Habits are the actions you repeat until they no longer require a decision, and they are the daily battleground where your character is built. This Physical Friday is part four of my six-part series on the quote: your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits, your habits become your character, and your character becomes your destiny. Today I cover the habits link in that chain, why quitting spreads, and how the same process that builds a gym habit can build a habit anywhere in your life.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
Actions become habits through repetition. When you take the same action over and over, whether that is showing up at the gym, putting money away, or quitting when a workout gets hard, the action stops requiring a decision and becomes automatic. The process is identical for positive and negative habits, which is why the actions you repeat every day matter so much more than any single big decision.
It is one line in a longer progression: your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits, your habits become your character, and your character becomes your destiny. The habits line means that the things you repeatedly do eventually define who you are. Repeat quitting and you become a quitter. Repeat showing up and you become someone who follows through.
Probably not, even though the quote is attributed to him constantly. From what I have looked at, the writer Will Durant, who was summarizing Aristotle's ideas, may be the one who actually wrote 'we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.' Either way, the idea holds: excellence is built through repeated action, not a single heroic effort.
Quitting does not stay contained to workouts. If you let negative thoughts become spoken words like 'this is too hard, I quit,' and you act on them regularly, quitting becomes a habit that follows you into the rest of your life. You start quitting on other commitments too. The reverse is also true: finishing hard workouts builds a habit of follow-through that transfers everywhere.
Say what you are going to do, then actually do it, repeatedly. When you state a goal like exercising an hour a day and then follow through, going to the gym becomes a habit, and you have proven you can build a habit in any area of your life — saving money, being kind to your spouse, donating your time. The process of habit formation is the same everywhere.
In my experience, yes. If it is a positive thing, the habit cannot come soon enough, and if it is a negative thing, the habit tends to develop faster than we would like. That is why awareness matters: the same repetition mechanism that builds the gym habit also builds the smoking habit or the quitting habit, so you have to choose your repeated actions deliberately.
Here is the workout-floor process I walk through in this episode for turning single actions into lasting habits.
I walk through each of these in the episode. Press play in the player above.
One quit looks harmless. The problem is what repetition does to it. When you allow doubt to become spoken words and those words become the action of quitting, and you do that regularly, quitting becomes a habit, and that habit follows you out of the gym and into everything else. Your little league coach was onto something when he warned you about it. I break down exactly how that chain forms, and how to interrupt it, in the episode, so press play in the player above.
This is the part that fires me up. If you say you are going to exercise an hour a day and you actually do it, you have not just built a gym habit. You have proven you can build a habit, period — saving money, saying kind things to your wife, donating time at the homeless shelter. The process is identical in every area of life. I explain why the first part of the year is the perfect time to test this, in the episode above.
Everyone attributes it to Aristotle, and I did too until I looked into it. There was another writer, Will Durant, who was studying what Aristotle wrote, and he may be the one who actually said 'we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.' The attribution matters less than the idea. I talk through how that single sentence reframes the pursuit of excellence in the episode, so press play above.
Habits are not the end of the progression. Next Friday I take it a step further into character — the actual fabric of who you are, the thing every success or failure in your life runs through. If you are preparing goals for this year, this is the week to get the habits piece right before we go there. Listen to the full breakdown in the player above.
Aristotle · Will Durant · Lao Tzu quote series · habits · goal setting · New Year resolutions · workouts · mental toughness · Physical Friday
Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen — the training, nutrition, and mindset to stay in the game for life. Watch and listen to every Physical Friday episode from Tom Rowland.
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's Physical Friday series I share the workouts, fitness challenges, and mindset lessons that keep me ready for long days on the water, so guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen can stay strong and stay in the game for life.
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