You Control Your Destiny: The Importance of Self-Expectations

How many times have you heard the saying, “You control your own destiny”? But how often do you put that into practice? Having a strong sense of self-confidence and self-expectations is crucial to having a fulfilling life. Self-expectations are what we expect from ourselves in any situation. They’re essentially our standards for how we conduct ourselves personally and professionally. If you don’t have self-expectations, then everything is left up to chance. You could end up feeling unfulfilled, underutilized, and even unappreciated in both your personal and professional life, raising the question: Is this all there is?

Self-Expectations Are Important

Self-expectations can set you up for future success. If you have high self-expectations, you’ll always strive to live up to those standards. If you also have a strong sense of self-confidence, you’ll be able to take on challenges with a positive and confident attitude. You’ll feel more empowered to ask for the things you want in business, and in your personal relationships and have the confidence to pursue your passions.

The Power of Self-Expectations

The importance of self-expectations is twofold. First, they allow you to be proactive and in control of your own happiness and success. If you don’t set high expectations for yourself, you’ll often fall into the trap of settling and feeling as though you need to apologize for what you want or deserve; you may even feel guilty asking for more. But if you have self-expectations, you’ll be able to walk into any situation knowing what you want and how to go about getting it. This kind of confidence is infectious. Those around you will pick up on it and be inspired to live up to their own self-expectations as well. Working towards a common goal with empowered like-minded individuals will help elevate productivity, and it will also help to create a culture of collaboration, openness, and appreciation.

You’re Always Telling Yourself A Story

The way you talk to yourself is of huge importance. It can either lift you up or bring you down. You may have heard the saying, "What you focus on expands." This means that whatever you are thinking about grows larger in your life. If you are thinking positively, your life will grow positively, but if you are thinking negatively, your life will grow negatively. If you want your life to grow positively, then you must use positive self-talk. So, what are some examples of positive self-talk? If you find yourself thinking, "I never get to do what I want to do," you could change that thought to "I really enjoy what I do and feel very lucky to do it." Or, if you feel like you are being held back at work, "I’m only going to be stuck in this job for so long," could turn into, "I’m ambitious and have a lot of great ideas for how to improve this company."

Be Aware of What You’re Telling Yourself

Let’s lean a bit more into self-talk. One of the best ways to get a better grasp on your self-talk is to start keeping a journal. There are many different ways to do this, but any journal that allows you to write out your thoughts and feelings can be a helpful tool. When you journal, you give yourself the time and space to really examine your thoughts. You can also use your journal to set goals, track your progress, and reflect on your self-talk and self-expectations. This will help to provide you with a clear picture of where your thoughts are currently, and it will also give you the opportunity to rewrite your story.

Don’t Be Afraid to Set High Expectations

Another important thing to keep in mind when setting your self-expectations is that you don’t want to be unrealistic. Setting high expectations is great, but you don’t want to set yourself up for failure by expecting too much too soon. You want to push yourself, but you also want to be realistic. This is something that will take time to get a feel for, but there are a couple of things you can do to help you get there. One thing you can do is break down your goals into smaller chunks. This will help to make your goals seem more achievable and less overwhelming. It will also help to keep you focused on the things that are most important to you. Another thing you can do is surround yourself with positive and encouraging people. This will help to keep you grounded when you feel like you’re getting ahead of yourself.

Bottom line: You control your own destiny.

Nobody but you is in control of your life. You have complete control over the self-expectations that you set for yourself and the way you choose to talk to yourself. By taking an honest look at your self-talk and setting higher standards for yourself, you can empower yourself to make the most out of the lifestyle that you chose to live.