Our expectations – are they in harmony with our goals, do they align with the outcomes?
Should they?
About 8 years ago, Melisa Pearce, was the leader of a network marketing course I attended. She used the phrase “don’t be attached to the outcome.” It has stuck in my mind ever since
What she was saying was that we should do everything possible to meet a goal. Once we have done our best, we need to let go of our expectations and not be attached to the outcome.
The outcome is out of our hands. It is in the hands of God or the universe, for those who consider themselves spiritual but not religious.
It is part of the Stoic philosophy, do your best, then stop fretting over things beyond your control.
It is alright to have expectations.
It’s not alright to allow their failure to materialize to ruin our lives.
This paragraph in today’s post by Dan Pedersen on his Living With Confidence blog puts it in perspective.
It’s our expectations that make us unhappy and cause us to lose hope. We have to let go of not only our expectations, but our desire to find a concrete meaning to life. We have to trust, in spite of our questions, that there is meaning in the universe.
I have a situation in my life where a series of events may bring about an outcome that was totally unexpected. An outcome that could cause changes in my and other family member’s lives. It may not, much depends on certain events in Africa and Canada over the next month. I have given it much thought. It is now totally out of my hands, so I must “let go and let God”. I cannot allow myself to be attached to either of two possible outcomes.
As events unfold, I will write again about the outcome and whether I did manage to let go of it until it came about.
Expectations, goals and outcomes can be in harmony. They can also be in conflict when outcomes do not meet expectations.
We need to have the fortitude and resilience to keep going when they do not match.
Hope / Despair graphic by geralt / pixabay