Now in private beta

Make your success inevitable.

Achieve your goals without rigid schedules, strict routines, or complex regimens even if you've failed before or written yourself off.

Join the Beta See How It Works

This week Deep Work

10 / 10 hrs

Active Standards screen in the Minimum Standards app

This week Cold Calls

800 / 2500

You know what to do. You're just not doing it.

But don't beat yourself up. The gap between knowing and doing is a systems problem, and system problems have system solutions.

Most systems set you up to fail.

They ask for perfection.

They start you at the level you hope to reach someday, instead of one you can hit now.

They lock you into a fixed routine and expect you to follow it exactly. Then a long meeting or a sick kid makes you miss part of it, and that feels like failing.

You miss once, then again. Each miss tells you you're someone who doesn't follow through. Eventually it feels impossible, and you stop.

Minimum standards set you up to win.

A minimum standard is a commitment to do at least a certain amount of an activity in a set period, like 500 calls a week or 10 workouts a month. It's what you know you can do on a bad day, week, or month.

That flexibility is what keeps you consistent, and consistency is what gets results.

1

Pick an activity that leads to your goal.

Sales calls lead to revenue. Workouts lead to fitness. Writing leads to a finished book. You probably already know yours.

Sales callsWorkoutsWriting

2

Set a minimum you can hit now.

You might need 2,500 calls a week to reach your goal. If that feels impossible, start at 500. Hit it however the week allows: short on Monday, catch up on Thursday. Each time you hit it, you're proving to yourself that you do what you set out to do.

500calls / week

3

Raise it until you reach your effective volume.

Your effective volume is the amount that gets you the outcome you want. Raise your standard when you're ready: 1,000, then 1,500, then 2,500. You're not forcing yourself anymore. You're just being who you are.

2,500calls / week

Minimum Standards started on Post-it notes.

Post-it notes
Notebooks
Spreadsheets
App

I used to struggle with consistency. I tried a lot of things to fix that, but rigid schedules and routines felt restrictive to me and every time I got off track I felt like a failure.

Then I learned about minimum standards from Sharran Srivatsaa. It was an incredibly freeing concept. It let me focus on what matters and disregard the rest.

So I started setting minimum standards and tracked them with Post-it notes, then notebooks, then spreadsheets.

Printouts got lost and spreadsheets were clumsy to update on my phone. That friction was enough to make me lose track and fall behind.

I built the Minimum Standards app to fix that for myself.

Even with a better tool I still needed help. I found it in the form of accountability. I shared the app with my friend Jef so he could see every standard I hit and every one I missed. That's what finally made me consistent.

And when I started consistently doing what I set out to do, my identity shifted. I started trusting myself more and taking on new challenges with confidence because I had proof I'd do whatever it took to get the outcomes I wanted.

Since then I've shared it with others and it's helped them too. Now I'm sharing it with you.

Ben MackenziePictured with Jef, without his permission.

What Minimum Standards looks like today.

Everything I needed to get consistent, now in an app on your phone.

Create a Standard

Set a standard you can hit.

Choose the activity that leads to your goal and how much of it you'll do in a time frame that works for you. Start with an achievable standard: an amount you can hit even when life gets busy.

Track Progress

Know where you stand.

Log your work as it happens and see how close you are to each standard. Fall behind early and you still have time to catch up.

Share with a Partner

Bring someone along.

Share your standards with an accountability partner. They see every standard you hit and every one you miss. When you miss, they can send you a supportive message in a few taps.

Activity History

See how far you've come.

Look back at your totals over time and how often you've hit each standard. Every standard you hit reinforces an identity that naturally leads to success.

Cold Calls scorecard with 9,950 total calls, 100 percent of completed weeks met, and weekly bars climbing from 500 to 2,500. The current week's bar fills from 800 to 2,500.

Manage Standards

Raise your standards as you grow.

Work up from an achievable standard to your effective volume: the amount that gets you the outcome you want. Raise a target when the old one gets easy. Turn a standard off when you need to focus elsewhere and back on when you're ready. Group standards into pages to keep your dashboard clear.

Want to join the beta?

Minimum Standards is currently available by invitation.

Private Beta

Get early access.

Email team@nine4.co and tell us you want to join the Minimum Standards beta. We’ll reply with the next steps.

Email team@nine4.co

Make your success inevitable.