↘️ Why You Should Lower Your Expectations

You should lower your expectations? Seriously?

You may be wondering: Don't you usually hear from me that we should be ambitious and have high expectations? That most of us are flying too low?

Well, the resolution is quite simple and often overlooked: Have high ambitions, but not equally high expectations of others and the environment.

There's an old saying from happiness research: if you want to be happier, lower your expectations of everything outside your direct zone of influence.

Because those expectations of people or things you have limited influence over will always frustrate you if they are not met.

In other words, achieve more (through high ambitions) and be happy on the way to your goal (through low expectations).

So how can you put this into practice in a very concrete way in your everyday life? Here are three important steps:

1. High expectations of yourself.

   Your expectations of everything in your direct sphere of influence should definitely be very high. This is especially true of the demands you make on your thinking and behavior.

   If you want to achieve excellence with joy, you can never do it with low expectations, that is, if you allow negligence and negative behavior.

   The difficulty with this is that it always starts with your own beliefs and your self-confidence. That's why this is always an important topic in ➔ Coaching.
   
   

2. Never measure others against your own expectations.

   No one is like you! This sounds obvious, but is forgotten again and again.

   Because we do not see the world as it is, but as we are. You mirror your own world of thoughts. Therefore you project your expectations into others.

   But since everyone else is in turn equipped with different beliefs, your own expectations often run into the void.

   The solution: inspire others, help them, spur them on, reassure them, give them clarity. But don't have the expectation that others will think and act exactly like you.

   Instead: Give freedom. Accept and support different ways. Allow for diversity. In sum, you will achieve more than you ever could with mental conformity. But it takes courage to lower your expectations.
   
   

3. Raise expectations incrementally.

   Of course, if you notice that your people are going in the right direction and are consistently meeting goals, it makes sense to gradually raise expectations.

   The important thing here is to let expectations rather "run behind".

   After all, expectations that are too low can also have a demotivating effect. It all comes down to finding the right balance.

So here you have three steps on how to achieve more together with your team and be happier and more fulfilled along the way - instead of being disappointed again and again because of too high expectations. Apply it and just get in touch with me if you have any questions.

➡️ Next steps:

Whenever you're ready, check out my ➔ coaching programs and set up ➔ a 15min appointment here to get to know each other.