The Fastest Way to Elevate Your Life? Raise Your Standards.

Something magical happens when you refuse to settle for less in life. Something shifts, and, combined with ferocious, violent action to achieve exactly what you want, doors start to open, goals start to look doable, and possibilities become realized.

But it isn’t magic. And sure as hell isn’t a “secret.”

It’s about raising your standards and refusing to lower yourself — or tolerate anything that’s below what you’re willing to work for.

Years ago, I read a book with an embarrassing title called Awaken the Giant Within, by Tony Robbins. Maybe you’ve heard of him.

Anyway, the title is the only lame thing about the book, because reading how the outer conditions of our lives reflect our internal standards was nothing less than life-changing for me, and it led to a whole lot of other things starting to go right in my life.

I think it could work the same way for you.

Okay, so what exactly do I mean by “standards”?

Essentially, I mean what you expect to have happen to you in life, what you choose to settle for, what (and who) you choose to surround yourself with — everything.

In a word, it’s about “quality.”

It’s about raising the quality of everything you do and have, and what you choose to allow into your life. It’s even about the way you expect to be treated. Because you will be treated almost exactly that way.

In my own life, I don’t tolerate reading fewer than 100 books every year. I don’t tolerate being skinny. I don’t tolerate driving anything less expensive than a Porsche. I don’t tolerate being poor. And most importantly, I don’t tolerate excuses, deception, or weakness in any form.

Your standards will be different, but those are mine.

My standards encompass everything from the kind of books I read, the quality of the people I surround myself with and the things we talk about, the level of yearly income I’ve reached, and the few possessions that I own (I’m generally pretty minimalistic, but I’ll go all out on buying things that I know I will love and use often).

Years ago, I decided that being poor didn’t work for me, so I decided to take massive action to change my situation.

Two years later, I quit the job I hated, built my own business and brand online, and bought a black-on-black Porsche convertible that you see in the photo above.

You may not give a shit about cars (and that’s cool), but maybe you care a lot about where you live. If so, elevate your standards and refuse to settle for living anywhere less than what you know you deserve and are willing to work for.

You’re just going to keep getting what you allow into your life, and that goes for every single part of your life. There is literally nothing that is not affected by your standards and what you’re willing to tolerate.

You can think of it almost like a thermostat. If your thermostat setting is currently a 75, that’s exactly what you’re going to get. A “75” is a decent job, some fun activities every once in a while, maybe a Hyundai Elantra or something, a relationship that’s just kinda “okay.” But what if you were to turn your thermostat up to 100? What would a “100” life look like for you?

It’s going to look different for everyone. But you have to make it conscious, or else the outside world will “set your thermostat” for you, and you’re not going to like the setting. It’s going to be set for “average,” and unless you take deliberate, conscious, active steps in order to change it, that’s exactly where it’s going to stay.

As I said in the beginning, something magical happens when you vow to make changes to a life that you’re not satisfied with. It changes everything.

It forces the universe to respond, and to meet your hard work and conscious choices with what you feel you deserve.

So I advise people to set standards for everything: For how hard you’re willing to work (that’s a BIG one); how much fat you’re going to allow yourself to carry on your body; the money you bring in each month and your value to the global marketplace; the friends you associate with; the books you read and the podcasts you listen to. Everything. It matters.

Raise your standards — raise your thermostat setting — and the quality of your entire life will rise. That’s where it starts.

That’s all I’m going to say right here, and now it’s completely up to you to look at your own thermostat to see exactly what you’re allowing into your life and what your standards are.

Whatever your thermostat says, crank that motherf***er up to 100.

All the best,

Matt Karamazov