The Importance Of Realistic Expectations and How To Set Them

Your expected view of a future thing can make or break what happens in the present moment.

It can determine whether you feel disappointed or calm, angered or content.

The good thing is that you are entirely in control of the expectation, no one forces you to expect one thing or another. It is all dependent on yourself.

Most people struggle with realistic expectations because they lean on one of two extremes. Either exceedingly low expectations or sky high ones.

Misconstruing expectations is something that everyone has faced at one point or another but being able to pin down realistic expectations can change your life.

Personally I’ve always had very high expectations, this was helpful in the performance aspect of my life but it took its toll when I couldn’t achieve the insurmountable goals I set for myself. When I came to Christ I realized how ridiculous I previously was and set out to fix my eyes on more realistic expectationsI wa. Doing this I was able to become happier and calmer. I was no longer crushed by my goals but instead excited to achieve them. Here’s how you can do the same thing.

1: Objective View

In order to know what to expect out of a situation you need to look for the widely agreed upon view. Sometimes when your mind chews on something for too long it can turn to mush, twisted in comparison to the real view. Despite how ridiculous this may sound people morph what something is all the time to fit into their little pleasant comfortable mind.

2: Within Yourself

Now you know what most people think about your goal or expectation for a relationship, grade, career or whatever it is. The next thing to do is ask yourself if it’s actually possible out of yourself. Is it even possible for yourself to achieve this thing?

Do you even really want it? Or are you putting all your future happiness into the hands of something that will not hand it back?

3: Within Others

At this point you know what you can do, you have a good grasp on what others think about the general situation. Now you have to figure out if it’s possible for others to fit into this expectation. Can they meet it? Are you putting pressure on others that are crushing them? In order to find this out you need to see what other people think they can do. If it is objectively impossible something this push is doing more harm than good.

Doing this will enable you to set realistic expectations of future situations by asking these questions. Is it possible? Can you do it? Can they do it?

Best days,

Audrey.