KNOW YOUR LIMITS (working on managing expectations)

Most people want to be a yes person. They want to be top of the pack, never say no, team players. To some, saying ‘no’ means letting the team down — thereby, letting themselves down. Or so we’ve been told. When did it become a failure to be realistic? Managing expectations is knowing your limits, managing your stress and increasing your productivity by taking care of yourself.

Managing expectations means being a ‘maybe’ person.

Managing expectations means being realistic and understanding your limitations.

Managing expectations means working within your limits and understanding that taking on too much will be detrimental to your overall productivity.

Managing expectations means knowing your schedule inside and out. It means understanding your methods and how long it takes you to complete a task.

Managing expectations means you have the ability to step away and ask for input from others.

Managing expectations means managing success and failure and protecting your personal brand. If you offer the world and can’t deliver, people will remember.

Managing expectations means promising a metre and delivering a mile.

I was once told ‘lower your expectations and you’ll always be pleasantly surprised’. When you set expectations, with yourself or others, you set the measuring stick against which you will measure success.

Say ‘I’m not positive that we have the capacity to take this on at the moment.’

Say ‘I’d be happy to help but I won’t have the time until next week.’

Say ‘Depending on the project breakdown and other deadlines we have, I will be able to take on (x) component at (x) time.’

Say ‘I am on a tight deadline and won’t be able to complete that task by the end of the day.’

Say ‘I’ll have to get back to you.’

Instead of ‘yes’, find a way to say ‘Maybe.’