Striving Towards Excellence

-Karthik Gurumurthy

I’ve discovered something powerful about courtesy, happiness, and enthusiasm—they’re not just personality traits, they’re habits you can actually force yourself to develop.

Here’s what I mean: You can literally choose to be courteous, happy, and enthusiastic with every person you meet. At first, it feels forced and unnatural. But after practicing for a short period, something amazing happens—the habit takes over and it becomes who you are.

I’ve learned that good habits are hard to acquire but easy to live with, while bad habits are easy to acquire but hard to live with. We’re essentially building our character from the bricks of habit we pile up day by day.

I’ve been fortunate to learn this from three incredible friends:

My kindergarten friend Sudarsanam (we call him Susi) is the perfect example of courtesy. No matter the situation, he treats everyone with genuine respect and kindness.

My friend Vijay embodies enthusiasm—he’s so passionate and excited about everything he does that we nicknamed him “Enthu.” His energy is absolutely contagious.

And my friend Ranga (Rangasubramanian) radiates happiness and gratitude. He finds joy in the smallest moments and is genuinely thankful for life.

Watching these friends live out these qualities has taught me to practice them myself on a daily basis. They’ve shown me that who you choose to be today shapes who you become tomorrow.

The choice is ours—we can build ourselves brick by brick, habit by habit.