#39: The Value of Having No Expectations with Dr. Eric Bean

What would your life look like if you had no expectations? If you showed up to every event, movie, dinner party, work meeting, or performance with NO expectations of how it would go? For some, this very idea might give you the shakes. You might be saying to yourself, “but expectations help me prepare” or “I need to have expectations of myself otherwise I will just phone it in, I won’t try hard.”

In today’s Coaching Through Stories episode, you’ll learn how having no expectations can unlock great performances, reduce your stress and increase your overall well-being.

Expectations are defined as a process by which we leverage past experiences and knowledge to predict future outcomes. In other words, expectations are beliefs about the future with conditions – what we believe SHOULD happen. For example, I worked hard on this proposal, I got the right team in place, we partnered with the best vendor, we should win the contract. If you hear yourself saying this “should” happen – then that is an expectation. Expectations are fixed and frozen, they are limited to our previous experiences, and they generate an unhealthy attachment to the outcome which can cause us to miss opportunities and fully experience reality as it is, not as we wish it to be. People with high expectations are attached to the outcome, their feelings are attached to the outcome, and their happiness is dependent on the outcome. All of which is interfering with their ability to perform in the present moment. 

Key Takeaways: 

We cannot deny the fact that our mind is a powerful asset in generating the right conditions to achieve our goals. It’s the reason why the placebo effect is so powerful.  Keep your belief about your ability, about your goals, and about your dreams extremely high, just do so without the word “should.”  Our minds are constantly generating expectations – our brains love patterns and are searching for patterns, being overly attached and expecting this result just because it’s happened in the past limits our ability to perform in the present and be consumed by the process. 

Resources 

HigherEchelon: https://www.higherechelon.com/human-capital-services/

What would your life look like if you had no expectations? If you showed up to every event, movie, dinner party, work meeting, or performance with NO expectations of how it would go? For some, this very idea might give you the shakes. You might be saying to yourself, “but expectations help me prepare” or “I need to have expectations of myself otherwise I will just phone it in, I won’t try hard.”

In today’s Coaching Through Stories episode, you’ll learn how having no expectations can unlock great performances, reduce your stress and increase your overall well-being.

Expectations are defined as a process by which we leverage past experiences and knowledge to predict future outcomes. In other words, expectations are beliefs about the future with conditions – what we believe SHOULD happen. For example, I worked hard on this proposal, I got the right team in place, we partnered with the best vendor, we should win the contract. If you hear yourself saying this “should” happen – then that is an expectation. Expectations are fixed and frozen, they are limited to our previous experiences, and they generate an unhealthy attachment to the outcome which can cause us to miss opportunities and fully experience reality as it is, not as we wish it to be. People with high expectations are attached to the outcome, their feelings are attached to the outcome, and their happiness is dependent on the outcome. All of which is interfering with their ability to perform in the present moment. 

Key Takeaways: 

We cannot deny the fact that our mind is a powerful asset in generating the right conditions to achieve our goals. It’s the reason why the placebo effect is so powerful.  Keep your belief about your ability, about your goals, and about your dreams extremely high, just do so without the word “should.”  Our minds are constantly generating expectations – our brains love patterns and are searching for patterns, being overly attached and expecting this result just because it’s happened in the past limits our ability to perform in the present and be consumed by the process. 

Resources 

HigherEchelon: https://www.higherechelon.com/human-capital-services/