Expect With Confidence

Often our expectations are based on the beliefs and assumptions we have of the world and the people around us. The same is true of how we see ourselves.

Have you ever noticed how your expectations often become a reality in your life? Expectation is literally a self-fulfilling prophecy. We do this both consciously and subconsciously.

Do you remember the child in your school who was always really rowdy and disruptive? Sometimes, if people already assume they are perceived a certain way, then they will behave exactly how they think they should behave and how people expect them to, even if they don't mean to or they don’t want to. The disruptive child in your school knew everyone perceived them to be disruptive, and so they were. The teacher, and the children expected disruptive behaviour, and that’s exactly what they got. Their expectations were fulfilled.

Once you realise the power of expectations, you can start to consider the profound impact that expectation can have in your own life.

Are the assumptions and expectations you have about yourself liberating or victimising?

There are countless examples of ’self-fulfilling prophecies’ or the Law of Expectations at work in everyday life. Have you ever noticed how people who think they're going to be fired suddenly experience a drop in the quality and enthusiasm for their work? Then what happens? They get fired! Their belief causes them to act a certain way, which then brings about the very thing that, at first, was only a figment of their imagination.

In one study, school children, around the ages of 7 to 8, listened to statements from their teachers before taking a maths test. There were three types of statements: expectation, persuasion, or reinforcement. The expectation statements were along the lines of: "You know your maths really well!" or "You work really hard at your maths”. Persuasion statements involved sentences like: "You should be good at maths" or "You should be getting better maths grades". Finally, for the reinforcement statements, teachers said things like, "I'm really happy about your progress" or "This is excellent work!".

Now, what do you think the results were? The scores were the highest in the ’expectation‘ category!

Why were the expectation statements the most effective? They created personal assumptions within each student. Those assumptions conditioned the actual external results.

Once you realise the importance and power of your expectations, you can first start to look at your beliefs and expectations to see which are holding you back in life and delivering the things that you don’t want. Once you’ve identified your limiting beliefs and expectations, you can start working on replacing them with more positive and empowering beliefs and expectations that are consistent with your dreams and desires.

So, what beliefs and expectations do you have that are holding you back in life? How can you go about changing them to bring about your dreams and desires?