Most standards fail from slow erosion rather than dramatic collapse. This episode gives a compact, repeatable ritual: choose one priority each morning, lock it with a 30‑second line, and defend it with two concise refusal scripts so you conserve your best attention. Start with a quick micro‑anecdote: a listener who guarded "dinner with my son" three nights in a row stopped answering email and turned brief check‑ins into a 20‑minute conversation that rebuilt connection. You'll get exact phrasing (for example: "I can't take that today; I'm protecting X—can we revisit tomorrow?"), tonal guidance to keep the language calm and generous, a three‑day micro‑trial to test the habit, and a single reflective question to keep the practice honest. Practical, low‑ego, and immediately actionable, the exercise scales to work, family, and personal standards and fits an eight‑minute recording and a busy life.