Expectation: Disappoinment, Assumption, Risk
Life doesn’t always go as we planned, this is a fact we are all to familiar with. What I am particularly interested in though, is understanding how I can be better at making plans that fit with the way life is going. Planning is only valuable if we have certain assumptions we can rely on. Economic mobility based on merit would suggest that if we work hard we can move up on social class. It doesn’t change that social class exists but it does give some agency in about ability to change the class we were born in. A reasonable expectation is that hard work pays off so we can plan on doing so. But what I have experienced is that relationships and access to capital might be more reliable than hard work. So I have had to adjust my expectations to adjust my plan.
While we are learning about the world we must replace our ignorance with knowledge. We have to change from a person who is uninformed to a person that is, and along the way our believes might change, our tastes might change, our values and what make us who we are might change as well. These pillars of our identity shifting mean that parts of us may die along with out ignorance, and even or innocence and this disappointment might actually be an opportunity, after we grieve we become new.
This month I hope to share some of my journey with calibrating my expectations to be in alignment with all the fluctuations that life offers. I want to make sure that the assumptions I am operating from are stable so that I give my plans the greatest chance to come to fruition or, which perhaps is even better, align my goals to embrace what is already in the works.
I expect you to stick around, but of course I could be wrong.
Best,
Maceo
