What Are Your Standards?

After leaving school, I was fortunate in my first job to work in a hotel. The hotel was four stars, and I spent the first week learning about standards. These standards included always serving a small pot of hot water with tea, ironing the newspapers before hanging them in the lounge, and placing the handle of the tea cups, so they were on the right side of the cup with the teaspoon resting underneath the handle.

These were minor details, many of which would not be consciously noticed by the guests, but they were important to all employees within the hotel.

I was reminded of the importance of standards last week while watching a documentary on Rolls-Royce motor cars. In that documentary, I noticed all the salespeople wear white gloves when showing a customer around a vehicle, and the CEO writes personal letters to each new customer. (I also observed he used a Mont Blanc Meisterstück 149 fountain pen). Rolls-Royce sells around 6,500 new cars a year, leading to writing about twenty letters daily.

Having high standards is what sets you apart from other people. It gives you an edge, and when it comes to productivity, your standards guide you towards greater efficiency. For example, if your standard is to reply to an email within twenty-four hours, you will not procrastinate on replying. You will ensure that no matter what, you respond to an email within twenty-four hours. If you need more time, you would write to the individual involved and explain you need more time. You will not sit on an email. You act on it.

Developing standards for yourself gives you an operating manual which guides you through your day. For example, my standard is to respond to my email within twenty-four hours. This means I must ensure an hour daily dedicated to writing emails. Torsten Müller-Ötvös, CEO of Rolls-Royce cars, knows the importance of personally writing to new customers, and he ensures he has the time to do that each day.

What are your standards for meetings? Do you prepare meticulously or ‘wing it’ — going in unprepared? What are your standards for managing your calendar? Do you protect time each day for focused work, or do you allow events to control your day?

Your standards give you a blueprint for your day. For instance, the most productive authors I’ve encountered, such as John Grisham, never allow anyone or anything to disturb their writing time. John Grisham begins his writing day at 6:00 am and will write until 10:00 am. During that time, nobody can contact him. That’s his dedicated writing time. Similarly, Ian Fleming would write between 9:00 am and 12:00 pm, and everyone knew he was not to be disturbed during those hours.

If you notice, John Grisham and Ian Fleming still had time to meet with people, respond to correspondence (letters or emails) and interact with others. But their standards ensured they had at least three hours of undisturbed writing time each day.

I’m always surprised by how many excuses people will find for not establishing standards for themselves. Ranging from how they have to be available for their customers at a moment’s notice (as if they were emergency room doctors saving lives) to being so afraid of their boss that they take their phones to the bathroom just in case their boss calls them.

All these are just excuses. Setting high standards for yourself is the easy part. Living by these standards is challenging. Yet, these standards will ensure you are not replaced by a computer or a new AI way of doing your work.

Here are a few highly productive standards you could adopt:

Setting some communication rules. For instance, respond to your email within twenty-four hours, no matter who you are writing to, and respond to instant messages within four hours. This is all about being consistent, which helps you and those who communicate with you.

Blocking two to three hours each out on your calendar for deep, focused work. While that might sometimes be frustrating to your colleagues, those hours will ensure you consistently finish your work on time. You will quickly develop a reputation for reliable, high-quality work.

Never fail to plan out your week with a clear set of objectives/results. If you dedicate thirty minutes each weekend to plan the week and establish precise, actionable results for the week, your productivity will radically increase. You would be more focused and results-orientated and quickly outperform your competition.

Beginning each day with a set of empowering routines. Instead of crawling out of bed at the last minute, rushing to your workplace and having no idea what you need to do. When you have a set of morning routines that gives you time for yourself and allows you to start the day the way you want, you will be more energetic and focused for the rest of the day.

Standards are a way to create your own identity — the identity both yourself and others see in you. For instance, Dwayne Johnson would never miss his daily workout; the way he acts and looks is his identity, which is supported by the standards he sets for himself.

What are your standards? What do you do that ensures you are living to a high standard?

Thank you for reading my stories! 😊

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