Gym bros

Waking up to cold rain and mist, I traded the muddy coastal trail of Prins Bertil’s path for 5k on the treadmill before taking the high-speed train to Gothenburg. Once there, I had just ten minutes to spare until my Zoom lecture on crisis communication began – a margin thin enough to make every unexpected stop on the West Coast Line feel slightly existential.

But all ended well, and after working through the afternoon, William joined me for some more gym time. Though only half an hour, it is really all about consistency – the quiet accumulation of days as the months turn into years. While often attributed to Aristotle himself, the American historian Will Durant summarized the Nicomachean Ethics’ view on the matter as: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit”.