Aristotle said 2,000 years ago that "we are what we repeatedly do."

For most of our adult lives, we accept the myth or belief that some people are born with special talents and gifts , coming to think that the potential to excel in any activity, is usually predetermined by genetic inheritance.

There are some guides that are based on high performance science focused mainly on athletes for physical, emotional, mental and even spiritual creation. The best coaches in the world in any sport discipline buying a fitball are based on the fact that "it is possible to build any given skill or ability in the same systematic way that we do to work muscles": Only considerable effort is required beyond our comfort zone. , and then rest so that the muscle takes the desired shape.

That is why if we take Aristotle's saying -We are what we repeatedly do- and apply it to any aspect of our life (sport, business, abilities, aptitudes ...) we can achieve whatever we set out to do.

Here are 5 keys to achieving excellence in something that are applicable to business.

1. Get rid of emotional and other people's impediments.

The first thing is to get rid of your own emotional impediments and much less pay attention to other people's impediments. You can get anything you set your mind to. Let them ask  Charles Eugster, the man in the photo, who at 93 years old does bodybuilding and ensures that he is living his second youth. What's more, he says he finds himself with more vitality than when he was 50 years old. I imagine that many would tell him that he was crazy and that at that age he couldn't.

Some researchers are already beginning to give a definition to what we call talent: "Talent is more than 10,000 hours of practice in empowering any skill we want . " If you want to be really great at something, get involved and mentally prepare to receive frustration, setbacks, and failures. In this way, the reward will come.

2. Do the hardest work first.

Our instincts always lead us to seek pleasure and flee pain. Most successful people agree that you first have to focus on the toughest tasks and get rid of them the sooner the better. If you have 2 tasks to do, one of which will require a lot of effort and the other you are already more accustomed to, take advantage of vitality and energy to face the hardest. Apply this concept in the aspect you want.

3. Seek expert feedback, but intermittently.

Do not stop learning, receiving advice, reading, etc ... but remember that, following the analogy of the muscle, for the muscle to grow, it needs to rest. If I didn't rest I wouldn't take volume. And that happens with us too. Too much information also causes anxiety, cognitive overload and hinders the learning process. Example: Many people want to learn about investing as quickly as possible. They are smart, they learn fast, but they are overloaded with so much information that they end up mixing concepts. It is necessary to first establish the bases of knowledge (the foundations) and then build a solid building on those foundations.

4. Ritualizes the practice (Discipline).

If a person is not disciplined, he will seldom achieve success in anything. An athlete requires discipline in his training, in his diet and in the hours of sleep. An entrepreneur or executive needs exactly the same, just as a person who has set himself to be good at anything must be disciplined to achieve it.

5. And what about passion?

Although we are repetitive at this point, always, without a doubt, it will be much easier for you to be good and even the best in that activity that you are passionate about. If we were to define the secret of success, I would define it as 50% passion and 50% practice, discipline, and perseverance.

That is why even being aware that the current crisis situation and the lack of work is pushing many people to undertake without being prepared for it, the truth is that if your only way out is to undertake, you must learn to undertake and everything related about the business world. Search within the venture for an activity with which you feel comfortable, in which you can take advantage of your skills and for which you feel passion. Along the way you will find obstacles and you will receive many setbacks, and you may even fail several times, but all of this is part of the process and will give us the experience to achieve our goals in everything we set out to do.