Imagine you’re throwing your best friend a surprise party. You’ve planned the dessert menu for weeks, spent hundreds on the decorations, and invited everyone you knew to come celebrate with you two. In the end, your wallet is empty, the decorations look tacky, and only a couple of people show up. Your best friend is touched by the lengths you went to in order to plan a party for her, but you’re upset that the dream surprise party you had imagined didn’t go as planned.
Why’re you disappointed? Because you had high expectations.
Having high expectations is almost inevitable for every college student. We bust our butts to get good grades, apply for countless internships and programs, hope for a career that is both high-paying and enjoyable, try to find a potential partner who has similar interests and understands us, and strive for the ideal college experience that we see so often on television. The point is, achieving all of this (unless you’re extremely lucky) is impossible. Disappointment is going to follow you throughout your college experience, and likely your entire life. The only way to avoid it is to lower your expectations.
Imagine the same scenario about your best friend’s surprise party, but this time without expecting too much. You still prepare an elaborate dessert menu, put up expensive decorations, and invite all the people you know, but deep down you believe that regardless of what happens you know the two of you can have a good time. Even if things don’t work out, the two of you can always end the night by going to a nearby club or a trusted restaurant. Without the looming presence of high expectations, you’re excited to celebrate your friend and can have a good time no matter what crappy stuff life throws in the way. Having low expectations is the perfect way to move on when life inevitably doesn’t go your way.
Yet, having low expectations is a tricky road: studies have shown that optimists do better in all career fields (except law), and it’s easy to fall prey to a self-fulfilling prophecy, or when a negative mindset influences events to happen as negatively as expected. Still, you don’t have to be a pessimist in order to have low expectations. Instead, view low expectations as a chance to be pleasantly surprised when things do go perfectly. It’s a lot easier to be satisfied when every little thing exceeds your expectations.
