80 ways to raise your personal standards and benchmarks

In this article we will learn

-12 reasons why people struggle life-long and are in perpetual crisis and fire-fighting-mode - one after another

-15 ways our personal standards and benchmarks – creates the life we live

-9 basic fundamentals about standards, benchmarks and milestones

-19 disadvantages of having poor personal standards

-18 benefits of having high personal standards

-24 ways with 80 tips on How to set standards, benchmarks and milestones

-19 tips to identify and living your core values

-12 minimal standards to set for yourself

How to raise your personal standards and benchmarks

Standards relate to choices and our choices decides the quality of our life, plus our success and our happiness along with how much satisfied and contented we are and also the quality of our close relationships.

For many of us our past decisions and their outcomes dictates the standards we have set for ourselves in present - interestingly-enough we make our future decision based on our current standards.

Setting good standards is imperative for living a very satisfying-contended-fulfilling life.

12 reasons why people struggle life-long and are in perpetual crisis one after another

• 1.One of the basic reason is – that because they make so many bad decisions, choose wrong priorities and focus on external and meaningless [in long-term] goals and objectives.
• 2.Try to relate with following 9 unhealthy habits
• I.We spend-more than we earn
• II.We save-less and leave savings to be something that happens after our expenses are over
• III.We buy just on impulse without any reason to use them in future
• IV.We waste resources, time, energy, relationships, opportunities
• V.We don't learn on a regular basis
• VI.Absolutely no unlearning takes place – as we are in the know it all mode
• VII.We eat and drink unhealthy
• VIII.We fall back on unhealthy quick-fixes
• IX.We exercise less
• 3.Whenever you find people with the above habits – you also will discover that - these people are the ones
• I.Who are more arrogant
• II.Who believe in miracles without putting the needed efforts for the time-period it is needed
• III.Who blame everyone else other than themselves - at the times of mistakes-crisis-failures
• IV.Who have all the perfect excuses for things gone wrong
• V.Who can justify anything very easily

15 ways our personal standards and benchmarks – creates the life we live

• 1.Our personal standards are reflected in how we treat ourselves as well as how we treat other people PLUS how we expect others to treat us.
• 2.When we have high standards we treat others with respect and also ensure that we are treated with dignity
• 3.How we dress and our personal hygiene also gets reflected from our standards for self-care
• 4.The quality of our work and level of excellence [or the absence of quality]
• 5.How we manage our health - do we consciously ensure to work on building immunity and being mentally-emotionally-physically fit
• 6.The way we speak and communicate with others
• 7.How we express our views-opinions-suggestions-disagreements-displeasure
• 8.Our manners and etiquettes - especially with those who are not as privileged as we are
• 9.Our appreciation and recognition of the efforts and contribution of others vis-a-vis criticizing and or blaming them
• 10. How easily we are able to bounce-back from upsets and failures
• 11. Are we predominantly - joyous or jealous
• 12. Whether we fight back or give-up on ourselves
• 13. How much we honor our promises and commitments
• 14. People with poor-unhealthy-low standards also would have - low self-esteem, low self-worth, low self-proud etc.
• 15. When we have low, poor and unhealthy standards – we let others take advantage of us and get easily influenced by other's demand as well as wishes and opinions - it happens because we fail to stand up for our own rights, our values and for what we believe in.

9 basic fundamentals about standards, benchmarks and milestones

• 1.Setting standards, benchmarks and milestones requires measurable, specific and quantifiable parameters to clearly evaluate our success and progress - not only while planning but throughout the execution of projects
• 2.Well-designed milestones gives clear directions towards our big picture and becomes the compelling reasons to excel in life - especially when we have the grip on the progress through disciplined monitoring
• 3.When we have a pre-defined measurable metrics – monitoring, tracking, improvising and evaluating results becomes easy and inspirational.
• 4.Our standards have to be flexible – so that on a regular basis we are able to refine and create a more powerful motivating and effective ones
• 5.Because of unprecedented rate of changes taking place in our professional, business, career, relationship, finances, physical-emotional-mental health and well-being – benchmarks and standards may become irrelevant over the time – this is specifically true in this corona times - that is all the more reason to have high-standards and constantly raising the bar
• 6.Benchmarks and standards are the reference points for evaluating whether or not we are growing and usually compare our performance with industry's best practices or our past performance as well as can gives us indications of how well we are doing with people in the field - to be able to increase our value-addition
• 7.Creating standards and benchmarks is not the total solution – for complete solution we have to have clear goals, clarity on our capabilities, the challenges we face, the resources we have and the resources we need to acquire
• 8.This has to be followed by great execution-implementation-improvisation of all our strategic-action-plans through creating KPIs to be able to gauge whether we are moving towards right directions
• 9.While implementing - we need to track and compare our performance against our goals and benchmarks
• 19 disadvantages of having poor personal standards
• 1.We compromise and tolerate poor service from others
• 2.We tolerate things we should not be accepting at all for dignified existence
• 3.We suffer from low self-worth, self-esteem, self-confidence and self-respect
• 4.We lack belief in ourselves and our capabilities
• 5.We become pushovers – anyone can walk over us
• 6.We make bad choices in relationships
• 7.We don't have will-power – strong-enough to say NO to undue demands and pressures
• 8.We become submissive and give in to people who are more dominant and controlling
• 9.We often break promises and resolves - that we have made with ourselves
• 10. We have a great need for validation from others
• 11. We show-off to create a false impression
• 12. We are constantly concerned about what others think about us
• 13. We want others to admire, recognize, appreciate and resect us – and we will do anything to get it
• 14. We become habitually lazy and procrastinate
• 15. We are generally disorganized
• 16. We work within our comfort zones and don't stretch to go beyond to achieve more
• 17. We seldom have big dreams
• 18. We feel good being part of the crowd – being in limelight terrifies us
• 19. We don't excel in anything and we feel comfortable in mediocrity and being average

18 benefits of having high personal standards

• 1.We are assertive and are clear about what we want
• 2.We have very high degree of self-confidence
• 3.We take risks to stretch ourselves beyond our current capabilities to grow and learn
• 4.We accept failure as an inevitable part of growth and success
• 5.We try newer things and experiment with ideas which seems far-fetched
• 6.We are focused on excellence and never compromise with quality and accept only the best
• 7.We can say NO easily
• 8.We get rid of people who are toxic and pull us down
• 9.We are constant learners
• 10. We accept our mistakes and weaknesses openly
• 11. We have very-big larger-than-life dreams
• 12. We are passionate about life and living
• 13. We proactively embrace change
• 14. We are respectable and don't have any need to be popular
• 15. We can accept when we don't know something easily – but if it is important we will make every effort to learn it
• 16. We respect everyone - because we respect ourselves
• 17. We relish and celebrate our uniqueness and love being different and standing-out - even if it means standing-alone for our values and standards
• 18. We can move-on and bounce-back from even the harshest setbacks

24 ways with 80 tips on How to set standards, benchmarks and milestones

• 1.Assess yourself objectively and be brutally honest– with your weaknesses, strengths, competencies, fears, doubts etc.
• 2.Learn how to channelize and transform your weaknesses into your strengths
• 3.Understand yourself by connecting with the real you – by asking
• 4.What makes you feel truly happy, blissful and satisfied
• 5.Then exploring-asking-sleeping over on - what type of life you want – till you get a very inspiring picture
• 6.Identify what skills, habits, discipline, attitudes and knowledge you would need to inculcate and change within yourself - to make this dream come true for you
• 7.Divide them into monthly, weekly and daily action steps by working backwards from the end-result
• 8.Define short term and long term SMART-goals in alignment to this big-picture of yours.
• 9.Depending on your needs - enroll and engage mentors and coach - who will help you effectively go for desired changes and outcomes – and also to elevate the level of your functional, behavioral and other performances.
• 10. Then just go and do it - start implementing and start taking actions
• 11. When faced with challenge and obstacles – create and improvise your plans re-implement – as often as it is needed
• 12. Monitor, track and assess your progress and growth at fixed regular interval
• 13. If you succeed in your attempts – celebrate each major milestones
• 14. If you have fallen short of the goals or if you are excelling in your goals too easily, evaluate and re-adjust your approach - Make your smart goals effectively smarter
• 15. Evaluate and refine your plans to enhance and sustain your standards and levels of excellence
• 16. Create parameters to measure - then start measuring yourself - wherever you find yourself falling-short - take actions to improve one bit a time - the most challenging part is to create meaningful and sustainable improvements.
• 17. Keep updating your benchmarks and standards as per the way the industry and the business is moving on global level – to make them relevant and useful with the changes and emerging-trends
• 18. Benchmarking is a part of goal setting process – and they can add value only when we take action on them
• 19. 19 Tips to identify and living your core values
• I.Are you learning new things, exploring new places, and experimenting with new ideas
• II.Are you questioning and challenging your assumptions, beliefs and limitations and putting efforts to course-correct them
• III.Are you building habits that lead to sustainable continual improvement
• IV.Are you utilizing your potential more and more or just operating within comfort zones
• V.Are you allowing yourself to be happy with where you are right now with what you are doing
• VI.Are you becoming the person you are proud of
• VII.Are you exploring possibilities, opportunities and preparing yourself for unexpected challenges
• VIII.Are you taking steps to overcome the challenges you have in life
• IX.Are you helping others or just seeking help without giving anything back
• X.Are you helping others to become the best that they can
• XI.Are you dependable
• XII.Are you being honest with yourself
• XIII.Do you justify and defend your actions – or – accept full responsibility for your actions and decisions
• XIV.When you mess up – do you take corrective actions or hide your mistakes
• XV.Do you share and delegate work, tasks and responsibilities or you do everything yourself - to get the limelight
• XVI.Are you focused on creating and building something meaningful and valuable and adding value – rather than what you would get – payment, rewards etc.
• XVII.Once your needs are taken care of – do you work to make this world a better place
• XVIII.Do you ask yourself every time - after you have completed a project - how can you set a higher standard in the future
• XIX.Do you acknowledge other's contribution, give credit and thank people for their help
• XX.Assess the areas of your life you must improve to achieve your compelling vision
• XXI.Decide what your higher standards will be in each area
• XXII.Know your WHYs for doing everything
• 20. 12 minimal standards to set for yourself
• I.Have standards for you to become the best every role that you play
• a.The best father/mother
• b.The best brother/sister
• c.The best son/daughter
• d.The best boss/employee
• II.Have standards to get negative and toxic people out of your life
• III.Have standards to have smart, knowledgeable and positive and emotionally uplifting and morale-boosting people in your network
• IV.Have standards to treat others with respect
• V.Have standards to challenge yourself regularly to become bestest version of yourself - everyday
• VI.Have standards on how you manage your finances – savings and expenses - and avoid wastages
• VII.Have standards for how you treat yourself
• VIII.Have standards for how you treat your most loved ones
• IX.Have standards for how you behave and communicate
• X.Have standards on how you carry yourself with dignity in difficult situation and in public
• XI.Have standards for what is the minimum level of excellence that you will accept from yourself and from others
• XII.Have standards for who you want to become – ask yourself – are you living life the way you want to live - are you proud of who you are
• 21. After you have identified these 12 personal standards - then the next step and stage is go and apply these raised standards - in everything that is within your area of control - fully within your influence
• 22. Live up to your standards - Respect yourself
• 23. Take risks -Learn from your as well as other's mistakes
• 24. Never compare yourself with others - comparing your personal standards with other people's standards is a game – you can never win

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