Happy People, I think I’ve finally figured it out, have lower expectations!
Perhaps you’re like me, always striving to do more and do it better. But that leaves me unhappy most of the time because I do not meet the expectations that I have set out to exceed. Does it work that way for you too?
I suppose it would be easy for me to be happier by just striving for less and lowering my expectations.
But is that really what it takes to be one of the happy people?
Do you really have to lower your expectations to be happy?
Lower Expectations With A Points System.
What if we put a point system on the amount of happiness you could have by meeting different levels of expectations.
For instance, starting with a zero baseline, a low expectation would get you 20 points, medium expectations 40 points, high expectation 70 points and for a – Wiz Bang Yehaw I Did It!, well, that would be a cool 100 points.
For the other side, every failure to meet expectations would be minus 5 points.
Now, using these numbers as an example, I can have 16 failures at -5 points per failure and then score a – Wiz Bang Yehaw I Did It! – for 100 points and be at the same 20 points set as someone who put a low expectation and hit it.
Well, I have to admit that expecting less sounds like an easier route to being happy.
What If It Wasn’t Made Up?
If I didn’t know the numbers were just made up, I might be tempted to believe that setting low expectations would make it easier to be happy, more often.
If only the numbers weren’t made up. Hmmm… hey … wait a minute, what if our thoughts of failure were made up? What if there wasn’t any failure? What if there was only feedback? What if we just looked at the results as evidence or guidelines to where we are and where we want to be?
You know, I think I’m onto something here … I could be one of the happy people yet!