I was reading thoughts on expectations, and honestly, most of them were quite negative. Like this –
“Expectations are a hunger for the best in a world that too often provides the worst.” – Dr. Mardy
“A life that is burdened with expectations is a heavy life. Its fruit is sorrow and disappointment.” – Douglas Adams
Wow. These guys are downers!
How about this one – “Expectations are resentments waiting to happen” – Anne Lamott
or “Life is so constructed that the event does not, cannot, will not meet the expectation.” – Charlotte Bronte
Ok – I call BS.
Having a positive expectation and a belief in your abilities, a good outcome, and a better future is critical to you doing well! Period!
It seems the people above are talking about expecting something wonderful that you don’t work for, and persist towards when there are setbacks. Maybe it was their expectation that in fact was the problem – they expected it would be easy!
We must be skillful at this thing called expectation and belief if we are to live a high-performance life; the balancing of positive expectation with reality. We must expect to improve, to do well, to become better. At the same time, we understand what it will take to get there and we are prepared to pay that price. We make no illusions that other people will deliver success to us. It’s up to us.
In my time, when I have been most disappointed, I did have high expectations; but they were based on false facts or an absence of facts, or facts I ignored because I wanted it to turn out so badly. But what happened wasn’t what disappointed me in the end. I can see now that it was my poor construction of expectations at the beginning that was the setup for the upsetting ending.
I misused my power of imagination and my expectations were fantasy. My bad.
When some grand expectation is not met, some people stop “dreaming”, or give up and become bitter, and start expecting the worst. Don’t do that.
Expect that you can do more, be more, and make more great things happen. Know that some people will help you, some will ignore you, most won’t care about you and your goals (that’s ok), and some will be jealous/envious/or stupid jerks (just get away from them, don’t try to change them).
Get lots of information from the right sources to form challenging but realistic expectations. If you find your expectations were unrealistic while chasing them, adjust them.
Expect to work hard for what you want. The greater the goal, the more work and time it will require.
Will you be let down at times? Yes. Progress is not a straight line. But keep going. Believe in yourself. And believe in a life of your own construction.
Yes!
Expectations are spacious opportunities for growth!
“In making a choice it is not so much a question of choosing the right, as of the energy, the earnestness and the pathos with which one chooses.”
Keep moving forward. Progress not Perfection.
A life without expectations is a life that provides no meaning. No meaning leads to hopelessness which can be exploited by governments or groups that have their own meaning that may or may not line up with your values. When hopelessness sets in war starts.
“…facts I ignored because I wanted it to turn out so badly.” How true! Larry taught me how to break this habit.
I agree with this! Positivity is the key and perseverance!
Thank you for the positive messages!
Great blog for me today, I need to make some adjustments.
Thank you
Thank you for calling B.S. on this subject! I find that high expectations are a motivator to do better than we did the last time. Without high expectations we will likely do worse. A couple of my favorite quotes apply to this subject. “I find that the harder I work the more luck I have.” and “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right.” and, finally, “We are what we think about most of the time”. Have high expectations, work hard to achieve them and then our expectations are more likely to be met!