Today I am sharing a column that will be published next month.
Inventing Your Life
“High Standards”
By
Rob Claudio
As I watched an
old rerun on television last week, it had a sketch comedy bit about how
lowering your standards could make you feel happier. First I laughed out loud to
myself about the silliness related to that message, as it portrayed the
achievement of happiness and contentment by getting rid of what you hold in high
regard. As I continued to chuckle
through the rest of the performance, I began to think about how our lives could
change if we were to actually live by this philosophy. It was not until a few hours after it was
over that I really thought about it more deeply, in the dilemma of giving up
something in order to settle for less. I
am sure you can come up with your own list of items where you made a decision based
upon cost, time or other inherent reason and perhaps adjusted your standards in
the process. When I think about the days
in my younger more frivolous youth, I was also reminded about the silly phase
that I went through in buying bottled water that was a French brand because it
sounded exclusive and all the cool young crowd had a bottle of it in their
hands where ever you went. This bottle also
came with a deeper price tag than the standard brands and interestingly for me,
I ultimately felt the other brands tasted better. Yet, in my crazy thinking I made sense of
spending the additional money and back then I had very little discretionary
funds to spare, only because it appeared to be the “in” thing to do. I can also recall the department stores that
I used to shop at were of a particular caliber, as I wanted the latest brand of
hip clothes that some of my peers were wearing.
It is funny now to think that when I had the least amount of extra money
to spend, I ended up spending a lot more.
Sadly, many of those items had only a limited shelf life to them, as
much of it was a passing fad. What I now
realize is that I placed value on what others perceived of me, as opposed to
what I could afford. Now as I think
about all of those things in my distant memory I simply say “thank you”, for
the lesson that it eventually taught me.
Holding yourself accountable to your own standards is something that you
can keep your head up high about, as it provides you with peace of mind as you
lull yourself to sleep at night. Knowing
that you did not have to lower anything about your personal benchmarks of what
you believe and value, will continue to provide a great return of your personal
investment. Always remember that your
personal standards ultimately is part of who you are and speaks your truth to
others. If you are presented with an
easy way out of something, think twice about the consequence of that simple
fix. Many times we have all learned that
doing the right thing and for the right reason, should be your only true compass
point. Ultimately, remember to keep your
standards high and don’t settle for anything that is not worthy of who you are.
“You have competition every day because you
set such high standards for yourself that you have to go out every day and live
up to that.” -Michael Jordan
