Quick Shifts Activation: Your Embodied Standards of Working
Define the non-negotiables that shape how you show up, serve, and sustain yourself in your work.
There’s a version of building a business that looks really good from the outside.
You’re booking clients. You’re showing up online. You have a website, an offer, probably a Notion workspace with a color-coded kanban board. Things are moving.
And yet—something still feels slightly off. Not broken (don’t be dramatic!) Just… misaligned. Like you’re playing a role you designed for yourself a year ago, and nobody told you it was okay to update the script.
I see this come up in a few different flavors:
You’re growing, but the growth feels scattered. You’re saying yes to things that don’t quite fit, and you can feel the drift but can’t name it.
You’re questioning whether your work still reflects who you actually are now, not who you were when you started.
You’re newer to this and trying to build something intentional from the beginning, so you don’t end up in a version of your business that you have to burn down in two months…or two years.
The common thread across all three: you haven’t yet named your standards.
Not your values (we’ve all written those). Not your mission statement (useless, I’ve covered this). I mean the actual operating principles that dictate how you show up, how your work feels to the people in it, and what you will and won’t do regardless of the pressure or the payday.
Your Embodied Standards of Working are the difference between a business that runs you and one you actually want to be inside.
They’re what you return to when someone makes a request that feels slightly off and you can’t articulate why. They’re what keeps your brand coherent across offers, content, and client experiences. They’re the gut-check you’ve been doing instinctively but have never written down.
Once you name them, they become a compass. And decisions get a lot cleaner.
If you want a quick version before going into the full exercise, start here:
What do people consistently say they get from working with me? And am I actually delivering that on purpose, or just hoping it happens?
Sit with that for a second. What came up? Because that’s usually where your first standard lives.
The full exercise is below. Inside the paid section, I’m walking you through all five steps: how to identify what people actually get from working with you, how to name your core commitments, and how to turn those commitments into clear, written standards you can actually use.
Not as a brand exercise. As a business tool.
🔒 Continue reading for the full guided exercise
Inside, I’ll walk you through how to surface your standards, write them clearly, and make them specific enough to actually use when a decision gets hard.
Time: 30 minutes
Level: Beginner. No prior strategy work needed.
Materials: Pen and paper
This exercise works across the board whether you’re brand new, mid-pivot, or just doing an audit on something that’s felt fuzzy. It’s especially useful if you’re onboarding clients, building a new offer, or writing content and realizing you can’t quite articulate what makes your approach different.
Step 1: Reflect on Your Role
👉 Prompt: What do people consistently say they get from working with you?
Think about feedback you’ve received, patterns in your client relationships, the kinds of things people say when they refer you. Pull from testimonials, DMs, offhand comments in sessions. You’re looking for the through-line.
Examples: “You make things feel doable.” “You always see my unique path.” “You blend strategy and soul in a way I haven’t found anywhere else.”
Write down 3 to 5 reflections or themes. If you’ve been in business for a while, these should come pretty easily. If you’re newer, you can use what you intend for people to say.
Step 2: Identify Your Commitments
👉 Prompt: What promises do you make every time you work with someone, even the ones you’ve never said out loud?
These are the things you do automatically, the way you communicate, the standards you hold yourself to without thinking. Some of them are explicit promises you make in your offer. Others are just how you operate.
Examples: I’ll always give you a clear next step. I’ll meet you where you are. I’ll push back if something doesn’t seem aligned with what you actually want.
List 3 to 5 commitments. These don’t need to be polished yet.
Step 3: Draft Your Standards
👉 Prompt: For each commitment, turn it into a clear statement using this format:
I [action or commitment] because [reason why this matters].
Example:
I give practical and tangible next steps because leaving inspired is great, but real change happens when you know exactly what to do next.
Write 3 to 5 standards using this format. Don’t overthink the wording yet. You’re going for clarity and honesty, not a tagline.
Step 4: Add Context and Color
👉 Prompt: For each standard, add a few sentences that bring it to life.
This is where the standard stops being abstract and starts being real. What does this look like in practice? What’s a specific example of it in action? Why does it matter to you personally?
Example: “I meet you where you are” might become: We are all on different journeys, and my services reflect that. Whether you need hands-on guidance or light-touch support, I adapt so that the work feels right for you, not forced. I’ve never believed in a one-size-fits-all approach, and I’m not going to start now.
Flesh out each standard until it sounds like you, not like a brand guide.
Step 5: Reflect and Refine
👉 Prompt: Would these standards guide you through a tough decision, a difficult client, or a new offer you’re not sure about?
That’s the test. Read each one and ask: could I actually use this as a filter? If it’s too vague or too tied to a specific offer, simplify it. Your standards should be durable, meaning they should hold up across everything you build, not just what you’re selling right now.
If something doesn’t pass that test, revise it until it does.
Once you’ve completed your standards, they don’t need to live in a drawer. Here’s where they actually belong:
In your brand guide or internal Notion workspace as a decision-making reference
On your website’s about or philosophy page, so the right clients can see themselves in how you work
In your client onboarding materials, so expectations are set before anyone even begins
As a gut-check every time you’re building something new: does this offer, this post, this collab reflect my standards?
The goal is not to frame these and forget them. The goal is to use them. Standards you never reference aren’t standards. They’re just good intentions with nice formatting.
If this brought something into focus...
That usually means there’s something here that wants a real decision, not just more thinking.
If you’re at the point where you want help turning that clarity into an actual plan, that’s exactly what my Architecture Session™ is for. It’s a focused 90-minute working session designed to help you solve or refine one specific area, fast.
👉 Book an Architecture Session
© 2026 Kmac LLC. All Rights Reserved.