Expect Anything

"Don't let life discourage you; everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was." -Richard L. Evans

It is an official proclamation, if you "expect the worst and you won't be disappointed." So many of us fall prey to this saying, but an article in Popular Science revealed information from a psychology study published in the journal "Cognition and Emotion" about this old adage.

The study conducted showed that people who expected to perform poorly on a test actually felt worse when they did fail. This in comparison to those who also failed but approached the test with a positive attitude. What this study does is debunk that saying. Chances are pretty good that you will be very disappointed if you start out with that expectation.

To me, the revealing message has to do with how you deal with that situation. Failure is a part of life and comes with being human. If you go around with a negative attitude about everything in life, you will likely feel worse when failure does occur.

And why is that true? Because when the failure occurs, you have only reenforced the negative belief that you will never succeed. You then dwell on the fact that only bad things happen and you will feel worse.

If this is true, why not simply embrace the idea that failures can and do happen, but also that success can and does occur. Change your mind to believe that success will happen. When failure occurs, treat it as a lesson learned which will only help make you a better person.

You can live in the negative and feel continually bad about "...your lot in life." Or you can choose to live in the positive and enjoy all that you can attain.

Stay inspired my friends.