Have you ever really thought about the effect that your personal
standards have on your quality of life? Your standards play a critical role in
determining the quality of every area of your life. If you routinely have a
messy home, it’s because you have a standard that says a messy home is
acceptable. If you have been overweight for a long time, it’s because you have
a standard that being overweight is okay, even if you might not be thrilled
about it. If you would never even consider doing drugs, it’s because you have a
standard against it. You have standards that determine the quality of the work
you do, your personal hygiene, how you treat people, whether you are always
late or on time, and pretty much any other area you can think of. If you are
serious about improving any area of life, the best way to improve is to raise
your standard of what is acceptable to you in that area.
How to Use Personal Standards to Improve Your Life
1. Choose an area of your life that needs improvement. For example, let’s say that you have been overweight for a
long time, and you finally want to do something about it.
2. Get clarity about the standards you have for the area you want to
improve. Do you have a clear standard for the maximum weight that is
acceptable to you? If you are overweight, you probably have a vague range
serving as your standard. When you reach the upper range of what is acceptable,
you will become uncomfortable and begin to change your behavior. You might go
on a diet or begin exercising until you are back at an acceptable weight.
[
3. Set a specific and clear standard that is an improvement over your
old standard. If your weight has been bouncing around from about
100000 to 200000 Naira for the last several years, set a new standard of
weighing less than 185. It doesn’t have to be a huge change. Incremental
improvements are okay. Make sure your new standard is clear and unambiguous.
You should be able to determine right away whether or not you are violating one
of your standards.
4. Rehearse the new standard in your mind to lock it in. Standards work by giving us pain when we violate them and
pleasure when we adhere to them. Link pain to weighing over 185 pounds and
pleasure to weighing under 185. Think about how much better you will look and
feel. Think about how much you hate being overweight. When the pain and
pleasure associated with the new standard are real to you, then it will be
truly a new personal standard for you. You will know that you haven’t
conditioned the new standard enough if you consistently violate the new
standard.
[
5. Raise the bar a little once you have successfully maintained your
standard for a while. If you have been successful at maintaining you weight at
below 185 for a while, set a new target of weighing less than 180. Repeat the
process of conditioning the new standard until it’s consistent.
6. Continue to raise the bar until you are at your target standard. Maybe you have always wanted to weigh less than 165. If so,
keep improving your standard until you are locked on a standard where only
weighing less than 165 is acceptable to you.
Your life is worth a meaning so set a standard for yourself.
No comments:
Post a Comment