Setting High Expectations is a Poor Person Habit

When you pursue any dream it is an emotional roller coaster ride. What adds volatility to that ride is unmet expectations.

Your dream creates the long-term vision that keeps you focused on the big picture. Your expectations, with respect to that dream, must be managed in order to minimize emotional ups and downs.

Too many unmet expectations will lead to a feeling of hopelessness and can cause sadness and even depression.

Since so much of success depends on maintaining a positive mental outlook, unmet expectations can shift your outlook from positive to negative. This negativity is like a cancer that eats away at your confidence and mental toughness.

If a negative mental outlook takes root, the pursuit of your dream can become too much to bare, causing you to raise the white flag and quit on yourself.

Conversely, if you manage your expectations by setting low or realistic expectations, this increases your confidence and strengthens your positive mental outlook, infusing you with optimism, enthusiasm and an overall sense of contentment.

One of the things I learned in my Rich Habits Poor Habits research and in this Rich Habits journey I’m on, is that achieving success is contingent on maintaining a positive mental outlook.

Managing expectations makes that possible by smoothing out the emotional wrinkles one experiences in pursuing success. Setting low or realistic expectations will keep you from quitting on your dream.

Tom Corley

Tom Corley is an accountant, financial planner, public speaker, and author of the books “Effort-Less Wealth: Smart Money Habits At Every Stage of Your Life” and “RichKids: How to Raise Our Children to Be Happy and Successful in Life“.  Corley’s work has appeared on CNN, USA Today, The Huffington Post, SUCCESS Magazine, and many other media outlets and podcasts in the U.S. and 27 other countries. Tom is a frequent contributor to Business Insider and CNBC.