Lower Your Standards.

Live life in crescendo.

Keep moving, don't stand still.

Don't procrastinate.

You fail only if you quit.

Don't eat after 8 pm.

Do something everyday that gets you out of your comfort zone.

Focus on what you want, ignore what you don't want.

Find your passions.

Don't waste your precious time.

Commit to continuous learning.

Drink 8 glasses of water every day.

Expect only the best and you will get the best.

Don't get comfortable.

Welcome every morning with a smile.

Exercise everyday for at least 30 minutes.

Early to bed and early to rise.

Never neglect the little things.

Live this day as if it will be your last.

Sounds like the recipe for a successful and magnificent life right? Or like the chapter headings from a Stephen R. Covey book. Or like something a magazine suggested to help you combat the stresses of everyday life. Or like the answer your Mom or Grandma has to solve all of life's troubles. Or like the extremely high expectations you have for yourself that, despite all of your best efforts, always seem eternally out of reach.

What these little sayings all have in common is that they intend for you to feel like this...

... but leave you feeling more like this when you aren't quite able to reach them.

Who knew that such a little sentence could make you feel so crappy about yourself? Or maybe it's just me. I'll admit straight up there was a time when I would lay awake at night and just think...

"Crap, I didn't drink 8 glasses of water today."

"Shoot! I really wasted my time today. I should have studied more."

"Aww man, I forgot to exercise today. I suck."

And then I'd beat myself up a little bit over it and resolve to do better tomorrow. Except usually tomorrow entailed exactly the same thing yesterday had. So basically I got after myself every night.

Fortunately, someone showed me the solution to this problem.

A while ago I was visiting my Aunt Marge.

I love my Aunt Marge. I don't think I know anyone more fun and optimistic than her. When I grow up, I want to be my Aunt Marge.

Anyways, while I was with Aunt Marge, she started telling me about this dear lady she had spent some time with who had a problem with feeling inadequate. The poor woman had just opened up in telling my Aunt that she felt like she could never do anything right. She was chronically upset with her performance in life and nothing she did ever seemed good enough.

After telling me this sad story, Aunt Marge said, "She needs to lower her standards. We all just need to lower our standards."

I couldn't help but laugh. Having grown up in a religious home, standards were something you held high and stopped at nothing to follow. Standards governed your life. No matter what. But then I gave her suggestion a second thought, and now I can't agree more.

Lower your standards.

I'm not suggesting that you go out and start smoking weed or steal a car, or any other things that are against your moral standards. I'm suggesting that you set the bar to a place where you can actually reach it before raising it sky high when it comes to your personal standards.

I'm suggesting it's okay to take a day off or to procrastinate when you really need a break.

I'm suggesting it's alright to eat a second helping of dessert.

I'm suggesting it's perfectly fine to mess up and then laugh at yourself.

I'm suggesting it's good to slip back into your comfort zone occasionally.

I'm suggesting it's not against the law to take a day off from your suffocating standards.

Lowering your standards doesn't mean you're giving up, it simply means your bringing the sky a little closer to your reach. Because let's face it, when you're constantly tearing yourself down about the little things, you're pushing the big things, like happiness, further and further from your reach.