We all have our standards - those invisible benchmarks that guide our decisions and actions. However, there's a crucial distinction between default standards and designed standards. Most people adhere to the former, often unknowingly, and that's where the problem lies.

Default standards won't elevate your life. They merely keep you in your comfort zone, never pushing you to grow or unlock your true potential. And oftentimes your default standards negatively impact your health and performance and set you on a path of steady decline.

But what if I told you that you have the power to design your own standards, which, when honed into habits, can transform your life in profound ways? In this issue of Harder To Kill, we'll explore the significance of designing standards, the art of goal setting, the systems and processes required to reach those goals, and how these principles connect to your Future Self, a concept that Dr. Benjamin Hardy delves into in his book, "Be Your Future Self Now."

The Road to Excellence: Designed Standards vs. Default Standards

Default Standards: The Comfortable Rut

Default standards are the norms and routines we unconsciously adopt in various aspects of our lives. These defaults are often influenced by external factors, societal expectations, repetitive daily routines and/or a fear of change.

They might dictate that you should follow a certain career path, maintain a particular lifestyle, or hold specific beliefs. While these standards keep us in a comfort zone, they seldom catalyze personal growth or advancement.

“When you stop growing you start dying.”

―William S. Burroughs,

Designed Standards: Your Blueprint for Success

Designed standards, on the other hand, are standards that you consciously create, nurture, and live by on a daily basis. They're like a personal manifesto that you draft with the aim of propelling yourself toward your goals and potential. These standards are a form of self-imposed discipline and principles that guide your actions. By defining your own standards, you take control of your life and destiny.

Make your standards more challenging than your default standards but achievable.

The Science of Habits: BJ Fogg's Insights

To understand how designed standards can lead to lasting change, it's crucial to delve into the science of habits. BJ Fogg, a renowned behavior scientist, has extensively researched habits and provided a framework to build and sustain them. His "Tiny Habits" method is especially relevant when it comes to creating and embedding designed standards in your life.

Tiny Habits: A Gateway to Designed Standards

Fogg's approach focuses on making small, achievable changes that gradually build up into significant habits. By starting with tiny, manageable adjustments, you're more likely to succeed in creating new habits. This concept aligns seamlessly with the idea of designing standards. When you set standards for yourself, breaking them down into tiny, actionable steps allows you to make consistent progress.

Consistency is Key

Fogg's research highlights the importance of consistency in habit formation. For designed standards to become ingrained in your life, they must be practiced regularly. Consistency is what turns actions into habits, making them an integral part of your daily routine. By doing so, you're raising your standards bit by bit.

“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.”

― Darren Hardy, The Compound Effect

The Role of Goal Setting in the Pursuit of Designed Standards

Designed standards act as the compass guiding your life, but they must be connected to specific goals. Goal setting provides direction, purpose, and a sense of achievement. When designing standards, it's essential to establish clear and actionable objectives that align with your vision.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals: A Framework for Success

The S.M.A.R.T. goal-setting framework, coined by George T. Doran in the early 1980s, remains highly effective today. S.M.A.R.T. stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This approach ensures that your goals are well-defined, trackable, realistic, and have a time frame.

Aligning Designed Standards with Your Goals

Your designed standards should be inextricably linked to your goals. Each standard you set should be a stepping stone toward the broader objectives you've established. For example, if your goal is to drop 20 lbs in 6 months, a designed standard might be to exercise for at least 30 minutes every day. This daily habit directly contributes to the achievement of your fitness goal.

Systems and Processes: The Infrastructure of Success

While goals and standards provide direction, it's the systems and processes you put in place that ensure you stay on course. These systems are the daily routines, workflows, and strategies that support your journey towards your goals.

The Kaizen Approach

Kaizen, a Japanese term that translates to "continuous improvement," underscores the importance of ongoing, small improvements. These incremental changes, when applied to your systems and processes, can significantly impact your progress. Kaizen encourages a mindset of constant growth and adaptation, which is crucial when working to raise your standards.

Feedback Loops

To continually refine your systems and processes, establish feedback loops. Regularly assess your progress, seeking opportunities for improvement. Feedback loops keep you accountable and help you fine-tune your approach to ensure it aligns with your standards and goals.

Be Your Future Self Now: Dr. Benjamin Hardy's Wisdom

Dr. Benjamin Hardy's book, "Be Your Future Self Now," introduces a compelling concept: living today in a way that aligns with the person you aspire to become. This idea is closely tied to the notion of designed standards and can be a powerful motivator on your journey to self-improvement.

Here’s a link to a free Kindle version of this transformational book.

The Future Self Principle

Imagine your Future Self—the version of you who has reached your goals and embodies the standards you've designed. What would this person do today? The Future Self principle encourages you to act as if you're already that person, making choices and taking actions in line with your designed standards which are aligned with your goals.

Up and down alignment between designed standards, goals, process and Future Self accelerates progress.

“The only way to make your present better is by making your future bigger.”

— Dan Sullivan

A Forward-Looking Perspective

By living according to your Future Self's standards, you're not only creating a path to reach your potential but also maintaining a forward-looking perspective. Research now proves quite definitively that a person's past does not dictate today's actions and behaviors. Instead, we can be pulled forward by a clear vision of what we want to be in the future.This mindset shift keeps you focused on growth and progress, preventing you from stagnating in default standards.

Practical Steps to Implement Designed Standards

Now that we've explored the importance of designed standards, the science of habits, goal setting, systems, and the Future Self concept, let's break down how to put these concepts into practice:

1. Self-Reflection

Begin by evaluating your current standards in various areas of your life, such as health, career, fitness, sleep, mindset, relationships, finances, faith and personal development to name some of the top areas. Identify areas where default standards are holding you back.

2. Goal Setting

Set clear, S.M.A.R.T. goals that are in line with your aspirations and designed standards. Ensure that each goal supports your vision of your Future Self.

3. Standard Design

Define your standards for each goal. These standards should be specific, actionable, and aligned with your Future Self's values and behaviors. Make them slightly challenging but attainable. As they become habits, raise your designed standards.

4. Tiny Habits

Break down each standard into tiny, manageable habits. Start with these small steps, gradually building up to more significant changes.

5. Systems and Processes

Establish routines and systems that support your standards. This might involve creating a daily schedule or using tools and resources to streamline your progress.

6. Accountability and Feedback

Regularly assess your progress, seeking feedback from yourself or trusted sources. Use this information to adjust and refine your systems and processes.

7. Embrace the Future Self Mindset

Live each day as if you were already your Future Self. Make choices and take actions that align with your designed standards and the person you aspire to become.

Case Study: How The Men Of Argent Apply These Principles

Let's delve into an actual case study that illustrates the power of designed standards and the Future Self principle:

Meet John.

John is an executive in a tech company, married and has 3 kids. He's content with his career but not his health which has slipped since he turned 55. He’s had two surgical procedures and is on 2 medications. He’s 25 lbs above his “playing weight” and his physician is recommending adding another medication for blood pressure if his physical exam and blood labs don’t improve. John has dabbled with changing his diet and exercise routine but nothing sticks. One day it hits him that he isn’t getting better with age. In fact, he’s been in a slow decline for at least 5 years.

He joins Argent Alpha and he is taken through an onboarding process with a small group of other Men over 50.

Below is a summary of what John experienced.

The Future Self Principle:

John creates version 1.0 of his Future Self. We use versions because we know that Men who go through our process think very differently about their future after 6-12 months. Their future gets bigger which makes their present better.

John visualizes himself at age 60 as a strong, lean, active man who is off all of his meds. He maintains his body fat between 12% and 15% year round which he tests regularly so he doesn’t drift off target. He can do 10 strict pull-ups and hikes regularly with his wife and dog. His buddies regularly ask “what are you on?” and John shares his “secret” with guys who are ready to make a change.

He’s doing things in the gym he hasn’t done since the early 90’s and feels stronger than he has in decades. His relationship with his wife has never been better and his career has gone to the next level. He no longer worries about business travel and client dinners - his standards for nutrition have changed and are locked in. He views each year that passes as “leveling up” and an opportunity to learn, create new experiences, and grow. Life keeps getting better and his outlook on life is positive.

John writes his Future Self out long hand, with pen and paper, to make it come alive. He has his Northstar. Now it’s time to start living like his Future Self.

Designed Standards:

The next step in the process is to adopt the habits and behaviors of John’s Future Self and start living like that guy. John follows the Alpha 5 and designs standards in these areas, all of which help move him towards his Future Self.

John’s Alpha 5:

Mindset: John uses the Bookending process to control how he starts and ends each day. He sets his top 3 priorities and arranges his calendar to ensure those 3 priorities are addressed.

Sleep: John follows a simple sleep strategy by going to bed the same time each night and he follows the 10-3-2-1 rule:

• Stop caffeine 10 hours before bed

• Stop eating 3 hours before bed

• Stop drinking liquids 2 hours before bed

• Stop all screens 1 hour before bed

• John invests in an Oura ring to get additional feedback to improve his sleep.

Nutrition: Out of the gate, John focuses on two key factors in his diet:

• He eats at least 150 grams of protein every day, targeting 50 grams of protein at each of his 3 meals.

• John limits the amount of processed food he eats and focuses on whole foods (high quality meat, seafood, vegetables, fruits and healthy fats).

Fitness: John uses the Argent Alpha Athlete (A³ ) Training program and starts training 4x a week in the Move track which is designed for Men who are new to strength training or haven’t been in a program for awhile. He starts out slow and progresses each week. The strength training and protein are contributing to fat loss and increases in muscle mass.

He also participates in the 1,000,000 step challenge to develop the habit of moving daily (and burning a few extra calories).

Hydration: John follows our standard for drinking H2O and drinks half his body weight in ounces everyday. John weighs 200 lbs so he drinks 100 ounces (or more) of water daily. He uses his 25 ounce Argent Alpha water bottle to make tracking his consumption easy.

Adjustments: As John’s designed standards become habits, he makes adjustments to them to make them a bit more challenging. The process of raising your standards in small increments over time creates sustainable change. No more yo-yoing.

Measuring

When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported back, the rate of improvement accelerates.

- Pearson’s Law

John follows the R.A.D. process - Recurring Accountability Drivers - and tracks his progress in various areas:

Daily - John tracks his performance in his personalized Alpha 5.

Weekly - John reports his Alpha 5 weekly score to the group.

Monthly - John gets an InBody scan to track his body fat and muscle mass and makes adjustments as necessary. He also performs the A³ Standards each month - a test of 6 areas of fitness which are correlated to improvements in longevity. In addition, John does blood work every 6 months to measure his biological age.

Coaches regularly review the outputs from the R.A.D. process and offer “course correction” to help John continue making progress. They know three of John’s goals are to move from 26% body fat to 15% body fat in 6 months, move from Level I to Level III in the A³ Standards and reverse biological age as measured by blood testing.

Conclusion: Your Journey to Self-Improvement

In the pursuit of self-improvement, designing standards is the linchpin that can elevate your life to new heights. By consciously setting your own standards, backed by well-defined goals and supported by effective systems and processes, you can make progress toward your true potential.

Furthermore, adopting the Future Self mindset, as championed by Dr. Benjamin Hardy, can serve as a powerful motivator, propelling you forward and keeping you on a path of growth and fulfillment as you level up each year.

Remember, the journey to self-improvement is not about sudden, dramatic change but rather the consistent application of designed standards and the commitment to becoming your Future Self now. Embrace the principles discussed in this article, and you'll unlock your true potential, one tiny habit, one designed standard, and one step at a time.

Now, it's your turn. What designed standards will you create to lead yourself toward your future self?

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