On Becoming a Super - Part 4: Virtue & Vice
March 3, 2020

    So you're not sure what your superpowers are, or how to develop them fully?  Here are two  strategies to get you started:

    1.     Practice the virtues. Virtue is right action (morality), publicly engaged. Notice I said "engaged" – not paraded. It is not virtuous – in fact, it is the opposite of virtue – to parade your morality around in public.  Nobody needs that.  Not you.  Not your neighbor.  Nobody.  But the world desperately needs you to bring virtue to bear to address the challenges and opportunities that present themselves to you.  

    Also, when I say "publicly" what I mean is this: in a manner by which the benefit of the action extends beyond yourself.  This does not mean that virtue should always be exclusively or primarily directed toward others – indeed, it cannot and must not always be so.  Some virtues are practiced almost entirely for your own benefit.  But even these virtues, when practiced with integrity, ripple in a way that affects those around you, often profoundly.  This is why even private virtue is a communal or "public" good.

     So practice the virtues. This is not an exhaustive list, but here are some of the virtues you can start practicing now, in the moment-to-moment warp-and-weft of your life: humility, gratitude, curiosity, tenacity, and courage.  You can also work on honesty, generosity, dependability, patience, kindness, and the discernment to know when you should speak out and when you should be silent. And once you've been working on the virtues long enough, you might have even gathered enough wisdom to know what true thing to say when it is your time to speak out – which means you might need to practice some silence for a while (perhaps a long while), especially if your natural inclination is to speak.

     2.      Minimize, then eliminate your vices. This is the flip side of practicing the virtues, and it is equally essential to the full realization of your superpowers.  You can wield superpowers with your vices still intact, but your superpowers will never have their full impact in the presence of vice. They will always be somewhat diminished, perhaps even eclipsed or neutralized. 

   I like to practice the "crowding out" method of vice elimination.  If you have a bad habit of spending too much time on social media or watching television, for example, don't tell yourself, "I'm going to spend less time on social media and watching TV."  Instead, intentionally schedule or pick up another activity – or multiple other activities – to take the place of the social media or TV time, preferably activities that give you opportunities to practice the virtues.  Volunteer in a community organization, garden, take up archery or skeet shooting, learn to knit or sew, give yourself a seven-day home cooking challenge, do some power yoga, take a walk or start training for a marathon. Make a list of all the things you’d like to do or learn while you still have time and ability, and start doing them – or at least a few of them. I guarantee you, if you actually start ticking down through your personal bucket list, there won't be much time left for vice.

    Of course, there will be some vices that survive the crowding out method, and for those, you might need to take stronger measures, including possibly getting help – either formally, from a professional, or more informally, from a trusted mentor or friend who is further along the path than you are and is in a position to hold you accountable.  Practice the virtue of humility and seek out – and take – the help you need to tackle your vices.  

    Also, a note of caution here: beware of the ways in which virtue can veer into vice with little or no warning.  I struggle with this daily and mightily.  In my case, it takes the form of overcommitment and overextension.  I tend to take the "crowding out" method to very near its breaking point – to the point, in fact, that I end up inadvertently dropping certain virtues, like promptness, or fostering certain vices like avoidance of difficult conversations.  I call this the "bandwidth" syndrome, and I'm working on being a better steward of my current bandwidth, even as I learn to widen it (within the limits of prudence, of course).  So just keep tabs on yourself, in your quest to strengthen your virtues and minimize your vices.  Beware of how the landscape of virtue and vice can change as you grow and get stronger.