I have realized there is a danger of having great expectations. And what makes the realization funny is that it came to me while reading the book, “Great Expectations.”
What’s so bad about having great expectations?
You start thinking that you have already obtained or achieved your expectations.
How is that bad?
For example, let’s say that your expectation is to become wealthy. A laudable expectation, one that most people shouldn’t deny having. Let’s say that you’ve gone to school or read a bunch of books on how to become wealthy. You have great expectations. You know exactly what you are going to do once you get that money. There is only one problem, you don’t have the money yet.
So what happens?
You start thinking that you’re better at managing money than everyone else, even those who actually have lots of money. You start becoming a know it all. You start having thoughts like this, “If I had that money, I would have never lost it, but used it to create more money.” You start acting like you already have money and forget that you don’t really have any, that you are still quite poor.
I have run into this problem more times than I can count concerning several different subjects, not just money.
I don’t have a silver bullet to fix the problem. But I do have one idea on how to avoid falling into this pitfall.
Stop having great expectations. Start having realistic goals. Don’t sit and daydream about what could be.
Because if you ever obtain your great expectation, it might not bring the joy or happiness that you thought it would.
A Devious Mind 