I would differentiate between my "standards" and my "ideals". The collective of imperatives that comprises my standards is the base-rate behavioral minimum I think is important to adhere to, while my ideals are things to which I can continue to strive towards but would be difficult to fully embody at all times. An example of a standard of mine is to live a vegetarian lifestyle. An example of an ideal of mine is to always give my best effort in any endeavor I undertake.
Some of my standards are concrete, and others are more nebulous, so my ability to measure my success varies to the degree I can operationalize each idea. For example, my success at being a vegetarian is easy enough to evaluate (i.e. did I meat or not?), while my standard regarding 'refraining from taking advantage of people' would have some more subtle and debatable elements.