Expectations

The first thing you should do after your birth is begin creating low expectations. When you exceed them, you can be a hero. Walk too soon and your parents will envision you as an Olympic race walker. Kick the ball wildly at first lest you burden yourself with the promise of becoming a soccer star. Do not earn any A’s in grade school and avoid extra work in a gifted program. Then when you score an A in high school remedial Arithmetic, your family will gut the fatted calf and celebrate like you solved the Riemann Hypothesis. Remain unemployed as long as possible and when you finally get hired at Jamba Juice, you will be the star of the Christmas Newsletter. Better to be underestimated than overestimated. Take the long view. If you start a Blog, do not labor on perfecting a first posting until it shines. You will doom yourself to the disappointing struggle of matching the promise of your original output. Jeb Bush was designated a Presidential candidate from birth but could not measure up when his time came. He did not finish higher than fourth in any primary and tanked to 3% in the polls behind even some uninspiring and novice politicians. Athletes dominate lists of those failing expectations (e.g., Brian Bosworth, Ryan Leaf) because sports performance measurements are so objective. While researching, I stumbled on lists of the fifty rudest celebrities and twenty nicest ones. Ellen DeGeneres and Jennifer Lawrence ranked high on both lists, demonstrating the subjectivity of certain ratings. Or maybe demonstrating that different people can catch you on good days or bad days and think they can judge the true measure of you. I am wrapping up this post before it creates a false sense of my brilliance.

Advertisement