I was sitting on my deck this morning just thinking about life. I was huddled around my fire pit with a hot cup of coffee at 5:15 this morning thinking about all the unfinished projects we had and wondered why they were not being worked on. I decided to investigate one of the big projects and discovered that the person in charge didn’t feel good. He was well enough to work on his projects. Just to put this into perspective; I have to mention that I was having trouble breathing, my legs ached, and my left hand was cramping, but I was ready to work on the project. At 72 years young, “I just don’t feel good” seems like a good day to me. So why do we have so many unfinished projects?
OK, got to be careful here; I don’t want to wander into judgment land. That place is full of land mines and pot holes. I found a lot of projects on hold and not one person said – I just didn’t want to do it. Perhaps I have unrealistic expectations. I tend to believe that if you agree to do a project, you do it. Well, that seems to be unrealistic at best.
How many of you have done this at work? I’m not saying that you can’t have expectations, just that they have to be realistic. I’m not even saying that you have to lower your expectations, only be aware of how they can affect your day. Every time that an expectation bumps into reality, we have an event. If you remember your self-mastery exercise, you should know what an event kicks off. After further thought, it occurred to me that I had a choice. I could focus on the unfinished projects, or I could enjoy the beautiful morning. I chose to enjoy the fresh air and my cup of coffee. Of course, that didn’t help get the projects done.
What are your expectations, and are they based on reality? If you can’t walk beyond the end of the driveway, then don’t expect to win a 5K run. This life isn’t that complicated if we follow some simple guidelines. To begin, let us base our expectations on reality and second, communicate our expectations to anyone that needs to be involved to make it happen. My best guess is that lack of communications is the source of the problem. What I found was that people did not know what my expectation was. I thought it a little strange but that was it. So saying could you pick up the trash and getting an affirmative response is not clear. It seems that I failed to specify when I wanted that to happen.
I have learned that unrealistic and secret expectations have the most potential to disappoint. Here is another thought, why expect anything? If you don’t expect anything, you won’t get disappointed. Well, I guess if that was my attitude there would be no sense in asking anything of anybody. That would be depressing.
That is my thought for the day. As soon as I finish this coffee I am going to think about cleaning the garage. Not saying that I will get it done! I am just saying that I am thinking about it. I don’t want you to have any false expectations.
