The Mindset Mentor - This is Even More Important Than Your Habits

Episode Date: April 19, 2021

You know habits are important, but there is something that is way more important than your standards for your success. In this episode, we're going to talk about what that is and how it will get you to the next level. HAPPENING TODAY! Join my free Epic Life Live Event starting at 4pm Eastern today. Register here: http://epiclife2021.com/ Want to learn more about Mindset Mentor+? For nearly nine years, the Mindset Mentor Podcast has guided you through life's ups and downs. Now, you can dive even deeper with Mindset Mentor Plus. Turn every podcast lesson into real-world results with detailed worksheets, journaling prompts, and a supportive community of like-minded people. Enjoy monthly live Q&A sessions with me, and all this for less than a dollar a day. If you’re committed to real, lasting change, this is for you.Join here 👉 www.mindsetmentor.com My first book that I’ve ever written is now available. It’s called LEVEL UP and It’s a step-by-step guide to go from where you are now, to where you want to be as fast as possible.📚If you want to order yours today, you can just head over to robdial.com/bookHere are some useful links for you… If you want access to a multitude of life advice, self development tips, and exclusive content daily that will help you improve your life, then you can follow me around the web at these links here:Instagram TikTokFacebookYoutube

Welcome to today's episode of the Mindset Mentor Podcast. I'm your host, Rob Dial. And if you have not yet done so, hit that subscribe button so that you never miss another podcast episode. And if you want to get motivational text messages from me directly to your cell phone. Text me right now. 1-512-580-9305. Once again, 1-512-580-9305. Today, we're going to be talking about the standards that you hold yourself to and how your standards create your entire life. And this is super important because I think that habits are very important. I'll say this before I talk about habits. They're important, but they're not the most important thing. People don't talk enough about the standards that people hold themselves to. And if you can understand this and you can hold yourself accountable to

the level that you really want to hold yourself accountable and the level that you need to be at in order to create the life that you want, you will create that life. Habits are important, but habits are the children of standards. Standards are way more important. And so if you can learn to hold yourself to a higher standard, then you'll have to force yourself to grow. And if you grow, you'll create an amazing life. And in this episode, I'm going to give you tips on exactly how to do so. But first off, let's get really clear on what a standard is because sometimes people like to ask that. Standards, in the simplest form, the way I like to explain it, are what you deem acceptable and fully unacceptable in your life. And these are levels that you will not let yourself drop below at all,

ever. You won't let yourself drop below the standard. And your standards are attached to your identity and what you think about yourself, right? So, you know, when you look at your body, there's a pretty good chance that for most people listening, your body has been very similar for the past 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 years. For some of you, even longer, right? That's because that's the standard that you're holding yourself to. You won't let yourself go any lower. But you're probably also not going any further

and getting any better in a lot of cases. You might be in some cases, but this is the reason why people can lose a bunch of weight and then they can go right back to gaining all of the weight back. Just standards that they have. If you look at your bank account, you probably have around the same amount that you have for years, right? It tends to be very common. If you're used to seeing $5,000 in your bank account, you've probably had around $5,000 in your bank account for years and years. Why? Because it's simply just a standard. And if some big bill comes in and you have to pay that bill, and let's say your bank account goes from $5,000 to $4,000, well, the standard is that you're used to seeing $5,000. So that's when

you'll buckle up. You won't go out to eat. You won't see your friends. You won't go to the movies. You won't spend any extra money until you feel safe and at that same place that you're normally at. So your life, where it currently is, is because of your standards. How you look, how your body looks, where your business is at, where your bank account is at, where your friendships are at, where your relationships are at, where your marriage is at, where your relationship with your kids is at, the cleanliness of your house. Everything comes down to the standards that you hold yourself to. And a standard is something that you will not drop below. But the thing about that is that's basically like the ground floor, which means that there's always

levels above it. And those levels above it, in order for you to go from ground floor to the next floor, you're going to have to raise your standards in some way. So I'll give you a quick example. If we're talking about not falling below any standards, let's go really drastic. I'm assuming that most people listening to this podcast right now, you're probably not going to get done listening to this podcast and then go shoot up some black tar heroin, right? Why? I would assume that for most people listening to a motivational podcast and a mindset podcast and trying to improve themselves and get into personal development and growth, you're probably not shooting up black tar heroin on the weekends, right? The reason why is because that's probably below your standards. Now, what's the difference

between that and the people out there that are listening that you don't shoot black tar heroin, but you tend to stop really short of your goals before you ever hit them, right? I know there's a lot of people that listen to this and you stop short, just a little bit short of your goals before you actually get there. That means that it's a standard for you to not hit your goals. What if your standard was, hey, I'm not going to ever stop until I hit my goal, right? Or giving up short on yourself, giving up just a little bit too early. How common, it's so common for me when I work with people to hear how many people get really excited about something, some goal, some New Year's resolution, and then they give up in the middle of it and they're done with it, right? How about this? Is it your standard to wake up the very first time your alarm goes off? Or do you hit snooze three times before waking up?

Hmm. See, that's a standard. Do you have the standard of when my alarm gets up, goes off, my ass gets out of my bed, and I do not go back in. That is a standard, right? People love to focus on habits. And like I said, those are important, but your habits are just the offspring of your standards. So if you have a habit of waking up and having a morning routine, it's because your standards are, I will wake up at 6am or 5am. I will get out of my bed the first time the alarm goes off and I will not let myself go back to sleep. That is a standard and the habit of the morning routine is an offspring of that standard, right? It makes sense. I don't know why nobody talks about this because your standards are

actually more important than your habits. Your standards create your habits. So I'll give you a couple of examples. People want to wake up and have a morning routine like we're talking about. They want that to be a habit of theirs, but they don't have the standard of waking up when the alarm goes off. They don't have the standard of going to bed early. They don't have the standard of doing what they say they're going to do. They don't have the standard of prioritizing their sleep. They don't have the standard of making sure everything in the morning is ready for the morning before they go to bed. There are standards that assist in making sure that those habits are executed correctly. And so what are your standards and where do you need to improve them? Right? You won't go and shoot heroin, but you will struggle

getting yourself out of bed in the morning. Why? Standards. It's all standards, right? You have to, and here's the interesting thing, and this is going to sound very drastic to most of you, but when you get it, you'll get it. As drastic as it seems of like, I would never shoot heroin, right? Like if you think that to yourself, like I would never shoot heroin. The mental, the same mental disgust that you have towards shooting heroin, you should have towards sleeping in. That's a standard. And that's what I'm talking about. Now you might be sitting there going, well, that's pretty damn drastic, Rob. Shooting heroin, sleeping in,

those are not the same thing. I know they're not the same thing, but can you make them the mental equivalent where it's like, I do not sleep in. There is no way on God's green earth that I freaking sleep in at any point in time. I get up when my alarm goes off because that's what I'm supposed to do.

The same way that there's no way on God's green earth that I'm going to take heroin and shoot it into my arms, right? The same way there needs to be a rock bottom for you, right? Shooting heroin would be rock bottom. Not actually waking up and having your morning routine and the habits and executing the way you want to should be a rock bottom for you.

These days, it'd be hard to sit down and find time to learn. And it's not that easy with the likes of social media that can be so addictive and so time consuming. So you may think to yourself that you don't really have time to develop, but there's an app that I highly recommend. It's called Blinkist. Blinkist is for anyone who cares about learning, but doesn't have a whole lot of time on their hands. And Blinkist takes the key ideas and insights from over 4,000 nonfiction bestsellers in more than 27 categories and gathers them together into 15-minute text and audio explainers that help you understand more about the core ideas. And 15 million people are already using Blinkist

to broaden their knowledge in 27 nonfiction categories, including self-improvement, personal growth, management, leadership, mindfulness, happiness, and so much more. And I love Blinkist because it's short and to the point, and that's the way that I like to get my information. And right now, Blinkist has a special offer for our audience. If you go to Blinkist.com slash mindset, you can start your seven-day free trial and get 25% off of Blinkist premium membership. That's Blinkist, spelled B-L-I-N-K-I-S-T.com slash mindset to get 25% off in the seven-day free trial. Blinkist.com slash mindset. So let's give another example. Look at your body. Is your body right now your dream body or could it be better? Well, it is what it is because of

your standards, right? What about the food that you eat? Do you eat fast food? Do you eat greasy food? Wings? Pizza? All of that is a standard that you're sticking to. Do you eat food that's, you know, if you were to be taking your food out, right? And you drop your food in the parking lot and it falls in the concrete, are you going

to pick it up and eat it after it falls in the parking lot that everyone's been walking over and cars been going and birds have been shitting on, right? Probably not. Why? Because eating food off of a parking lot is probably below your standards. But eating McDonald's when you know that you shouldn't isn't below your standards, right? You see how these correlate? The same way that you wouldn't eat food off the floor should be, there's no way I'm going to eat some freaking McDonald's. There's no way I'm going to eat this greasy food because I know when I do, it's number one, it's going to make me fatter. Number two, it's going to make me tired. Number three, I'm not going to feel good. Number four, I'm probably going to fart a lot, right? My wife

isn't going to love that. There's standards that you have to hold yourself to so that eating McDonald's needs to be the mental equivalent of eating food off of the ground, right? Look at your body again. How often do you work out? How many times a week do you work out per week? What's your personal standard? What is it? You know, I know people that work out twice a day. I also know people who haven't worked out in 10 years. What's the difference? Standards. The standards that someone's going to hold themselves to and the level they will not drop below. If you want to know how to change your body, what do you need to change? Your standards. Change your workout standards. Change your lifestyle standards. Change your mental standards. How hard you go to the gym

because you could show up at the gym and you could walk on the treadmill at a slow pace for an hour if you want to, or you can go in there and have that mental standard of like, I'm going to work my ass off. I'm not going to leave until I burn 500 calories a quarter of my Apple watch, whatever it is. You live and die by your standards, right? They make the life that you have currently. They have all of your standards, accumulative effect of your standards and your past standards and your current standards have given you the life that you currently have. It's the truth. But those standards are not going to get you the life that you want. So the only difference between you now in this moment, listening to this podcast or watching this podcast, the only difference between you now and you in 10 years and having

the perfect life and the perfect body and all the money, your bank account and the love and the happiness and the success and the traveling, whatever it is that you want. The only difference between you now and that version of you is that the two versions have two different levels of standards. There's you now, and there's a perfect you. And the you that's the perfect you has fully maxed out their true potential and not wasted their true potential. And they have fully decided to step into having the highest standards that they possibly can. And this is everything in your life. You have standards for every single thing that you do in your life. All of your goals. Do you come up short to your goals? Do you give up too often? Or do you not stop until the goal is hit no matter how long it takes? Right? Come up short,

give up, don't quit no matter what. What's the difference? The standards, right? What about the relationships that you have? Do you cheat on your significant other? Or do you have a date night every single week? Right? Do you turn off your phone at 7pm? So it's, you know, just enough time for the two of you to hang out. The difference is standards. Cheating on somebody is one standard. And you are like, well, I'm okay with doing that thing, cheating on somebody. Or I will turn off my phone at 7pm every single day so that I can have some time with my significant other that's uninterrupted. And you know what? I'm also going to take her on a date every single week. Difference between the two of those? They're vastly different. The standards that I'm willing

to hold myself to, standards that you're willing to hold yourself to, right? What about your family? Do you have a standard of, you know, hey, I do work so hard that I usually miss dinner with my wife and kids. Or do you have the standard of I disconnect at 6 p.m. no matter what so that I can be a fully present parent because being a present parent matters more than all of the money that I can make. What's the difference? Standards. Your body. Do you work out every single day? Do you follow a healthy lifestyle? Do you eat a lot of fast food? Do you skip workouts often? What's the difference between those two scenarios? Standards. What about your bank account? Right? You have a lot of standards

for how much that you make, how much you save, how much you spend. If you're a saver, that's a standard. If you're someone who spends a lot of money, you're not really good at saving money, that's a standard. All of these things can be changed at any point in time. Look at your work. Look at your career. Look at your business. All of that is a standard. If you have a business and you have people that work for you in your business and you feel like they're lazy, that's a standard because you don't hold them to a high enough standard. And usually that means that you're not holding yourself to a high enough standard. If you want people who work really hard, you better be the one that's working really hard first, right? People follow leaders. Are you a good leader,

right? What about your personal growth? Are you reading often? Are you skipping it? Are you telling yourself that you're growing when in reality you're not? What is it? All of them have to do with standards. The way you do one thing is the way you do everything, right? There's no way that you're slipping on standards in your relationship and cheating, but you happen to be having this business that's crushing it. No, if you're slipping in one area of your life, I guarantee we can identify all of the different areas of your life where you happen to be cheating and having low standards. The way you do one thing is the way you do everything. You live and die by your standards.

They make the life that you have. They will create the life that you want. So the only difference, once again, between you now and you in 10 years in the perfect life that you want is the standard that you hold yourself to. So take a quick look around your life and start thinking to yourself, what are the standards that I typically hold myself to? What are the standards that are great standards? What are the standards that I need to keep? Okay, I'm really good at going to the gym. Let's say you're good at going to the gym. I'm not the best at eating healthy though. And I know that if I really want to get the body that I want, well, I'm probably going to have to start eating better. Okay. So now I've noticed where I do well. I've also noticed some places where I need my standards to be better. So what about you? What are places where your

standards are good and you would like to keep those? What are places in your life where standards are not where they should be and you want to improve those? Maybe you have the standard of, oh man, my relationship with my wife, it's doing great. We're doing good. But you know what? I'm missing my morning routine almost every single morning. And when I miss my morning routine, it stresses me out a little bit because I feel like I could have done better. I feel like it was something that I needed. You know what? I'm going to have to go ahead and figure out how to make my morning routine be better, how to make sure that I show up. And if I'm missing my morning routine, there's once again, when you do one thing is where you do everything. There's probably other places that I could make my relationship better with my wife, where I could

make my relationship better with my kids, where I could show up as a better leader in my business. The way you do one thing is the way you do everything. So there's always going to be other places. So take a look around you and start seeing where you have good standards and where you have standards that need to be improved. And if you look at yourself in 10 years in the perfect life that you could have, because it is out there for everybody, and you look at that life, ask yourself, what type of standards would that person hold themselves to? Right? And realize that when you truly level up all of your standards, you're pulling your true potential out of yourself and your habits will be created from that. And for me personally,

the way I see everything is I see life as this big game. I feel like it's a game. I'm just playing this game. In every game, there's just a new level, right? There's just new levels that you get to. And with the new levels, there's always new challenges. And I see everything as life as just a test to see how I'm going to show up as if God or the universe or whatever it is that you believe in is watching me at all points in time. And if I have low standards and, you know, let's say God's watching down on me, the universe is looking at me and I have low standards as to sleeping in, not holding myself to a high state or not showing up in my relationships, sleeping in, not holding myself to a high standard, not showing up in my relationships,

all of this stuff, I'm going to stay where I am. Why would anybody reward me with anything great for not doing anything great, right? It's like you don't play, could you imagine how boring a video game would be if you didn't have to accomplish anything, but you were just rewarded with gold coins for just kind of doing nothing and meandering all over the place. No, you've got to accomplish something, right? But if I hold myself to a high standard, huh, that's interesting because the universe tends to reward me every single time I hold myself to a high standard. If I push myself without anybody else needing to push me, if I treat people the way that people should be treated, if I show up for people the way that I should show up for people, if I work harder than anybody else, if I mentally take care of myself and build myself up, it's like the universe just gives me gifts. It's like the gold coins just start falling from the sky,

right? But it all comes down to the standards of what I deem acceptable and what standards I'm going to hold myself to. So if you're out there and you don't have the life you want currently, you could have a great life and most people listening probably have a great life, right? It's good. But you know that there's more inside of you. That more inside of you

is going to take a shift in your standards. And that shift in your standards is going to change your habits. And the change of your habits and your actions is what's going to change your life. It's a top-down effect. Standards to habits to actions.

That's what you need to focus on. So as you're looking at your life, ask yourself once again, this life I have right now, the standards that I'm holding myself to, where do I need to hold myself to a higher standard? And how should I pay attention to myself at a deep level and become very self-aware if my standards happen to dip

so that I can make sure I pull myself back up and not allow myself to dip below? Because the only difference between you and the life that you want is the standards that you hold yourself to. So that's what I got for you for today's episode. If you love this episode, please share it on your Instagram stories and tag me in it, RobDialJr, R-O-B-D-I-A-L-J-R. The only way that this grows is from you guys sharing it. So I greatly, greatly appreciate it. We're always in the top 150 podcasts in the entire world. And that's only because you guys share it.

So I thank you from the bottom of my heart. And I'm going to leave it the same way I leave you every single episode. Make it your mission to make someone else's day better. I appreciate you. And I hope that you have an amazing day.