CHAT: Lowering Expectations
Helped needed letting go of high expectations
Everything that’s gone well in my life started with very low expectations.
My Rugby career, the Dock and Running for Resilience.
They’ve all far exceeded what I ever hoped for them, and that’s because I didn’t put any pressure on myself for them to succeed.
I just did the work/training required because I enjoyed the process, before I knew it, they’ve gone great!
But that wasn’t the case with my start-up Alfred.
I loved working on it. But I burned out from all the stress of the expectations I placed on myself because it HAD to succeed after I put in so much time and money into it.
So from now on, no more high expectations for Alfred.
And in the words of Ivan Drago: “If he dies, he dies”
Q: How do you balance the fine line between having goals and not overburdening yourself with high expectations?
Working on passion pieces is hard because there is emotional attachment and any ‘hits’ are amplified.
Without getting to Buddha on things, mindfulness has been a great source of relief for me personally. Stop. Name the emotion. Explain/interview the emotion. Respond in an appropriate way.
Learning to say NO is a skill. I include learning to say NO to yourself !
If something fails learn from it and understand. Many have try and failed. That doesn’t mean that they didn’t try to succeed or deserve to succeed.
Learn to say NO to yourself.