The Thing With Expectations

Expectations are troublesome things. Sure, they can encourage us to work harder and strive for success, but there are different types of expectations, and not all of them are good.

The thing about expectations is that they can subconsciously control your life and modify your behavior, whether for better or worse. They can help motivate you or drive you into despair.

However, it’s important to have expectations because they can motivate us and make us excited for something that we can look forward to. Expectations can influence everything from our perception of enjoyment of our experiences to our performance on how we do things.

The expectations for us from the people around us are important, but it’s more important that we focus on our own expectations. We know ourselves best and sometimes the opinions of other people can harm us more than help us. It can be hard to manage expectations because of the stress to do well, but it is important to focus on things that we can actually do, rather than the things that are expected of us to do.

Expectations can hurt! And it’s okay to admit that. Life is tough. But just remember to keep your head high, keep a positive mentality, and focus on what you can do and how to do it! Expectations can help urge you to be a better person with goals and a path to success and vitality. It’s good to have personal expectations to watch yourself as you grow and to make sure that you do grow. As you measure your own success or mistakes, you can start to identify the things that you have been doing well, along with some things that you can improve on.

>> How do you manage expectations? <<

Give yourself time. Take time to adapt to your situations and don’t criticize yourself too harshly. Make sure to communicate with those around you and seek help if you need it. Prepare and have backups for situations and try to predict the actions and expectations of those around you, but don’t overthink it. Set and manage expectations with your family/friends/team/coworkers. Figure out your working hours, when everyone would be available, and how much you can achieve. Make sure to give yourself a break once in a while and focus on something that makes you happy. It would do no one good, especially yourself, if you burn out.

• Ask yourself what you’re expecting from a situation and is it realistic?

• Look at what you already have and find the positives. If you can’t appreciate something in front of you, how can you appreciate something you don’t even have?

• Social media influencers, celebrities, and all those successful people aren’t always realistic.

• Don’t beat yourself up if things don’t go the way you expected.

• Make sure your goals are realistic and reasonable. What good is setting yourself up for disappointment?

>> How do I communicate my expectations? <<

In order to communicate your expectations clearly, you have to know what you want from others around you. Make sure your expectations are realistic and reasonable so that others aren’t swamped or stressed to the point of quitting. Communication is key! You can’t read minds and others can’t read your mind so make sure to talk it out and make sure everyone understands. It’s great to set expectations, as long as they aren’t set too high for disappointment. Unmet expectations can lead to negative emotions and can ultimately lead to insecurities. If you didn’t have high expectations, you would be able to simply adapt and continue.

In the end, the best thing to do may just be to try and focus on the bright side and maintain a positive attitude as you go through your everyday activities. No matter how down things may look in the moment, they will get better!