We used to have qualifiers, heats and standards in athletics to ensure that only the best athletes competed on sports day at school. I am reminded also of the auditions we would be subjected to before being accorded a place in the choir. We are still being screened in job interviews and when we make loan applications to banks. The reason is if the maintenance of a high standard of competitiveness and decorum. You are where you are today because of the standards that you have surpassed or lowered.
I would like to share with you eight nuggets that will help you understand the importance of having standards.
1. Standards are there to qualify the qualified, that is, ensuring that the once that make it to the top are not simply, "best in class:" but the best of the best or the cream of the crop.
2. Standards create an expectation of peak performance that is; the demand is placed on you to produce at the highest level of quality. There is no respect for previous form. You may have been good yesterday but that will not count today, you will have to equal or better that record.
3. Although people, subordinates, the ones you lead may initially resist a new regulation or standard that demands more from them, they are not willing to expose themselves to an environment in which anything goes and there is no high level of expectation.
4. There is nothing exceptional about a person who does not have any standards they expect themselves to adhere to. You must have a set of values to live by that makes your life meaningful.
5. You will not feel confident consuming a brand or product that is not certified by the standards association of your country, why because standards bring uniformity.
6. Do you want to be a top performer? Consistently set principles that ensure your constancy and consistency.
7. The world has its standards that must be conformed to if you are going to succeed in it.
8. If you are always demanding more from yourself you will not struggle if life starts demanding more from you.
Having a high standard in life if not an easy job but it simplifies and promotes you in your life because you do not just do that which is expected. Expect the best from yourself. Be hard on yourself in terms of personal standards and life will be that much easier for you. Promotion is attracted to excellent.
