Expectations are good

This note is about “Expectations”. Contrary to the belief of “Not Expecting Anything”, is good, I believe in the fact that what we are, or what we become is the result of what we expect. So, the premise that I am taking is against the deep rooted cultural backdrop. Our culture teaches us not to expect too much. Expectation is almost a sin!

A typical sales situation. Madhav is a sales person. He is a happy and content kind of a person and usually, when asked about “How happy are your customers”, he replies happily stating that they are satisfied with the service level and keep giving repeat orders. On the contrary, Hari, another sales person replies that things could’ve been better if he put in a little more efforts. On the face of it, it might look like that Madhav is a much better performer than Hari, but when you look inside, you’ll realize that Hari’s customers are happier compared to that of Madhav’s. Where’s the gap?

The gap is in expectations. When you expect less or expect nothing, you might be happy and content initially, but ultimately you realize that to be moving higher up, you need to raise “expectations”. Madhav is also amongst people who tend to take things on their heart too quickly and also are not very open to feedback. He thinks that his service levels are perfect and when you highlight the issues, they tend to retaliate. Hari, knows that there’s a scope of improvement, and thus, is more open to feedback and works his way up. Do you realize how deep rooted is this problem of “low expectations”?

Expecting nothing or less are surely no way to lead to happiness. Imagine if we were content with the way banks worked – the ATMs wouldn’t be invented at all. The discomfiture of not being able to keep in touch led to the evolution of Social networking Sites. Expectations make the world progress and better, by the day. Happiness is not when expectations meet the reality, it's when you have higher expectations and you work towards making it a reality.  If you are satisfied with everything around, everything will continue to be the same. Expectations are about Moving Upwards and towards betterment.

At times I can feel a gap between what I am expecting and what others are expecting. When I express discontentment, they think of me as snob or even rude. I don't mind it because the next time I visit the place, all the things that I expected are well in place. Though I was tagged as rude, I helped some people in terms of betterment,  and I clearly do not regret that.

For me, there’s a way of defining expectation - First time its awe, next time its appreciation and the third time (onwards) , its expectation! One of the most critical things for setting higher expectations is – Exposure. It is a reality check in terms of your current status and where the world is going. Also, Exposure and Observation go hand in hand when it comes to defining Expectations. Observing what’s going on and trying to adapt the best practices is one good way of setting Expectations. A raise in the standard of your expectations makes you a better individual and somebody to be looked up to. So meeting different people, visiting different places, observing different trends, not only raises your expectations, but also makes you a better personality.

Being content with what you have can give you momentary happiness, but when you raise the bar and strive for achieving it, you experience the ultimate joy! A “higher expectation” does result in much better execution. Can we also term this as dissatisfaction. How can this dissatisfaction be channelised to generate positive energy?

Looking forward to hear your take on this.

PS: Do give me your feedback. You can also reach me out at @agrawalsanjeev on twitter.