People frequently get themselves into situations where they have high expectations and pre-conceived notions of how it’s going to be. And although oftentimes unrealistic, they become the benchmark on which a person measures their success or failure, causing them to strive for perfection especially for things that seem to hold so much promise and gain.
When these expectations carry themselves in to the business world though, they tend to create goals and ambitions that are quite difficult or even impossible to reach. It doesn’t really matter either what the list entails: anticipated earnings, flexible working schedule, more vacation time, or whatever, if the expectations aren’t realistic or attainable one day that business owner is going to wake up and realize that nothing is really happening in their business. The customers they thought they would have and the profit they thought they would earn just isn’t there. It isn’t that they necessarily did something wrong, they just set their expectations way too high.
It is quite common for newcomers to the business world to have high expectations when they start their businesses, after all there are countless so called testimonials all over the place leading them to believe anything and everything is possible and probable, and in a short period of time. As these expectations grow though they tend to become somewhat of an obsession, in the end only amplifying the sense of failure when they can’t be reached. Setting the bar too high for oneself only leads to disappointment, frustration, and more often than not failure.
On the other hand expecting less especially during the early days of business allows one to see clearly how things really are and define the criteria on which to truly and accurately benchmark their success.
Realistic expectations and goals that can actually be pursued and attained is the better approach. Having a plan in place too on how the business will be conducted will help eliminate any unrealistic expectations, or at least help them to be spotted before they become troublesome.