Expectation is the root of all heartache.
- William Shakespeare
You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.
- William Shakespeare
You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.
.- Michael Jordan
Quote Notes #1.a
In the world of expectations, there are two types that rein supreme: Empty Expectations and Empowering Expectation. In this first Quotes Notes Post, we will be engaging and assessing what empty expectations are all about.
You may have heard the term "empty rhetoric." It is the term that they use for shady politicians and companies like BP; who have all this ideology without any integrity. These are people and companies that create hopes they do not plan to make happen. Empty expectations perform a similar service, but with a distinctly different product. For the key to unlocking an empty expectation is not by creating a hope that no one makes happen, but by creating a hope that simply can't happen. It is basically what would happen if a person, paralyzed from the neck down, was to attempt to get up and run a marathon right now; all due to a feeling in their legs that they thought they felt.
That extreme example seems to happen in our lives extremmmmely often; as we aim for these meaningless marathon-like attempts with our work, our relationships, and ourselves. We wake up and want everything we desire in life to happen now but do not have the current capacity to make it happen now; leading to nothing more than a notion without motion. When that happens to us enough, it begins to breed the anger, anxiety, and absolute heartache that the Shakespeare quote above is talking about. It also prevents the ability to expect the things that we can make happen much like what Jordans' quote above is stating.
"So what makes you such an expert on empty expectations?" Well to be honest, the reason I know about these expectation so well is because I have had them myself. When I was trying to launch my second business- Major Movements Association- it was like I wanted to move a mountain before I could budge a rock. I wanted to have the best website, the best events, and the most funding for our initiatives. The problem with all of that was this: I did not (Nor did I know how to) take the time to prepare my company, my team, or myself with the confidence and momentum needed to make that mountain move. But like a paralyzed person, who had just gained feeling in their legs, I attempted to do it anyway. All because I had this empty expectation that said I could get that Major Movement mountain moving at that exact moment. So when it did not move an inch- in terms of expectations that I had set over a period of a year- I moved on thinking that I was a failure.(I will be writing more about my mistake in my second venture in the next post of my daily series. I think I might call my daily post "Whats the Big Idea?". But I digress). For a while I even thought that failure was just who I was.
This is the trap that empty expectations invoke into our lives. They create a place where it seems as if all you can do is fail. That is why- if are to reach the goals we set- that we identify and eliminate the empty expectations in our lives. That is part of what these two incredible quotes are here to recognize. A simple, smart, and important need to understand that...
That extreme example seems to happen in our lives extremmmmely often; as we aim for these meaningless marathon-like attempts with our work, our relationships, and ourselves. We wake up and want everything we desire in life to happen now but do not have the current capacity to make it happen now; leading to nothing more than a notion without motion. When that happens to us enough, it begins to breed the anger, anxiety, and absolute heartache that the Shakespeare quote above is talking about. It also prevents the ability to expect the things that we can make happen much like what Jordans' quote above is stating.
"So what makes you such an expert on empty expectations?" Well to be honest, the reason I know about these expectation so well is because I have had them myself. When I was trying to launch my second business- Major Movements Association- it was like I wanted to move a mountain before I could budge a rock. I wanted to have the best website, the best events, and the most funding for our initiatives. The problem with all of that was this: I did not (Nor did I know how to) take the time to prepare my company, my team, or myself with the confidence and momentum needed to make that mountain move. But like a paralyzed person, who had just gained feeling in their legs, I attempted to do it anyway. All because I had this empty expectation that said I could get that Major Movement mountain moving at that exact moment. So when it did not move an inch- in terms of expectations that I had set over a period of a year- I moved on thinking that I was a failure.(I will be writing more about my mistake in my second venture in the next post of my daily series. I think I might call my daily post "Whats the Big Idea?". But I digress). For a while I even thought that failure was just who I was.
This is the trap that empty expectations invoke into our lives. They create a place where it seems as if all you can do is fail. That is why- if are to reach the goals we set- that we identify and eliminate the empty expectations in our lives. That is part of what these two incredible quotes are here to recognize. A simple, smart, and important need to understand that...
If expectations is something of which you have plenty
At their essence may they always be full; not empty
The Last Part of this weeks Quote Notes(Quote Notes 1.b) will be looking at these two quotes through the perspective of the second type of expectations- the empowering expectation. For an empowering expectation enables us to move towards our goals and dreams with an honest movementum. A movementum that is moving within you and I right now as you sit here reading the first ever Quote Notes of the week.
The Movement Continues...
- Rhetorical Artz
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