Standards don’t fail because we lack willpower; they fail because we give away the small space that makes decisions possible. This episode teaches a single, repeatable morning guardrail you can defend every day. After a 20‑second anecdote about a morning lost to an inbox that led to a avoidable misstep, James defines three minimal margins (pre-screen time, a decision blackout for big choices, and a three-breath energy reset) and gives exact language to pre-commit each. You’ll get a 60‑second scripted lock you can use immediately, a one-week tracker in the show notes to test the habit, and a tiny nightly check to see if you actually protected the buffer. The episode keeps it lean and practical: pick the smallest margin, use the script, and run a seven-day micro-trial that proves whether a tiny guardrail makes your standards stick.