I played baseball for 10 years - during that time I learned a lot of life long lessons that are just starting to make sense now.

Over those 10 years I won multiple championships (some with undefeated seasons), made multiple all-star appearances, and played travel ball at a high level.

During this time the other players in the league would always ask how our teams were consistently on top. At the time I didn’t really know. I was still young and didn’t consciously understand what it took to perform at a high level - I just did it.

As I’ve gotten into entrepreneurship and self development over the last 4 years I realized that there seems to be a common theme. Some people operate at high levels while some simply do not.

Thinking back on my time playing baseball I realized something. Some teams had extremely high standards that they held religiously. Others, well not so much.

What does having a standard even mean?

I like to think of standards as our default modes. It’s essentially the bare minimum we need to put out in order to get by.

For most of us we don’t even know what our baseline is. We just sort of go through the day on autopilot and don’t think much about it.

We wake up after hitting snooze 4 times. We roll out of bed and brush our teeth. We scramble to find the outfit that we are going to wear for the day and rush out the door.

At work we’re told what to do and we sit there for 8 hours and do exactly that. We go to the same restaurants and pack the same lunches.

We get out of work and come home to the dishes in the sink we left last night - which is conveniently next to the takeout number for the pizza place down the street.

We order the pizza and watch Netflix for 3 hours then pass out and repeat this cycle.

Our standard is just showing up. Nothing more and nothing less.

When we operate like this for long enough it becomes second nature and we don’t think twice about this. We become bitter, irritable and pessimistic.

When we were younger this isn’t what we had envisioned our lives to look like - so how did we get to this point?

Humans will naturally take the path of least resistance. I’m sure you’ve heard this before but I want to bring this to the forefront of your mind.

The reason our standards are so important is because if we want to achieve something greater that ourselves, our actions need to be aligned with our goals.

Our goals in this case is our Vision (which we’ll dive deeper into next week).

Our actions in this case is our standards.

We can’t create the life we want while performing the tasks that keep us in the current position we’re in.

That is quite literally the definition of insanity.

For over a year I worked at a coaching company that helped people start and/or scale their coaching business.

I had the opportunity to talk to dozens of entrepreneurs that we’re at all different stages. Some were just starting out and haven’t made a dime yet - others were closing in on their first $300k month.

During these calls you could see how each individual ran their business - and as a result you could see how that business performed.

A business that was just starting out, hovering around the $10k/month range had dramatically different standards than a multi six-figure a month business.

When a fire come up in their business a beginner would scramble trying to figure out what to do. They had no SOPs on how to handle situations like this. They would overthink the problem - and therefore the solution until it get out of control.

Their standards were to stay afloat.

Compare that to an experiment business. When a fire popped up in their business they had an SOP to handle the situation - and if they didn’t, they made one. They made quick and decisive decisions and created systems to prevent this from happening again.

Their standards were to keep improving.

The question now becomes how can we create new standards.

Before we create new standards we need to become aware of our current standards.

I have 3 methods I use to detect them.

Journaling is an incredible tool when it comes to becoming aware of ones thought patterns.

It allows us to take a snapshot in time and see how we think about situations as they unfold.

Don’t overthink this.

Set an alarm for every 2 hours on your phone. When the alarm goes off, take 5 minutes to write down everything on your mind and what you’re currently doing.

Do this for a week and you will start to see what thoughts tend to be on your mind and how you’re spending your time.

From here we can make changes.

Meditation is another incredible tool that teaches us how to become conscious of the unconscious.

There are plenty of different types of meditation - so feel free to explore them.

The main objective here is to train the muscles in our brain to begin to recognize the thought patterns we have.

After a mediation I would recommend jotting down your thoughts real quick to reference later.

Walking for me has always been really enjoyable.

It is a time to disconnect from the rest of the world and be alone with our thoughts.

This is an incredible time to think about the future goals you have - and also to reflect on events that are happening in our lives currently.

So now that we have some methods to become aware of our standards, how do we create new ones?

These 5 steps are something I’ve been working on and improving over the last few years.

Chances are these will change and evolve overtime but they are a great starting point to creating a better life.

This will be an entire article itself since this is the core of self development. However I wanted to mention this because without a vision of the future - what are we working towards?

Sit down and write out what your vision looks like.

How do you want to look physically?

How do you want to feel mentally?

How do you want your significant other to look at you?

Do you work a 9-5? Your own business?

Do you travel?

Do you live in the city?

Create a crystal clear vision for what you want your life to look like.

In order to create new standards and systems in our lives, we actually need to become aware of other peoples standards and systems.

There has never been more ways to do this then now.

Read books on people you look up to.

Listen to podcasts on peoples daily routines.

Read articles on topics related to areas of your life you want to improve.

When you do this ideas will begin to flow.

From there we can pick a few things to start implementing.

Once we’ve established a couple new routines that we want to implement, we need to make these non-negotiable.

Write out 3 new non-negotiables that you’re going to implement and why you’re going to implement them.

Tie these non-negotiables to your identity. They are part of the new self you are creating.

In order to help us stick with our non-negotiables we need to set up accountability.

This is hands down one of the best self development tools I’ve ever implemented.

Find someone in your life who can hold you accountable to the things you set out to do.

I personally like to set up some form of consequence if I don’t do what I say I’m going to do. This way there is an incentive for me to stick to my word.

This process can be overwhelming in the beginning - and it shouldn’t be.

I love to make games out of the different things I do in my life to make things fun and exciting.

Our brains are wired this way so it actually makes creating these standards much easier when we do so.

I am currently building out a free notion template to help you gamify your life so make sure to keep an eye out for future newsletters to get access to it.

There is a lot of moving parts here. It can feel overwhelming like I mentioned - and that’s okay.

Understand that this process is a lifelong journey. Self development isn’t a goal you achieve. It is a way of life.

You’re gonna have slip ups and failures. Learn from them and see how you can improve next time.

I have been in this self development world for almost 5 years now, and I’m learning more about myself now than I ever have.

Raise your standards and you’ll raise the quality of your life.

If this helped you out in any way it’d be much appreciated if you shared this with someone close to you.

Also if you want daily content I recommend checking out my Twitter as I’m posting on there every single day.

If you prefer to listen to audio rather than read you should check out The Project Self Podcast to hear to audio version of this article.

- Kellsey