The Four-Star General Success Method: Raise Your Standards Every Day

Most of us want to succeed and improve our life situation. We raise our standards, set goals and occasionally achieve them. However, if you really want to go far, raising those standards once isn’t enough. You have to raise them continuously.

As retired four-star General Stanley McChrystal explains to the Spartan Up! Podcast, people and organisations often have a tendency to achieve some level of success, believe that the former goals are what got them there, and stick with that same routine over and over. In reality, sticking with those same goals will more typically result in the same outcome, not a better on. To truly improve, you need to raise your standards every day:

Organisations can get very self-satisfied. And they can become very complacent. And generally, if they attain a certain level of success… they start to think, “If I stick with that same formula, I’m gonna be ok,” and people get very, very comfortable. And so, I think it’s important for people to first understand that what got you there isn’t going to get you further. The organisation has got to decide every day that we are gonna literally have to set a new standard for ourselves.

How you raise your own standards is up to your own situation. You can almost always find something you’re able to improve about your life or your work. The important thing is that concept of eschewing comfort. Success doesn’t consist in finding the right routine to stick with for your whole life. Success comes from changing that routine constantly until your life is better.

General Stanley McChrystal | Why Elite Special Forces Succeed [Spartan Up! Podcast via Entrepreneur]