What are Expectations and Who's Count?

Think about your last year, the last month, last week, and today. Think about your recent interactions with those you happen across and those you put yourself around. Now, have your expectations been satisfied with the calendar looking back at you? Did the people do as you thought they would? We live by expectations. Some call them goals, stereotypes, happen stance, luck, or even chance. We expect certain situations and when it happens we aren’t shocked, we are relieved that it happened that way. Whether the outcome is good or bad we got what we expected. We are such creatures of habit that at times our expectations are not goals but just realizations of what we already perceived would happen. Think about your standard day. You want to wake up early but you tell yourself you never do, so what happens, you don’t get up early because you knew you wouldn’t. We set our expectations to match our comfort level. As a rule we don’t like being uncomfortable. We wear clothes that are comfortable, eat food that is comfortable, hang out with those that make us comfortable, and as rule don’t do much of anything that regularly takes us out of that comfort zone. Why do we allow ourselves to stay in this spot? Our expectations of what will happen if we change any of those things usually stops us dead in our track. If I change my wardrobe how are my friends going to react. Our expectations of our friends’ reaction and even strangers thoughts weigh heavily on our clothing choices. Why would I change my diet? I am getting older and a little extra weight is expected as I age. Why would I hang out with those people? I bet they don’t like me or won’t accept me. I’ve seen who they hang with and I don’t look like them. Lastly, why would I try something new? We have set limits on what we are capable of (expectations). You want to run; go out and run. So what if you look funny? So what if you are slow? You are right on both accounts. You will never look better or run faster if you don’t start. If you have told yourself that you cannot run you are correct. You have set your expectations and are living up to them. As a coach I set expectations for my team as a whole and for each individual on the team. Many times they are reached but rarely are they exceeded. Part of that is because I set them so high because I want each person to push themselves beyond the comfort level they have set for themselves. Most of the time they have set their own expectations but find it hard to push past that point of comfort to really stretch for what is actually obtainable. We are always amazed at people who accomplish tasks, lose weight, learn a language, move past tragedy, and pretty much anything out of our normal. Why don’t we think these things are normal? Basically because we have such a low expectation level for those we surround ourselves with. Notice that must super successful people (high expectations) surround themselves with others who are also super successful. Now look on the other end of the spectrum at those down in the dumps. They also surround themselves with people who are meeting their expectations. I set my expectations high so that my players will also set their expectations high for me. This causes me much discomfort but forces me not to aim my own goals only a few steps away. Where are you expectations leading you? What does your next year, month, week, and day look like? It truly depends on what you are expecting it to look like. You shape it and then you live it. Speaking of expectations today appeared to be a tough day in the gym and on the run. The workout portion consisted of 3 rounds of 9 dips and 12 front squats. All of this was to be done as quickly as possible without breaking form. Total time for the three rounds was 11:00 Round 1: 7 dips + 2 with 55lbs of assistance and 12 squats at 65lbs Round 2: 1 dip + 8 with 55lbs of assistance and 12 squats at 65lbs Round 3: 3 dips + 6 with 55lbs of assistance and 12 squats at 65lbs After a nice lunch it was time for some sprinting. 3 rounds of 100yds, 200yds, and 400yds Goal is to run each distance and rest the same time it takes to run. This is an intense run by itself and to make it tougher I decided to do it on my dirt field here at the house. My expectation of tough was made whole as I finished the last rep and felt like I actually may throw up. Running in dirt is tough but my expectation is that I am tougher than that and I will not give in to the hype. Okay, it sucked but I will definitely do it again.