Expect to Accept: How This One Mental Shift Can Transform Your World
This is a follow-up to How to Beat the Sunday Blues and Level Up in Life.

It’s January 23, 2017. 6:30 on a Monday morning and I’m feeling particularly stuck in life. I’m dreading another week at a job I used to love, but has recently become morale-crushing due to recent politics. It’s hard to believe I’m about to trade 40 hours chained to a desk in exchange for money; I can’t help but feel I’m getting the short end of the deal.
I stumble out of bed, meander upstairs to the desk in my home office, and reach for a journal reserved for free-writing. Unhinging the magnetic clip and opening the leather cover, I’m greeted by a familiar friend — a blank page.
The page beckons for ink. I rub my eyes, reach for my reliable Uni-Ball Signo pen, and unleash seven hours worth of subconscious brain-stew.
This is what poured out. Note that my subconscious is more of a big picture kind of guy and not interested in grammar. And even it is incapable of curing my chicken scratch handwriting.

The magic of free-writing comes from being unplanned. This entry was clearly unorganized and disjointed, but if I didn’t stick with it, I never would’ve worked my way through to the last three life-changing words.
“Expect to Accept”
I’m not sure if these words found me or I found them. But they begin to echo in my mind. First for only a moment. Then again as I make coffee. And again as I shower and get ready for work. Soon, they’re all I can think about.
Typically I’d have a podcast playing on my drive to work, but not today. I spend my whole commute ruminating on these three words. What do they mean? What would it look like to actually live them out?
By the time I reach the office, I’ve decided to put this mantra to action. Instead of playing victim to life’s circumstances, both the good and the bad, I’m now expecting to receive good things into my life. Not “willing to accept” but EXPECTING to accept. Understanding the difference is vital.
And this is where things get eerie.
Immediately, incredible things start happening. The very next day my side business earned its first retail account. Six days later I’ve received a job offer from a digital media agency in Denver; I decline because I’ve moved into two additional interview processes with companies I am way more excited about.
By the beginning of March I’ve accepted a job offer from one of these companies. The role is a management position in a billion dollar company’s marketing department and world travel is included; I can’t begin to explain how deeply I had desired experiencing both.

What Does it Mean to Expect to Accept?
Expecting to accept is so much more than just accepting good things when they present themselves. That is a passive process, sitting around waiting for an opportunity to fall into your lap. There’s no challenge there. No friction. No ownership or responsibility needed.
Expecting to accept is active. It requires work. You’re actively setting the expectations from life, from the universe. You feel worthy.
When you expect to accept, you’re not being greedy or vain. You’re simply telling yourself — and the world — that you’re worthy of fulfillment. It’s flipping the script on life by changing your expectations.
Is it a self fulfilling prophecy? Maybe. I’m ok not knowing for certain.
Takeaway
Why is it that accepting good things can be such a challenge? And even more so, why don’t we expect them in the first place? Why is it so easy to expect that good things can happen to others but not us?
Give “expect to accept” a shot. Who knows what could be out there just waiting for you to accept into your life.
