The cycle is always the same. You start looking at an area of your life that you want to improve, you come up with an idea like “I’m going to improve my running”. You write down your goal and create some sort of plan and then you get to work.
It’s a simple thing developing an idea and then creating a plan. The execution is where the hard work starts. Most things that are worth creating a plan for involve hours and hours of focussed work, failures, distractions, sacrifice and commitment. And a lot of the time we finish with disappointment, anxiety, stress and an element of depression.
So, how do you get rid of (or at least reduce) the amount of stress, anxiety and disappointment that might come your way? And how do we overcome the fear and doubt that enter our heads before we have even started?
At our April 30 Goal setting & mindset workshop, we dove into the psychology behind Expectations vs Standards and how to make some minor changes to how you approach a task/goal/challenge so that you have a better chance of succeeding and reduce the stress that you experience along the way.
So what is the main difference between the two?
- Your expectations are a set of achievements/experiences/things that “should be in your life” at a certain point in time.
- Your standards however, are a set of values/processes/rules that you live by and that create the basis of everything that you do each and every day.
Here is the simple answer.
You will experience more disappointment, anxiety, depression and doubt if you mind is focussed on expectations.
WHY?
Because expectations have an extreme amount of variables controlling them and their outcomes.
If you expect to achieve a new PB in your running, to lose a certain amount of weight, save a certain amount of money, have a certain job, by a certain time. There are many, many, many things that could have a negative effect on your progress. It could be raining, so you cannot get your run in, you could crash your car and have to buy a new one, you could be working late every day and only have fast food as an option for dinner.
And when that time comes around for your “expectations” to be fulfilled, the anxiety grows, the doubt and fear take hold and you either find a way to justify your loss or you self sabotage. This means that the next time you set a goal you’re less likely to achieve it because it’s going to be even harder this time.
Standards however, have only one variable/controlling factor. YOU.
“You will never be less than the person you BELIEVE you are”
You have a set of standards that decide how you will respond to everything that life throws at you. Any goals you set, any setbacks you experience, any obstacles you have to overcome.
Your standards tell the rest of the world who you BELIEVE you are. And they are the deciding factor as to whether or not you achieve your goals and how you will respond/feel if you don’t.
How do you wake up in the morning? What is your first thought of the day? How clean is your room/car/kitchen? How well do you prepare for upcoming tasks? How hard do you work? How well do you eat, sleep, train?
Your standards are completely within your control and yours only.
So, what are your standards?
I’d love to know, love to help, love to work with anyone that is trying to make a change for the better within themselves.
Send me a list of the standards that you believe form your relationship with the world around you and what define the person you BELIEVE yourself to be.
The list can be as big or as small as you want.
A few things to think about when you’re creating your list.
- What are the standards that have helped me become the person I am today
- What are the standards that have prevented me from moving forward
- What are the standards that are moving me beyond the person that I am today
The lesson to learn here.
Is don’t let the outside world control your happiness. You are 100% responsible for your happiness and your success, take control of it today and raise your standards.
And of course
Enjoy your day & PLAY 😀
Denee
p.s
Send your standards list to denee@uftplaygrounds.com.au and let’s work together to help you achieve everything that you want.
A UFT PLAYground is a place that people of all shapes, sizes and ages learn to develop their movement abilities through an infinite learning and development program. UFT PLAYgrounds have been created to re-inspire our natural ability to move, create, adapt, re-act, connect, have fun and of course PLAY.
PLAYgrounds have been developed to allow people to feel and explore their own abilities by utilising a multidimensional, infinite, creative and PLAYful approach to training.
We live in a world full of specialists and obsessions. At an ever increasing rate, people are specialising more and more, in their jobs, in their businesses, in their sport and in their training. The result, is a backward step in human evolution. By specialising, we limit ourselves to thinking that 1 particular way of doing things is the right way, or the only way.
We promote creativity, not only in movement and training methodologies but in thinking in general.
A UFT PLAYground is created to provide the general public with an opportunity to PLAY across multiple styles of training and moving, to be able to progress in the training methods that they become passionate about or that excites them and to be a part of a community that promotes more than just fitness.
The “fitness” industry above all others has brought about a need to specialise in order to achieve anything, and majority of what we do for “fitness” is for an aesthetically pleasing reason. We understand that aesthetics are nice and we too love to look and feel good. However a UFT PLAYground is developed to allow people to move better than ever before across a broad range of training methodologies and ideas. Aesthetics, therefore are a result not a goal of that system. We know that “If you train to look good, you will not always enjoy what you do, but if you PLAY a lot, and do the things that you love, you will ending up looking good”. Aesthetics should be a result not a goal.
For years now, we have recognised that the best movers on the planet are children. They are flexible, mobile & fit, they have better relative strength than a typical adult (and even most adolescents), they are the best creators and innovators, they learn faster, the adapt better, they interact better with other people, they are more connected to nature and most importantly, they PLAY more than anyone else.
As adults, we tend to believe that because we are taller and more experienced in “life”, we are better, and then we get to an age that says we are “too old to PLAY”. As we grow taller (and in a lot of cases rounder), we experience things that inhibit our ability to move, think and not think. We allow our experiences to limit our abilities as humans, whether it be a physical injury, a story that we heard or a youtube video that we watched. We also allow our emotions to control our behaviour because of our past experiences. Maybe it was the feeling of humiliation when we tried something new, regret when we failed or heart break when it was taken away from us. Because of this, we allow our experiences to control our future instead of learning from them and creating our own
.
This is what UFT PLAYground’s are built on. The understanding that we as humans need to go back to the way things were before our negative experiences took over our subconscious mind and body.
A UFT PLAYground gives people the ability to re-learn what they have lost, as well as develop new sets of skills that will allow them to follow any particular passion that they uncover in PLAYtime. When we PLAY, we are simply, exploring. Through exploring we become curious and through curiosity we become obsessed or passionate about a particular thing. This is why in a PLAYground we allow people to PLAY across a broad range of training systems (minimum of 3), Through this system they are able to identify 1, their current limitations and be educated on how to overcome them, and 2, identify their passions and learn to develop, grow and excel in them.
UFT PLAYgrounds are also a development centre for up and coming entrepreneurs in the fitness industry.
Each PLAYground founder will have been trained and will be continuously trained in UFT’s Trainer Success System.
This system allows personal trainers, coaches, teachers, instructors, etc. to continue to develop in their fields of specialty (as they play they will find it) and in the philosophy of PLAYtime. They will also be trained in the business systems of UFT in order to have their own successful and profitable business.
See UFT Trainer Success System for more details.
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