Now, Not Later - Issue 06

The New Standard

This weeks newsletter is starting off with a personal question to all of you;

Do you have personal standards set in your life, and if so, can you clearly identify them?

Personal standards for yourself is like having a guide illuminate the path for you in life. They are the expectations you have set for yourself.

What are standards?

Standards are simply the expectations you set for yourself.

The way you think

The morals you live by

The actions you take

The decisions you make

The way you present yourself

The lifestyle you design

The people you surround yourself with

The information you consume

The way you interact with the world

It’s EVERYTHING that encompasses you as a person.

Why is setting standards important?

When you set standards for yourself, you are mapping out your identity.

Standards are the blueprint of who you want to be and the life you want to live.

Set your standards & create the identity.

Live up to your standards, and you will become this identity.

Set hard standards, and they will become easier over time.

When hard standards become easy, you have reached “The New Standard”.

What was hard, new, and scary in the beginning, is now your new normal.

This new normal, “The New Standard”, is YOU. You are this new identity.

You set high standards and expectations of yourself, you work hard and live up to the standards you set, and now these standards are “The New Standard” of how you live your life.

Getting up at 5am, exercising daily, eating clean, reading more, all of these standards and expectations you initially set for yourself are now second nature.

Was it hard for the first 60 days? YES.

Did you set these new standards for yourself because you wanted change and growth in yourself and your life? YES.

Did you live by these standards for an extended period of time until they became the new normal, and simply the way you live your life? YES.

Did you just achieve “The New Standard”? YES.

At this point, you can’t even imagine the old you. You can’t imagine what your life was like before you set these standards and expectations for yourself.

It’s now time to raise your standards again.

This is the way to consistent personal growth.

Jacob, this sounds like a terrible way to live.

For some of you, this could sound like some growth hacking, guru, 10 step morning routine, no fun at all, bullshit, terrible life.

You could very well be right.

But here are my 2 counterarguments.

1. This is not; create 20 new life routines and do a 2 week bootcamp and boom, you are now a beast in 14 days.
   
   This is a slow and steady process to consistently grow as a person for not weeks, but decades.

   
   Experimenting, reflecting, changing, moderating and being patient.
   
   Pushing your boundaries, making difficult things the new normal and consistently leveling up.

2. Whats the alternative?
   
   No standards? Winging it in life? Not aspiring towards growing as a person? Accepting mediocrity?

Setting standards for yourself is setting expectations for yourself, with the prediction that living up to your expectations will improve you as a person.

It’s living out how you want to identify yourself.

You won’t always be right. Your standards won’t always be beneficial.

In fact, most of the time you will realize that a standard you set for yourself is unrealistic, damaging, or useless instead of beneficial.

This is why experimenting, reflecting and iterating along the way is crucial.

It is trying everything, and taking the bits and pieces that are actually progressing you forward and doubling down.

Set standards, live up to your standards, do what is expected of yourself, reflect on what is beneficial and what doesn’t work for you, and keep iterating.

Simply put;

without setting standards, you have no guide, no blueprint to push your life further.

With standards, you now have a set expectation for yourself.

You are to live by your standards, thats it.

Period.

No if, ands or buts.

Let me help you get started.

Your first set of standards could look like this;

• Wake up at the same time everyday.

• Drink 8oz of water before coffee.

• Read 10 minutes in the morning.

• Exercise everyday.

• Go to bed the same time everyday.

I think this is a simple, moderate start to setting your standards.

This is what you expect from yourself now, NO LESS.

If you are currently doing none of these things, it will be hard in the beginning.

Do these things for 60 days straight, and it will become 2nd nature.

It will be “The New Standard”.

Whenever you reach a new standard, it’s time to raise them again.

Don’t ADD to your life. CHANGE or SUBTRACT

I’m a BIG advocate for subtracting from your life, not adding.

Raising your standards doesn’t mean add 5 new things into your life.

It means do things DIFFERENTLY, or SUBTRACTING.

For example; here would be setting standards that don’t ADD to your life.

• Plan your day the night before, not in the morning. - Switching tasks

• nly watch Netflix on the weekend. - Subtracting

• Reply to all your emails 1st thing when you start your work day, not the afternoon. - Switching Tasks

• Incorporate running into your exercise. - Changing your exercise

You just set completely new standards and expectations for yourself without adding anything and subtracting Netflix from Monday-Friday.

You now have a new hard mode, with more free time.

At this point I think you all get the idea of “The New Standard”.

It is always raising your standards until they become the new normal.

But I’ll finish this letter by sharing my personal standards, so you can see what I expect from myself.

My standards looks something like this;

Waking up between 5-7 is the standard, I expect it from myself.

Getting to bed between 9-10pm is the standard, I expect it from myself.

Reading daily is the standard, I expect it from myself.

Exercising for 1hr daily is the standard, I expect it from myself.

Stretching, breath work and drinking a gallon of water a day is the standard, I expect it from myself.

Eating clean is the standard, I expect it from myself.

Conscious consumption of everything - media, thoughts, people’s words, information, food, self-talk, is the standard, I expect it from myself.

Positive self-talk is the standard, I expect it from myself.

Believing in myself more than anyone else is the standard, I expect it from myself.

Creating more than I consume is the standard, I expect it from myself.

Consistent documentation and reflection is the standard, I expect it from myself.

Checking in on myself and my work-life balance is the standard, I expect it from myself.

This may seem like a lot,

but it really isn’t.

The majority of these expectations are purely mindset, passive expectations I have engraved into my DNA because I set them as standards and turned them into “The New Standard”.

I set standards and expectations for the way I think.

I set standards and expectations for the actions I take.

I set standards and expectations for the way I interact with the world.

I’m not perfect, not even close. And you shouldn’t be perfect.

That is when you are living a simulation. A robotic life.

I don’t actually read, stretch, exercise, write, do breath work, eat clean and wake up at 5am everyday.

The point is, those are my standards, and I average the MAJORITY of days living my life this way.

As long as this is my average, I am living up to my standard. But I’m NOT perfect.

After reading through a list of my standards, hopefully you get an idea of what it means to set your personal standards.

These standards for me, get easier and easier as I abide by them.

Over time, as I continuously work hard to live up to my standards, and eventually this will become my identity. My way of life.

THE NEW STANDARD.

If you are new to my content, thanks for reading!

Quick about me

I’m a content creator in Los Angeles.

I’ve been creating content for 8+ years for other creators.

I am starting 2024 on a pretty clean slate focusing content creation on my own personal brand & interests.

My content focus is; content creation, mindset, fitness, entrepreneurship, digital products, travel & creative work!

Basically my entire life and everything I learn along the way.

If this sounds relatable to your interests, follow along for the journey and shoot a dm saying hello!

Cheers everyone and see you on the interweb - Jacob