Your Standards Shape Your Success

Ready to succeed at a higher level?  Ever stop to consider the role your personal standards play in your success?

We often think success is about effort and grinding harder, pushing longer or doing more. But the truth most people miss is that success isn’t created by effort alone. Your standards shape it.

Absolutely, effort matters! And it's essential to have bold, meaningful goals that give you clear direction. But neither will carry you across the finish line if the standards behind them stay low. And that's beecause - at the end of the day - you don’t get what you want. You get what you’re willing to demand from yourself. You get who you are.

If you’ve been stuck in a cycle of “almost” and “not quite,” the problem likely isn’t your ambition. It’s what you’re still tolerating. You can’t expect to reach a higher level while continuing to allow habits, environments, and relationships that pull you down. Your results will always reflect the minimum you’re willing to accept.

Let's pause to briefly define standards.  What exactly are personal standards?

Your personal standards are the expectations you set for your own behavior.
 For most people you "set" your personal standards unconsciously. They reflect your self-image - the kind of person you are, your values, and how you show up in the world.

And now, let’s call this out plainly. You’re not falling short because you’re not capable. You’re falling short because you keep saying yes to what’s familiar. Your standards are driving you. Maybe you stay in your comfortable routines. Or perhaps you're tolerating environments where you feel in control but not challenged. 

Too many high-performers stay stuck not because they’re underperforming, but because they’re over-committing to the wrong things. For example, they unconsciously commit to the wrong goals and the wrong priorities.

Robert Brault said it best: “ We are kept from our goal not by obstacles but by a clear path to a lesser goal.”

That’s the trap. You've mastered a certain level of competence. You choose what’s reachable instead of what can turn you into who you’re meant to become. Now it’s time to lead with vision and to make conscious choices abou your standards.

Think of it this way:  if you want different results, you have to demand more from yourself. That starts inside of you and by raising your standards in three core ways:

1. Say "no" to what drains you, even if it’s familiar.
   It's time to let go of that task, that habit, or relationship you’ve outgrown. It's time to release anything that doesn't deserve your time and pulls you out of alignment with your future vision.
   
   
2. Set new standards that protect your time, energy, and self-respect.
   Think of the process of setting higher standards as a declaration of your self-worth.  This will require you to articulate new boundaries - what you expect from others - to remind you and everyone else how you expect to be treated. Protect your energy like it’s your most valuable asset, because it is.
   
   
3. Show up as your future self, starting today.
   Think about the version of you who already has the result: the person who has built the business, earned the promotion, written the book, or created the impact. How does that version of you speak? Decide? Lead? Let that future identity shape your actions now.
   
   

So the bottom line is: your goal isn't too big. It’s not out of reach. It’s simply waiting on a higher version of you to claim it.

The the future you knows success isn’t about being busy - it’s about being intentional. And here’s what’s always true: 

Your standards create your outcomes. 

Raise them, and everything around you begins to rise too.