Standards

When I was living in New York, I had a gym teacher who pushed me further than I had gone before - she just expected me to do a martial arts/boxing class, followed by a spin class, followed by a substantial run. Since then the concept of doing 3 back to back classes at a gym has seemed normal to me. And so I would do this at my beloved gym in Australia, and now in England I am also doing 3 classes back to back 3 nights a week. So this has become my standard. I also remember when I was training in dance at University and we trained from 8:30am - 6:00pm every day. This was also the norm. The idea of being physically active all day does not seem odd to me, in fact it is something I have been trying to make happen for a while!

So I think it is important to remember, whilst you can congratulate yourself for achieving things, still remember the level you truly wish you were at, then look at the people who have achieved that sort of level, and see what they have had to do to get there - or even if you want to keep it more personal, where, specifically, do you want to be at, and how, specifically, are you going to get there and what standards are you going to have to have to ensure you do?

I love to surround myself with people at a higher standard, if possible the highest, as I think this rubs off and influences how you carry yourself and the standards you will set for yourself.

I've been influenced in this way by teachers and now I also exercise this influence on others, that of getting the best out of them and making sure they commit to a higher standard on a regular basis in order to achieve their goals.

It also operates on the micro-scale, within a process, for example a dance class - what is the standard of your concentration?  At what point are you going to give up, or are you going to keep going until you get what you have aimed for?  People often have more resources than they thought, I experience it myself, and I see others, when given a specific task and a bit of encouragement, exceed what they thought they could do. Their technique gets better, their strength improves, and they develop a better habit of attacking a problem - the attitude of don't give up.

Current abilities, or perceived abilities, are not fixed, they move according to your standards and expectations and what you believe in.  I encourage you to find something you want to achieve and move towards it - hold your standards high and follow through.  It's great fun.