We make many choices in our lives. Some are good choices, some okay, some not so okay and some can be really bad for us. You know, like deciding to take a dive over a steep cliff to see what happens is a bad choice. Most sane people would know it was a bad choice without testing it out.
Our days are filled with choices from the moment we wake up. Believe it or not, this morning my first choice was will I make coffee or have hot water. I was a bit surprised when hot water won out but it’s a good choice. Most of my other choices are what I’m doing and in what order. Pretty routine stuff for the most part.
What can get really dicey is when I start to apply expectations onto choices where expectancy would be a better choice.
HUH? I can almost hear you saying.
What kind of word game is that?
Those words look alike?
They do look a lot alike. You’d almost think they had very similar meanings and they could even be used interchangeably. Both words refer to hopes and anticipation for the future. They differ on how they apply to the outcome.
Let’s say I decide I want to sell 1000 units of my books and I’ll create a social media campaign to reach my obective.
Approaching this goal with the very clear expectation of selling 1000 units means I need to design a social media campaign to reach enough people who will see any posts I make and they will be inclined to hit a buy button I lead them to.
Seems pretty clear cut, statistics will be able to tell me how many engaged followers I need on each platform in order to get the reach I need. I then need to design and publish the content on the schedule it needs go out on.
Then I need to watch the metrics and keep adjusting until I reach the numbers needed. If those numbers don’t meet my expectations, I have to keep adjusting until the numbers work.
Most of the so called social media gurus would be cheering here. Problem is, I’m not a social media guru. I’m a creative who needs to do more creating. Instead I’m caught up in a cycle of struggle to meet my expectations.
It’s exhausting and kills my passion.
With the expectancy approach, I’d look at my current following, put the mechanics in place to encourage more followers, then prepare and schedule social media posts.
Sounds a lot like the expectations approach, right? It is very similar but one big step is about to change.
Instead of obsessing over the stats and the metrics to see if I’m getting any results. I’m going to let the campaign do what it does and go back to creating more units. I’ll keep on sharing the new units and renew the social media campaign when it needs it.
I have faith in my product and the market I’m selling to. Instead of letting the selling strangle my creativity, I keep on creating. I’ll reach the point of selling 1000 units but it will probably end up including some of my new units.
I broaden my appeal and market through my creativity instead of trying to drive a larger market to a smaller portfolio.
It’s not nearly as exhausting and my creativity gets fueled.
The two words come into play for most choices in our life. We can set expectations and try to control the outcome or, we can go into our choice with an expectancy, a trust that what we’re doing will guide the outcome where it needs to go.
It’s surprising how often society, culture, even family and friends will place expectations on us that we then try to live up to. It’s exhausting and soul killing to try to meet expectations. Even worse when we put them on ourself.
Having faith in ourself goes much further to nurture the outcome we want. If only we could soften or silence the demanding voices of expectation. Actually, we can. Listen to our inner voice and let that be the first guide, in trust.
Shadowspub writes on a variety of subjects as she pursues her passion for learning. She also writes on other platforms and enjoys creating books you use like journals, notebooks, coloring books etc.
NOTE: unless otherwise stated, all images are the author’s
