Video summary
The core message of this video is that true success is not determined by the ambitious goals we chase or the intensity of our work ethic, but rather by the non-negotiable standards we refuse to compromise on. The speaker argues that while everyone focuses on raising their ceilings, few take the time to establish and write down their personal "floors"—the absolute minimums required to maintain a successful life. Using an aviation analogy, he explains that pilots do not rely solely on legal minimums but set stricter personal limits for safety; similarly, individuals must define specific boundaries in every area of their lives that they will never fall below, regardless of circumstances or mood. Without these written-down floors, life is built on a faulty foundation that eventually crumbles under pressure.
To implement this system, the speaker suggests identifying and defining non-negotiables across various categories such as fitness, health, relationships, parenting, and business. For instance, instead of just setting a goal to lose weight, one might establish a floor of moving their body for at least thirty minutes every day or never eating fast food. In relationships, a floor could be ensuring no more than two weeks pass without a date night or committing to never going to bed angry. The key distinction is that these floors are not suggestions but binary rules that must be followed even on difficult days; hitting them brings a sense of pride and consistency, whereas breaking them signals a drift toward failure.
The video emphasizes that standards must be written down on paper during normal times, not when emotions are running high, to prevent the "normalization of deviants." This sociological concept describes how small compromises accumulate over time until they become the new normal, leading to the slow decline of marriages, businesses, and personal health. By making these rules binary—where the answer is simply yes or no—and reviewing them frequently, individuals can catch themselves before slipping below their standards. Ultimately, the speaker concludes that while goals provide direction, it is the strictness of one's minimums that holds everything up, urging viewers to raise their floors incrementally to build a life that is resilient and aligned with their true identity.
Read the full video transcript
Everybody wants to know the secret of
becoming more successful and they think
it's to set bigger goals, to work
harder, to become more disciplined. And
those are okay, but what if you're
actually focusing on the wrong thing?
Because your future isn't necessarily
determined by the goals that you chase
as much as it's determined by the
standards that you refuse to compromise.
The things that are the absolute
non-negotiables in your life. And the
things that are non-negotiables between
a successful person and an average
person are night and day different. And
so if you want to reach an entirely
different level in your life, you
probably don't want to just raise your
goals, you probably need to actually
raise your standards and your minimums.
And if you use what I'm going to teach
you in today's episode, it could
completely change the way that you
operate in your life. So, let's get into
it. So, [snorts] I'm a pilot and in
aviation the FAA gives you legal
minimums that below this line you're
breaking the law. And they're very
specific numbers that you cannot go past
or below or whatever it might be. Like
one of them for instance is how much
extra fuel to plan on a flight that is
past the amount that you need. And yeah,
you could do that if you want to, but
almost every good pilot that I know is
not going to stick to that number.
They've got their own number and it's
much stricter. So, instead of like 30
minutes it might be 45 minutes, it might
be an hour of extra fuel. Because 30
minutes might be what they recommend,
but it doesn't leave you a whole lot of
room if things go bad. And so let me
show you how this actually ties back
into your own life so that you can use
it because this is important to
understand, okay? What we need to figure
out is your personal minimums in every
area of your life. And after you set
your personal minimums for instance in
aviation, you write them all down with
pen and paper and then you have to
follow those in every single flight that
you have. And I realized as I was
setting my own personal minimums, like,
"Oh my god, this is what we need to do
in our own lives." Like, people kind of
have an idea of a personal minimum,
like, "Oh, I'm probably not going to eat
food that's been on the floor outside."
Like, that's in the back of your head,
but once I realized this in aviation, I
was like, "I need to go home with a
notebook and and ask myself some
questions." I asked myself a question I
never asked myself before. Where in my
life do I have a goal, but no floor that
I've actually written down? And the
answer was everywhere. Like, I had all
of these goals in life, in my
relationships, in my business, in my
physical goals, in my my bank account
goals. And those are all like ceilings
that I'm trying to break through, but I
didn't have any real floors written
down. Like, none that were written down,
at least. Like, they're kind of in the
back of my head, like, I've obviously
not going to do this. I'm not going to
do this, but like, actually write them
down. So, the floor is the standard that
you will not allow yourself to fall
below.
These are absolute non-negotiables, no
matter what, that hold our entire lives
up. This is like the I will never fall
below this line. And otherwise, it's
like you're building your life on like
faulty foundation, and that's going to
make your life crumble at some point in
time. And so, I do think goals are very
important, but I actually think, to be
honest with you, that identifying your
floors and raising your floors
incrementally might actually be more
important. So, if you want to change
your life, you should change your
floors. You should change your
non-negotiables. And we will be right
back.
Hey, [snorts] real quick. If you're
someone who sets a goal, gets really
fired up for a couple weeks, and then
somehow ends up right back with the same
habits that you swore that you were done
with, this is for you. Listen to me for
just a second. It's not because you're
lazy, it's not because you don't have
enough discipline, it's because you're
trying to create a new life with the
same identity that you've always had.
See, you have to understand, you will
always act in alignment with who you
believe that you are. So, if deep down
you see yourself as somebody who quits,
someone who never follows through,
someone who always falls back into the
same old patterns, then you will keep
proving that story true over and over
again. And until you change that old
identity underneath it, nothing will
change. That's why on August 27th, I'm
hosting a completely free live workshop
where I'm going to show you how to
identify the patterns that have been
controlling your decisions without you
even realizing it, how to break those
patterns, and then how to shift your
identity so that the actions that you
want to take finally match the life that
you say that you want. So, if you're
ready for change, and you don't want to
stay the old version of you, go to
2026workshop.com
right now, or scan the QR code that's
right here to save your free spot for
August 27th. So, go ahead, save your
seat, and I'll see you there.
And now, back to the show. Let me
explain to you exactly what I mean by
this, right? A goal is what you're
reaching for, it's what you want to hit,
it's outside of your normal, and your
minimum is what you refuse to go below.
And I say it this way, no matter what,
I'm doing this. To dip below this line
is absolutely unacceptable. And your
[snorts] life isn't determined by like
your best days,
where you're just breaking through
ceilings. Your life is determined by
your floor, your non-negotiables on the
days
where you don't really feel like doing
what you set out to do.
And when you honor a minimum,
you feel proud. Now, I'll give you
examples like a fitness minimum for
instance, or a bank account minimum, or
a business minimum. But when you honor a
minimum, you feel proud about what
you've done every single time, because a
lot of times when you're hitting a
minimum, it's cuz you've had a hard day,
it's because you got bad news, because
things are kind of off the off the
rails, and you really weren't expecting
it to happen today, but you still said,
"You know what? I'm going to hit this
minimum because it is important to me
that I show up for myself.
Right? It is a standard that you will
hold. It is a boundary that you're
setting for yourself. So, you've got to
figure out what are my floors now, and
you probably have some that you've just
never really gotten clear on, and then
what do I need to raise my floors to so
that it makes it easier to actually hit
my goals because it will make it easier
to hit your goals when you actually
start to raise your floors
incrementally. So, let me give you a
couple of different categories, and I'll
give you some examples of how you could
use this in your life, right? So, let's
say fitness for instance. Everybody's
got fitness goals, especially if it's
around New Year's. Everyone's like, "I
want to lose 30 lb. I want to work out 5
days a week." That's great. I think that
those are important,
but what are your non-negotiables that
make getting there easier? For instance,
you could say like, "I never go more
than 2 days in a row without moving my
body." Okay, that's a good one. So, I
might miss a day because things happen,
but I never go more than 2 days. And
that's what a minimum is. And you can
also find your minimum for like what it
is that moving your body means. It means
no less than 30 minutes. So, it's not
like, "I'm going to stretch for 3
minutes and that's {quote} move my
body." It's like, "No, no less than 30
minutes." You know, and it might be yoga
counts. It might be a long walk counts.
It could be that you do a 30-minute
high-intensity interval training on
YouTube. Some days it's going to hit the
fan, but at least I'm doing those 30
minutes. That's what you're saying to
yourself. Or it could be, "Hey, no
matter what, every day I do no less than
8,000 steps a day."
And you know, your goal could be 10,000
steps. It could be 12,000 steps. And you
might hit that on most days, but when
you have a day that's busier than normal
or something happens, one of the kids
gets sick, or you're sick, or whatever
it might be, you're like, "You know
what? I'm going to just get 8,000 done."
And I won't let myself go to bed before
then. That's what you could say. I will
not let myself go to bed even if it
requires you to walk around your
neighborhood at 10:00 p.m. Now, is that
going to happen very often? Rarely.
Probably because of the fact that you
now know that there's a minimum that
you're definitely going to hit no matter
what, that you don't want to have to
walk around your house at 10:00 in in
the evening. So, you're going to
definitely make sure that you schedule
it out and get it done. Right? So,
there's some fitness examples. The
second thing would be like health and
food. Right? People, they'll build rules
as restrictions. They'll say like, I
don't eat this or don't eat that or
whatever it might be, but you know, some
days kind of go crazy and some days you
forget to get food or some days
something goes wrong. And so, you've got
to build floors. And so, a floor would
be like, "Hey, I stop eating at 8:00
p.m. every single night." Or, I don't
keep junk food in the house. Or, I never
eat fast food. I will fast instead.
Like, that's a that's a personal minimum
that I have is you will never catch me
eating fast food. I will fast and eat
nothing instead of put inside of my
body. Another thing you could have is
like, I don't eat seed oils. Or, I don't
eat anything that has more than three
ingredients on the package. Or, don't
drink alcohol on the weekdays.
Once again, the point of the floor is
not to be like, "Oh, I only do this when
hits the fan." The point is designed so
you're saying, "Hey, as a person, this
is who I am. I do not do less than
this."
So, what are my floors now? Let me look
at all of my floors and then where do I
need to raise my floors so that I can
actually get closer to my goals. All
right? So, let's use another one. Let's
say your relationship, right? Your
romantic relationship. I'll give you
some examples. Maybe it is we do a date
night every single Friday. And
understand that every couple of months
it kind of hit the fan. So, maybe it's,
you know, we'll do it every single
Friday.
If, you know, things get kind of crazy,
never more than 2 weeks in a row. It
could be something like, if a
conversation gets heated
and somebody uses our code word like
flamingo or what a fork or something
like that, if that code word is used and
we're starting to get heated in
argument, we disconnect for 30 minutes.
We leave, we go in separate rooms, we do
breath work, we center ourselves, and
then we come back and talk about it
clearly so we don't say something that
we regret, right? Or it could be we
never go to bed angry, even if we have
to stay up for 2 hours and talk about
it. Or
we have at least 15 minutes of
uninterrupted conversation every single
day. Or I tell my partner I love them
every single day. Do you see this? I'm
hoping I'm hoping to get the point
across. It is It's just like this is who
I am. I do not fall below this standard.
That's what we really need to figure out
for ourselves. Okay, the next one is
your kids, right?
This one's different because you can't
have a minimum that's like, I never lose
my temper, because that's a fantasy,
that's not a minimum, right? If you
fail, you're not a bad parent. It just,
you know, makes you realize, okay, then
I I need to probably think I should not
never lose my temper, but I should
probably come up with something better.
And so the minimum shouldn't be like, I
never lose my temper. The minimum could
be like, I never let a rupture go
unrepaired. You know, if I snap, I go
back to my child, I get on the floor and
I'm like, hey,
I was frustrated, it wasn't about you,
I'm so sorry, and I say that before the
day ends, right?
It could be I eat dinner with my family
five times per week.
It could be I finish all of my work
stuff before I walk into the house. When
I get home, I put my phone away, and now
I'm in family mode. Work mode can start
again tomorrow at 9:00 a.m., right?
Another could be like, I don't
discipline when I'm angry. So if you're
hot, you might say like, I need a
minute. You take a couple minutes and
get into a better state, because
whatever you say in this the the angry
state is not going to be good. So it's
like you might take a few minutes, and
then you come back and you decide what
you should do. Or like when you feel
I feel a fire boiling up, I I'm just
Hey, I'm just going to disconnect for a
minute. I'm going to go into another
room. I'm going to center myself. Right?
These are all different standards that
we need to set ourselves to in some sort
of way. And the last like quick category
I can give you is like business for
instance for those of you guys that are
business people. Like a goal is a
revenue number. A minimum is what keeps
you actually alive long enough to hit
the revenue number. So it could be
something like I don't let cash go below
6 months of operating expenses. Right?
That's a hard floor, it's not a
preference. Um I don't sign anything on
the same day that I'm shown it. Or
before I make a big decision, I sleep on
it for at least 24 hours to allow my
brain to fully process it and I can see
all the angles. Or every single Monday
morning or Friday afternoon, I look at
the company's numbers and then I project
what I need to do next week.
Or I don't start a project until I've
decided what I'm going to deprioritize
instead. Right? Do you see how this
works? So
the important part of all this is it has
to be written down onto a piece of
paper, right? There was a sociologist
named Diane Vaughan and she studied the
Challenger disaster, you know, that
happened with the the space shuttle and
she came up with a phrase that I think
about pretty often and it is
normalization of deviants. And what it
means is if you break the standard a
little,
nothing bad is really going to happen.
And so your brain files that away as
proof that the standard wasn't a big
deal. It was kind of too strict. So the
next time you break a little more and a
little bit more and a little bit more
and the deviation quietly becomes a new
normal in your life. That's how
marriages end, that's how a body falls
apart, that's how a business fails. It's
not a big dramatic moment, it's like a
slow drift away from the standards over
time. And so you have to
sit down with pen and paper and write
them down because a standard that only
lives in your head will
depending on the situation and your
mood, it will accommodate whatever you
need at that moment, right? And that's
the point of the floor. The point of the
floor is there's no deviating away from
this thing. And so the the three rules
that you want to follow in this, right?
Number one, write them down on a normal
day. A day when it's just a normal
Wednesday, just nothing's wrong.
Nothing's going crazy. Like never in the
moment you're just going to write them
down. Going to coffee tomorrow morning
and you're write down the floors in your
life. The second thing that you want to
do is make them binary so that you
cannot debate it. Like this isn't a
suggestion, it's a minimum.
Did I hit this goal? Yes or no. Did I
hit this floor? Yes or no. Like did I
drop below it? Okay, I said I was going
to do 30 minutes and I did 25 minutes.
Yes, I did drop below. That's binary.
Right? And then the third one is to read
them again often, right? We're not
forgetting these. These are not some fun
exercise that we do at the beginning of
the year and we forget it by March.
These are standards that we live our
entire lives by. And so I want you to
think about it. Like what are your
non-negotiables? Because you probably
have goals. You probably have a vision
board. You probably have something that
you're writing towards. You probably
have an idea of how much you want to
weigh and how often you want to go to
the gym and how much money you want to
make. And you probably thought about
them 400 times. But almost nobody
listening has ever written down their
floors.
And when you figure out your floors, you
actually start to go, "Okay, that floor
is actually too low for what I'm trying
to build my life to. So I'm going to
actually need to raise that floor." Your
floors are what's holding up everything
else that you're building in your life.
And these are the things that you will
never fall below. And the people who
truly succeed in life aren't necessarily
just ones with the biggest goals.
They're the ones with the strictest
minimums and they raise those minimums
little by little, month by month. So set
your floor first and then you can go as
high as you want.
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