Expect Great Things

What do you expect from your life? It is a surprisingly important question because our expectations can influence what we notice, what we attempt and how we respond when opportunities appear. If you expect disappointment around every corner, you may become reluctant to take risks. If you expect nothing to change, you may stop looking for ways to change it.

Expecting great things is not the same as believing that everything will work out exactly as you want. Life does not make those promises.

It means approaching the future with the belief that good things are possible and that you have a part to play in creating them. That belief can change the way you behave. You become more willing to explore an opportunity, have the conversation, learn the skill or take the chance you might otherwise have rejected.

There is also a danger in expecting too little from yourself.

Perhaps you have become accustomed to choosing what feels safe because disappointment is uncomfortable. But protecting yourself from disappointment can also mean protecting yourself from possibility.

Great things rarely arrive with a guarantee attached. Sometimes they begin with an ordinary decision to try something different.

Expect more from your life, but do not sit back and wait for greatness to find you. Give your expectations some substance through action. Work towards the opportunity. Learn from what goes wrong. Stay open to possibilities you did not anticipate.

You cannot control everything that happens to you. You can influence what you believe is possible and what you are prepared to do about it. So raise your expectations.

Expect great things and then give yourself every opportunity to make them happen.