Make reality live up to your expectations

The platform I use to manage and host my website is changing its blog version so I thought I would write about something that has been on my mind the last few days as a way to test it. I wanted to also use the opportunity to test the ability to blog on the go. Let’s face it, our world is now a mobile world and as a modern creative we need to be able to create and publish in a way that not only fits in our world but also in a way that suits our need and workflow. But perhaps more on that later. (If you have any questions on the platform I use or on how I published today’s blog please do not hesitate to reach out.)

As I thought through and started today’s blog I did what I often did, I looked up the definition of my subject. In the case I wanted to talk about expectations, yes again. As I did, something jumped out at me. In a “universe is talking to me kind of way“ the definition highlighted exactly what was nagging me about this subject... this time.

Expectation : noun... a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future... "reality had not lived up to expectations"

WAIT A MINUTE!

Reality had not live up to expectations?! Should not that be the other way? Or maybe I have finally found my issue? Shouldn‘t we make sure that our reality lives up to our expectations?

My thinking is that if my reality has not lived up to my expectations well then I am not done yet creating my reality.

Wait another minute... definition pause...

re·al·i·ty noun 1. the world or the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them 2. the quality or state of being real

My thought is if my current state does not live up to my expectations then I am not done, this is not my accepted reality.

Perhaps it is helpful (or self promoting) to reference a post I made yesterday...

Often when we talk about expectations, we talk about reasonable expectations. Who defines reasonable? What is reasonable for someone else may not be reasonable to another?

The example that jumped out at me while I was thinking about this was hundreds of years ago can you imagine someone looking up at the moon and saying, “I expect to walk on that”? That would have been ridiculous! It would have gone against the reality as everyone knew it! It would have been unreasonable... but then...

Someone set out to have reality meet their expectations.

And they did.

Now the “reality“ is, been there done that, planted the flag. And NOW there is some lucky person that gets to drive remote control vehicles on Mars. (insert mind blown emoji) 🤯

I think all to often we make our expectations live up to our to our current reality. Or worse, other people’s reality. We only expect what is currently being done. Or we only expect and accept the limited reality other’s tell us is “reasonable”.

Personally I know, in some cases, my expectations are huge, different, “unreasonable“ by conventional standards.

I believe if you have average expectations you will have an average reality. I don’t want an average reality. I want to live a life of high expectations.

I think many people feel this way, they just don’t admit it. So many people I talk to express an underlying sense of lack or disappointment.

Definition break...

dis·ap·point·ed /ˌdisəˈpoin(t)əd/ adjective (of a person) sad or displeased because someone or something has failed to fulfill one's hopes or expectations.

BTW, you cannot be disappointed if you did not have expectations that were higher than your current reality.

Someone just yesterday summed it up very well when we were speaking on a similar subject. They reference a well worn cliche, that ties in very well to this blog, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land amount the stars.”

My challenge to you is for better or worse set your own expectations and embrace them.

Thank you for your time and my apologies if this is a bit rambling but sitting still and publishing in a Starbucks is a major challenge for me. :)

Tad Jones

A Tad Creatíve Production