Expectation

​Expectation
I think it is strange what I think about.  Sometimes I will even do a study on what I am thinking about.  Today I did that.  I am glad I did.  I read something I had not considered at this early stage, but I did think it was worth looking into further.
I was considering the word “expectation.”  What I read was that most people’s expectation is born of their life experiences.  Some people have had a really bad time and so they expect more of the same.  For others, their experience on the whole has been good, and their expectation is that it will not change.
I knew someone who expected a snake to be there.  They had said when they mow a snake is in the grass pile.  Long story short, we had the car locked in and had to walk a ways at night.  I had the torch and was happily shining it into the trees to see what was up there.  They told me it should be on the road we were walking on as a snake could be there.  Sure enough, a snake slithered across our path and we would have stood on it had not the torch highlighted it.
I am not sure about that one.  Was the snake there because it was expected, or would have it been there anyway?  I don’t know the answer, but I am glad we saw it first.
At a place like work people need to meet expectations, or they will be on their way.  People that know me, know I am big on expectations of myself.  I am not responsible for the actions of others, but I am of me.  My expectations of others may be based on past experience.  Maybe past experience leads me to believe my expectation is reasonable.
It seems to me though that all good expectations are based on hope.  The word implies the future.  The future may be different to what I expect.  I expect the sun to come up tomorrow.  That is based on the fact it has come up in all my experience.  I do not know that will be the case, but I expect it will be.
I heard of one couple who were buried when a mountain opposite them collapsed and took them with it.  They were not expecting that.  It was a day like any other.  Plans were being made and rightly so.  I do not image being buried alive was on their to do list.  I guess the point for me is good expectations are good, but anything can happen.
I guess I was interested in having a look at this because I think sometimes expectations need to be raised.  A crude example for me is people may be told their job is to work on variable numbers that make up 10.  That is what they will do.  That is the expectation.  Yet if the same people are told they are to work on variables of 50 that is what they will do.  The expectation is raised.
It seems to me so often people do what is expected of them.  When the expectation is low, performance is met, but the output is low.  The higher the expectation the higher the result. 
I go to hear inspiring speakers expecting my expectations to be raised.  It does not happen by some magic formula but by a four-letter word called work.  It seems study and work are needed.  The result for me is an expectation thing.  Expect low and get low.  Expect high and get high.