 The universe just gives me gifts it's like the gold coins just start falling from the sky. Today we're going to be talking about the standards that you hold yourself to and how your standards create your entire life and this is super important because I think that habits are very important. I'll say this before I before I talk about habits. They're important but they're not the most important thing. People don't talk enough about the standards that people hold themselves to and if you can understand this and you can hold yourself accountable to the level that you really want to hold yourself accountable and the level that you need to be at in order to create the life that you want you will create that life. Habits are important but habits are the children of standards. Standards are way more important and so if you can learn to hold yourself to a higher standard then you'll have to force yourself to grow and if you grow you'll create an amazing life and in this episode I'm going to give you tips on exactly how to do so but first off let's get really clear on what a standard is because sometimes people like to ask that standards in the simplest form the way I like to explain them are what you deem acceptable and fully unacceptable in your life and these are levels that you will not let yourself drop below at all ever you won't let yourself drop below the standard and your standards are attached to your identity and what you think about yourself right so you know when you look at your body there's a pretty good chance that for most people listening your body has been very similar for the past two three four five ten years for some of you even longer right that's because that's the standard that you're holding yourself to you won't let yourself go any lower but you're probably also not going any further in getting any better in a lot of cases you might be in some cases but this is the reason why people can lose a bunch of weight and then they can go right back to gaining all of the weight back just standards that they have if you look at your bank account you probably have around the same amount that you have for years right tends to be very common if you used to seeing five thousand dollars in your bank account you've probably had around five thousand dollars in your bank account for years and years why because it's simply just a standard and if some big bill comes in and you have to pay that bill and let's say your bank account goes from five thousand to four thousand well the standard is that you're used to seeing five thousand so that's when you'll you'll buckle up you won't go out to each you won't see your friends you won't go to the movies you won't spend any extra money until you feel safe and at that same part same place that you're normally yet right so your life where it currently is is because of your standards how you look how your body looks where your business is at where your bank account is at where your friendships is at where friendships are at where your relationships are at where your marriage is at where your relationship with your kids is at the cleanliness of your house everything comes down to the standards that you hold yourself to and a standard is something that you will not drop below but the thing about that is that's basically like the ground floor which means that there's always levels above it and those levels above it in order for you to go from ground floor to the next floor you're going to have to raise your standards in some way so i'll give you a quick example if we're talking about not falling below any standards let's go really drastic i'm assuming that most people listening to this podcast right now you're probably not going to get done listening to this podcast and then go shoot up some black tar heroin right why i would assume that for most people listening to a motivational podcast and a mindset podcast and trying to improve yourself and get into personal development and growth you're probably not shooting up black tar heroin on the weekends right uh the reason why is because that's probably below your standards now what's the difference between that and the people out there that are listening that you don't shoot black tar heroin but you tend to stop really short of your goals before you ever hit them right i know there's a lot of people that listen to this and you stop short just a little bit short of your goals before you actually get there that means that it's it's a standard for you to not hit your goals what if your standard was hey i'm not going to ever stop until i hit my goal right or giving up short on yourself giving up just a little bit too early how common it's so common for me when i work with people to hear how many people get really excited about something some goals some new year's resolution and then they give up in the middle of it and they're done with it right how about this is it your standard to wake up the very first time your alarm goes off or do you hit snooze three times before waking up hmm see that's a standard do you have the standard of when my alarm gets up goes off my ass gets out of my bed and i do not go back in that is a standard right people love to focus on habits and like i said those are important but your habits are just the offspring of your standards so if you have a habit of waking up and having a morning routine it's because your standards are i will wake up at 6 a.m or 5 a.m i will get out of my bed the first time the alarm goes off and i will not let myself go back to sleep that is a standard in the habit of the morning routine is an offspring of that standard right it makes sense i don't know why nobody talks about this because your standards are actually more important than your habits your standards create your habits so i'll give you a couple of examples people want to wake up and have a morning routine like we're talking about they want that to be a habit of theirs but they don't have the standard of waking up when the alarm goes off they don't have the standard of going to bed early they don't have the standard of doing what they say they're going to do they don't have the standard of prioritizing their sleep they don't have the standard of making sure everything in the morning is ready for the morning before they go to bed there are standards that assist in making sure that those habits are executed correctly and so what are your standards and where do you need to improve them right? You won't go and shoot heroin but you will struggle getting yourself out of bed in the morning. Why? Standards. It's all standards. Right? You have to see and here's the interesting thing and this is gonna sound very drastic to most of you but when you get it you'll get it. As drastic as it seems of like I would never shoot heroin right? Like if you think that to yourself like I would never shoot heroin. The mental, the same mental disgust that you have towards shooting heroin you should have towards sleeping in. That's a standard and that's what I'm talking about. Now you might be sitting there going well that's pretty damn drastic Rob. Shooting heroin, sleeping in, those are not the same thing. I know they're not the same thing but can you make them the mental equivalent where it's like I do not sleep in. There is no way on God's green earth that I freaking sleep in at any point in time. I get up when my alarm goes off because that's what I'm supposed to do. The same way that there's no way on God's green earth that I'm gonna take heroin and shoot it into my arms right? The same way there needs to be a rock bottom for you right? Shooting heroin would be rock bottom. Not not actually waking up and having your morning routine and the habits and executing the way you want to should be a rock bottom for you. So let's give another example. Look at your body. Is your body right now your dream body or could it be better? Well it is what it is because of your standards right? What about the food that you eat? Do you eat fast food? Do you eat greasy food? Wings? Pizza? All of that is a standard that you're sticking to. Do you eat food that's you know if you were to be taking your food out right? And you drop your food in the parking lot and it falls in the concrete. Are you gonna pick it up and eat it after it falls in the parking lot that everyone's been walking over and cars been going and birds have been on right? Probably not. Why? Because eating food off of a parking lot is probably below your standards but eating McDonald's when you know that you shouldn't isn't below your standards right? You see how these correlate? The same way that you wouldn't eat food off the floor should be there's no way I'm gonna eat some freaking McDonald's. There's no way I'm gonna eat this greasy food because I know what I do it's number one it's gonna make me fatter. Number two it's gonna make me tired. Number three I'm not gonna feel good. Number four I'm probably gonna fart a lot right? My wife isn't gonna love that. There's standards you have to hold yourself to so that eating McDonald's needs to be the mental equivalent of eating food off of the ground right? Look at your body again. How often do you work out? How many times a week do you work out per week? What's your personal standard? What is it? You know I know people that work out twice a day. I also know people who haven't worked out in 10 years. What's the difference? Standards. The standards that someone's gonna hold themselves to and the level they will they will not drop below. If you want to know how to change your body what do you need to change? Your standards. Change your workout standards. Change your lifestyle standards. Change your mental standards. How hard you go to the gym because you could show up at the gym and you could you know walk in the treadmill at you know slow pace for an hour if you want to or you can go in there and have that mental standard like I'm gonna work my ass off. I'm not gonna leave until I burn 500 calories according to my Apple Watch. Whatever it is. You live and die by your standards right? They make the life that you have currently they have all of your standards a cumulative effect of your standards in your past standards and your current standards have given you the life that you currently have. It's the truth. But those standards are not going to get you the life that you want. So the only difference between you now in this moment listening to this podcast or watching this podcast the only difference between you now and you in 10 years and having the perfect life and the perfect body and all the money your bank account and the love and the happiness and the success and the traveling whatever it is that you want. The only difference between you now and that version of you is that the two versions have two different levels of standards. There's you now and there's a perfect you and the you that's the perfect you has fully maxed out their true potential and not wasted their true potential and they have fully decided to step into having the highest standards that they possibly can and this is everything in your life. You have standards for every single thing that you do in your life. All of your goals. Do you come up short to your goals? Do you give up too often? You know do you not or do you not stop until the goal is hit no matter how long it takes? Right? Come up short, give up. Don't quit no matter what. What's the difference? The standards. Right? What about the relationships that you have? Do you cheat on your significant other or do you have a date night every single week? Right? Do you turn off your phone at 7 p.m. so it's you know just enough time for the two of you to hang out? The difference is standards. Cheating on somebody is one standard and you were like, well, I'm okay with doing that. That that thing. Cheating on somebody or I will turn off my phone at 7 p.m. every single day so that I can have some time with my significant other that's uninterrupted. And you know what? I'm also gonna take her on a date every single week. Difference between the two of those. They're vastly different. The standards that I'm willing to hold myself to. Standards that you're willing to hold yourself to. Right? What about your family? Do you have a standard of you know, hey, I do work so hard that I usually miss dinner with my wife and kids. Or do you have the standard of I disconnect at 6 p.m. no matter what so that I can be a fully present parent because being a present parent matters more than all of the money that I can make? What's the difference? Standards. Your body. Do you work out every single day? Do you follow a healthy lifestyle? Do you eat a lot of fast food? Do you skip workouts often? What's the difference between those two scenarios? Standards. What about your bank account? Right? You have a lot of standards for how much that you make. How much you save. How much you spend. If you're a saver, that's a standard. If you're someone who spends a lot of money and you're not really good at saving money, that's a standard. All of these things can be changed at any point in time. Look at your work. Look at your career. Look at your business. All of that is a standard. If you have a business and you have people that work for you in your business and there you feel like they're lazy, that's a standard because you don't hold them to a high enough standard. And usually that means that you're not holding yourself to a high enough standard. If you want people who work really hard, you better be the one that's working really hard first. People follow leaders. Are you a good leader? What about your personal growth? Are you reading often? Are you skipping it? Are you telling yourself that you're growing when in reality you're not? What is it? All of them have to do with standards. The way you do one thing is the way you do everything. There's no way that you're slipping on standards in your relationship and cheating, but you happen to be having this business is crushing it. No, if you're slipping in one area of your life, I guarantee you we can identify all of the different areas of your life where you happen to be you happen to be cheating and having low standards. The way you do one thing is the way you do everything. You live and die by your standards. They make the life that you have. They will create the life that you want. So the only difference once again between you now and you in 10 years and the perfect life that you want is a standard you hold yourself to. So take a quick look around your life and start thinking to yourself, what are the standards that I typically hold myself to? What are the standards that are our great standards? What are the standards that I need to keep? Okay, I'm really good at going to the gym. Let's say you're good at going to the gym. I'm not the best at eating healthy though. And I know that if I really want to get the body that I want, well, I'm probably going to have to start eating better. Okay, so now I've noticed where I do well. I've also noticed some place where I need my standards to be better. So what about you? What are places where your standards are good and you would like to keep those? What are places in your life where standards are not where they should be and you want to improve those? Maybe you have the standard of, oh man, my relationship with my wife is doing great. We're doing good. But you know what? I'm missing my morning routine almost every single morning. You want to miss my morning routine? It stresses me out a little bit because I feel like I could have done better. I feel like it was something that I needed. You know what? I'm going to have to go ahead and figure out how to make my morning routine be better. How to make sure that I show up. And if I'm missing my morning routine, once again, when you do one thing is where you do everything. There's probably other places that I could make my relationship better with my wife, where I could make my relationship better with my kids, where I could show up as a better leader in my business. The way you do one thing is the way you do everything. So there's always going to be other places. So take a look around you and start seeing where you have good standards and where you have standards that need to be improved. And if you look at yourself in 10 years and the perfect life that you could have because it is out there for everybody. And you look at that life, ask yourself what type of standards would that person hold themselves to? Right? And realize that when you truly level up all of your standards, you're pulling your true potential out of yourself and your habits will be created from that. And for me personally, the way I see everything is I see life as this big game. I feel like it's a game. I'm just playing this game. In every game, there's just a new level, right? There's just new levels that you get to with the new levels, there's always new challenges. And I see everything is life as just a test to see how I'm going to show up as if God or the universe or whatever it is that you believe in is watching me at all points in time. And if I have low standards, and you know, let's say God's watching down on me, the universe is looking at me, and I have low standards as to sleeping in, not holding myself to a high standard, not showing up in my relationships, all of this stuff. I'm going to stay where I am. Why would anybody reward me with anything great for not doing anything great? Right? It's like, you don't play, could you imagine how boring the video game would be if you didn't have to accomplish anything, but you were just rewarded with gold coins for just kind of doing nothing and meandering all over the place? No, you've got to accomplish something, right? But if I hold myself to a high standard, huh, that's interesting because the universe tends to reward me every single time I reward my, I hold myself to a high standard. If I push myself without anybody else needing to push me, if I treat people the way that people should be treated, if I show up for people the way that I should show up for people, if I work harder than anybody else, if I mentally take care of myself and build myself up, it's like the universe just gives me gifts. It's like the gold coins just start falling from the sky, right? But it all comes down to the standards of what I deem acceptable and what standards I'm going to hold myself to. So if you're out there and you don't have the life you want currently, like you could have a great life and most people listening probably have a great life, right? It's good, but you know that there's more inside of you. That more inside of you is going to take a shift in your standards. Not shifting your standards is going to change your habits and the change of your habits and your actions is what's going to change your life. It's a top down effect, standards to habits to actions. That's what you need to focus on. So as you're looking at your life, ask yourself once again, this life I have right now, the standards that I'm holding myself to, where do I need to hold myself to a higher standard? And how should I pay attention to myself at a deep level become very self aware of my standards happen to dip so that I can make sure I pull myself back up and not allow myself to dip below? Because the only difference between you and the life that you want is the standards that you hold yourself to. Hey, thanks so much for watching this video. If you want to learn even more about master your mind, click right here and watch this video as well. It was on like Donkey Kong comes out of the womb and they're like, I get stuff done being this bad ass productivity machine. If you don't feel like you're disciplined right now, you're not starting behind the eight ball.