Recently, I viewed a great video by Anthony “Tony” Robbins, an American self-help author and motivational speaker. He was addressing why New Year’s resolutions, normally fail. He made a statement, which was profound and really hit close to home. He stated that “wants don’t get met, but standards do.” What did he mean? Often we set goals and targets for things we want. We all have things we want, such as a new car, new clothes, a new job, etc. Eyeing something we want may excite us, but it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re willing to make major changes to attain it. How many times have you ‘wanted’ to lose weight or ‘wanted’ to start a new exercise routine? Did you stick to it? If so, then I commend you for reaching your goal. However, I’m guessing that you’ve faced many times in life where you wanted something and even made an effort to get it, but when it became a challenge or you became bored, you stopped doing what it took to reach your objective or goal.

So what did Tony mean by “standards?” He’s stating you have to change your view about what is acceptable. It’s about being willing to accept nothing less than what you have set as the mark. If a ‘standard’ you set for yourself is to never weigh more than 170 lbs, you’ll do what you have to do to never let yourself exceed that. What if you weigh 300 lbs and you want to get down to 200? Then create a new standard for yourself that anything over 200 lbs is unacceptable. It takes more than just saying it, but deciding what standards you’re willing to live by is a great first step. From there, figure out what actions got you where you are and then decide what new actions need to happen to start living within your new standard.

It sounds simple, but reality is that it takes work to get what we want in life. The only way to make ourselves do the work is to start accepting nothing less than our goals. Think about the standards you live by. Do you remember when you lived off of much less income than you do today? Can you imagine going back to that pay level? For many of you, the answer is no. You’ve set a new standard that you have to achieve a certain income to pay your bills and be happy, when in reality, many of us could live off of much less than we do. We all have our own set of standards and we’re also capable of creating new ones if we choose. So stop ‘wanting’ and start creating standards that include those wants as needs, and you can open a new world of opportunities. What new standards are you setting?

7 Responses to “Wants Don’t Get Met”