You've been procrastinating. But finally you bite the bullet and do what must be done. Is there any better feeling than that? Well, yes, there are a few better feelings. But it's pretty good, right? The relief of escaping procrastination. I give it 6 out of 10. It certainly feels better than procrastinating does. But why does it feel good? It's not that we love what we were avoiding - that's why we avoided it. And it's not that we don't like what we did to procrastinate - that's why we did it. It's because we raised our standards. In doing what we'd told ourselves we couldn't do, we raised our standards. We proved that we're better than we thought. That was giving ourselves a massive compliment. That's pretty awesome. Then we secretly wonder what else might be possible for us. The protection of high standards Henry Morton Stanley was an explorer in Africa in the 19th century. He's famous for the incredible rescue of the missionary David Livingstone ("Dr Livingstone, I presume."") who was lost deep in the interior of the continent. Early in that expedition, he left a large group of soldiers at the edge of "civilisation" to set up a base, while he ventured deep into the jungled heart of Africa with a few men. Within weeks, the soldier's camp descended into a barbaric rabble. Losing all discipline, their standards evaporated. Chaos engulfed them and the outpost collapsed. While things had been tough for the soldiers, for Stanley, conditions were brutal. Uncharted, impenetrable jungle. Life sucking heat and humidity. Deadly animals. Violent tribesmen. And all this while in the grip of disease - hanging between life and death. Compared to the soldiers at the base camp, Stanley was disadvantaged in every way... except one. Every morning, emaciated and gripped with fever, barely clinging to life and desperate to preserve every ounce of energy, Stanley would haul himself out of bed... ...to shave. Are you kidding me, Henry? Weren't there more important things to worry about? But, for Stanley - these small, apparently trivial habits were non-negotiable. He resolutely refused to compromise his standards. That's what standards are. This commitment to his standards was the advantage Stanley had over his conditions and over the soldiers. Where they succumbed to barbarism and chaos, Stanley refused anything but excellence to take root in his thinking and behaviour. And this allowed him to navigate his way through almost impossible challenges to safety and glory, where others with lesser standards were crushed by their circumstances. Small things matter Mindfulness is often thought of as something to be used in the face of challenges - to handle them or recover from them. But it is really how we prepare for them - by cultivating noble standards. Standards don't pick and choose when to come out. We've either cultivated them or we haven't. We can't save them up until we need them. We use them or we lose them. Lose them, and life closes in on us. Raise them and we're raised with them. That's why small things matter. Taking off our shoes elegantly, making the bed, always being on time, eating with presence, doing the dishes with care, greeting someone authentically,...shaving every day... it's in the "small" occasions of our lives that our standards are set. Then we're ready for the challenges of the day - and we know it. And whether the challenges come or not, that feels good. Really good. So, anticipating the pleasure of living in higher standards, I'm committing to get up every morning immediately the alarm goes off. Tired, slept badly, or exhausted in the jungle with malaria,... no excuses! It's a bit scary, actually. But I'm looking forward to a higher standard of living. How about you?