Sometimes expectations adjust themselves to fit the realities of situations; sometimes expectations do not align well with realities of situations; sometimes expectations stray far from the realities of situations.
Perhaps, expectation-adjustment is a matter of IQ, or is it EQ, or is it both?
Do you ever think about how easy or difficult it is for you to adjust your expectations to fit the realities of the situation at hand?
Do you ever judge others according to their ability to adjust their expectations to react to or align with the realities of situations?
Are you influenced by real-life stories about people like Henry Ford, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Steve Jobs?...people who had such conviction about their own ideas that they refused to hear when others said, “No, that’s impossible. That cannot be done.”
And how about Churchill's "we shall never surrender"…that dogged determination rallied a country in the midst of severe adversity.
We see such doggedness in business. The problem is, sometimes, we see an over-abundance of dogged expectations. We see people being doggedly determined over the smallest of items in the most unwarranted of situations.
It seems some people must win control at all costs, at all times, in all situations.
For these people, every conversation flirts with or hammers into crucial territory.
Some people underestimate the importance of selecting their battles with care. For them, everything must be contested and few topics offer a safe haven for discussion or escape from conflict of opinion.
Some people must expend energy at every point of what could be conversation.
When will must win at all costs, expectations become blind to the realities of situations.
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Which reminds me of advice I have received from people who have been important to me:
- Pick your battles carefully.
- There's a time to march and a time to fight.
- Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...