessary to establish effectiveness in our lives.

[參考譯文]

卓越僅僅是一個習慣

人的品德基本上是又習慣組成的。 俗語說;思想決定行動，行動決定習慣，習慣決定品德，品德決定命運。

習慣對我們的生活有絕大的影響，因為他是一貫的。 在不知不覺中， 經年累月影響著我們的品德，暴露出我們的本性，左右著我們的成敗。

美國著名教育家曼恩曾說：“習慣就仿佛是一條纜繩，我們每天為他纏上一股新索，不要多久就會變得牢不可破。”這句話的后半段我不敢茍同，我相信習慣可以養成，也可以打破，但絕不是一蹴而就，而是需要長期的努力和無比的毅力。