Wednesday, July 24, 1996

Expect the best of everyone

People, including yourself, will generally do almost exactly what you expect them to do. When you expect a child to misbehave, he probably will. When you expect a sales clerk to be rude, she probably will be. Yes, sometimes you’ll be pleasantly surprised or sadly disappointed, but those are the exceptions that prove the rule.

The obvious strategy is to expect the best of everyone, including yourself. You’ll generally get it. When you ask a child to pick up his toys, ask as if you expect him to do it. You’ll be amazed at how willingly he complies. When you approach a sales clerk, assume that she is anxious to politely serve you, and she will be.

If your expectations have so much influence on the behavior of others, just imagine the impact that your own expectations have on you. By all means expect the best of yourself. Because what you expect of yourself is exactly what you’ll get.

Negative expectations bring negative results, and those results reinforce the expectations, which bring more negative results. It ends up being a self-perpetuating downward spiral. Just as powerfully, positive expectations create positive results. These serve to reinforce the original expectations, and the result is ever-increasing success.

What do you expect of yourself? Of others? Choose to expect the best.

— Ralph Marston

Turn negative energy into personal power The agony of victory next

Copyright ©1996 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All Rights Reserved. The Daily Motivator is provided for your personal, non-commercial use only. Other than personal sharing, please do not re-distribute without permission.