Expectations, goals and beyond...

Have you ever been disappointed with yourself? Because you expected yourself to do some tasks couldn’t do that the way you ‘expected it.’

?Expectation in any form is not considered good. Many says ‘low expectation is the key to happiness.’ Why is it that? Why we should not expect? I feel, expectations are good if they are fulfilling and realistic. For example, I know, my morning cup of green tea in silence gives me happiness hence, I expect this experience daily. But will that cup of green tea appear itself or do I need to take certain steps to make it happen? Problem starts when our expectations is magical. You need to work towards it in order to convert your expectations into reality.

Anywho, expectations majorly fails when you expect from others. As everyone says ‘expecting outside your control may be a losing battle.’ Important to understand here is, it’s easier to expect from yourselves and deliver than expecting from others like in professional space.

If you want your organization to deliver as per you than ‘goal‘ is the word for you. There’s a thin line between expectations and goals. I feel all goals can be expectations but all expectations cannot be a goal. Goals are something we consciously work to one day achieve through our specific efforts and understanding. One huge benefit to having goals is having fixed starting and ending points, with benchmarks in between—and this creates a mental visual. You can not only see how close you are to the result you want, but more importantly, you can see how far you’ve come from the beginning. Setting goals motivates us, excites us, and makes us want to push ourselves to grow.?

Whereas, managing expectations is not always going to be easy, since there are good and bad sides to having them. We should always remember that certain things might be in our control, while many might not. What’s important is that we stay aware of all the expectations we’re creating, while also understanding the logic behind why we have them.

Personally, the most crucial action on aligning or managing expectations is transparent communication and checking in with your colleagues/manager, as well as ourselves. This will help in aligning what we want with what we (ideally) actually receive, and just might make us happier in the process!

Hence, let’s not run away from expectations, just make sure they are real, under your control zone and open for transparent communications.