Are Your Goals Raising Your Standards

With the end of the year fast approaching I’ve found myself reflecting on some of the important things that have occurred in my life and my clinic. For me the most inspiring outcome is when I see my clients achieve their goals, and in turn raise their standards in life.

So what does it mean to raise your standards? Raising your standards is different to achieving a goal. You don’t always get your goal, but you do get your standards. Another way of looking at this is like this; everybody in life gets their musts but they don’t always get their shoulds. Most people have a list of shoulds, for example “I should lose weight, or I should become healthier or more prosperous.” People love to have their should list met but it’s kind of like new year’s resolutions, if it comes off great, but if it doesn’t, we accept that it doesn’t really matter and secretly knew it was just never going to happen.

When we make things a must, then we find a way to make them happen. We burn the bridges so to speak. At this point we are raising our standards to find a way. When was the last time you raised your standard and your life has never been the same since. What did that feel like? Maybe it was something that you had been working on for years, for example quitting smoking or losing weight and then one day something happened, something got you over the tipping point and something inside you said “NO MORE”. Something inside you shifted and what was a should become a must.

The way you live your life today is based on a set of standards and beliefs that was set many years ago. Very often the decisions we make today are based on your standards and beliefs which were set many years ago, maybe even when we were a child and influenced by our parents.

With 2013 coming to a rapid close why not take the time to reflect on what limitations you have put on your life by the standards and beliefs you set years ago. Why not make 2014 the year in which you commit to raising your standard and turn your shoulds into musts. Over the Christmas break have a look at your should list and work out how you can move those items to your must list so it’s not negotiable.

In order to make this happen you need to find an action that creates change. Take for example someone who works out five times a week. Do they have more time than us, or do they have an easier job to do, the answer is probably no, the difference is they make this action of going to the gym not negotiable. They Find The Way.

Remember, your wants don’t get met consistently, but your standards do. It’s not about losing your identity, it’s about expand it. Identify yourself in a new way and if you truly believe in what you see, then you’ll find the way.

Here’s another way of looking at it. Take someone whose basic standard is to just get by and pay their bills, and that person every week finds a way to pay their bills even when things get tough. Some people’s standard is to pay their bills MOST of the time, and so MOST of the time they do. Some people’s standard is to pay their bills and take good care of their family and they too find a way. Some people live in a family where they barely have enough money to pay their bills, they work hard, and then something else comes up like a child gets sick and then there is no way to pay the bills, but they still find a way. They never had the money before so why do they have the money now, because the situation changed where they had to raise their own standard to find a way.