No Expectations

Have you ever been really excited for a movie or concert or meal at a nice restaurant? When you got to wherever you were going, you had great expectations for the activity about to commence. Was it awesome? Was it as awesome as you expected?

Expectations are a tricky thing. If you expect something to happen, you will be very upset if those expectations are not realized. If you are fortunate and your expectations are met, you may be pleased by it, but you can only be so happy because you expected it to happen; you couldn't have been surprised.

If you can drop your expectations, you will be far more receptive to positive experiences.

For example, I enjoy using Pandora Radio to listen to music. Sometimes I am expecting a very specific sound when I put on a given station. If that sound doesn't come up, I get frustrated and keep clicking the next button or switching to other stations. However, sometimes I am listening to music at work and don't have the time to be selective about which song plays. In this case, I am more focused on my work than the background noise. In this state, I lose all my expectations of the music; I just sit there and take it while I work. And in this state, I find out that all those songs I would normally skip through are actually pretty nice. I enjoy them plenty, and some of them even reach my favorites list.

If you find yourself with some expectation, try to drop it. Walk into an experience without a clue as to what will happen. The experience is guaranteed to be surprising and much more amazing because of that.

Conversely, if you can't drop your expectations, consider avoiding the experience. If you read a book that you absolutely love, you shouldn't watch the movie. The general public will expect the movie to be a full and faithful transcription from page to film, and that is just impossible. Still, that's the main fuel for every person who has ever said "the book was better."