Picture yourself like this: You were on the last lap of a race; you are now in first position, leading all the way with victory almost in your hand. You can smell the champagne and your heartbeat is immeasurable. Instantly, you push your car, you can’t wait to get past the finish line. Then all of a sudden, on the last corner of the circuit, your engine starts to misfire, stops working, and the car loses power. Finally, his car stops just a hundred meters short of the finish line.
What is your reaction? You feel like the sky is falling on you. You want to cry, all hopes abandon you and hurt your pride. You are frustrated and start walking with your shoulder down like a prisoner.
The situation you have depicted above is an analogy of what often happens in our real life. With expectations so high we ended up with nothing but a huge disappointment. You thought you had made a perfect plan and suddenly everything is against you and leaves nothing in your favor. What’s wrong with this situation?
Some know how to deal with pressure and some don’t. Some people enjoy being pressured and others think they are destined to lose their lives.
Just like in any sport, in this life you have to take wins and losses. Although he works hard and makes a perfect plan, he cannot always aim for success in everyday life. There will be a time – even once in a lifetime – when things don’t go your way. There may be people who are more passionate than you, more fortunate, they may be in a slightly advantageous position. Most of the time, you will not be aware of this possibility. When you’re in the toughest condition of your life, you just feel like you weren’t born to be a champion and therefore nothing you can do can do yourself a favor.
It takes time and requires maturity to accept things as they are. Sometimes it’s hard to keep a cool head and keep striving to do your best, regardless of the outcome.
Your expectation may or may not favor you at all. A wise man once said that the higher the level of expectation, the lower the level of satisfaction. And that’s right. The future is not yours to see. You don’t have to think about anything in the future. Just think about the present and give your best. Live your moment now. The only reality is the current situation. The past could not be revived and the future might never come.
Now imagine yourself back on the run, but at slightly different times. Instead of the situation of the last lap, you now go back to the beginning: before the start. This is the final race of the season and you lead the championship by just 1 point ahead of your toughest competitor. You were the pole sitter. The expectation for you and your fans is agonizingly high. You really want to win. The excitement inside is over the limit and just sets your heart almost on fire.
Then you think more deeply, that this sport is what it is. It’s just for fun, excitement, euphoria and delight. You have nothing to do with whether your name is written in the record book or not! You don’t care if you will finish in the top ten or not. You just want to do your job that you love to the best of your ability and the finish line is a different world that you will think about later.
Similar in real life, you have to learn to adapt and accept it. You also have to learn to live for yourself, your own ideals, your own goals and your own reality. What the hell does it matter what people may think, you won’t be swayed by all the excitement and praise. Whether others beat you up or lift you up to heaven, it’s the same to you.
You give your best. With the very normal expectation, you live your life as it is. Sometimes you fail yourself, sometimes life pushes you. But you never complain, you just keep going, calm and trying to do the best you can.
Life is about your choice. You can blame others for your defeat, or you can learn from it and strengthen your steps to reach the next victory. A loss today just means you have to win tomorrow. Don’t shed tears over failure and always control your expectations. Do everything for yourself, for your own pride. The result will follow, including success.