What Do You Expect?

“People expect what they expect.. They never realize the possibility of surprise beyond expectations..!” ― Vaibhav Mehta

Its official, if you expect the worst, you will not be disappointed.

An article in Popular Science revealed information about a psychology study published in the journal Cognition and Emotion confirming the old adage reflects how you will feel about failure.

The study conducted shows 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.

I would say the real message in all of this is your attitude.

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 reinforced your negative belief. You dwell on the fact that only bad things happen and you simply feel worse. Negative reinforcement one could say.

If true, why not embrace the idea that failures and success both happen?

Change your mindset to believe success can and does happen. When failure occurs, treat it as a lesson learned that will only help to make you better.

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!

Always Something Good

"When the seasons shift, even the subtle beginning, the scent of a promised change, I feel something stir inside me. Hopefulness? Gratitude? Openness? Whatever it is, it's welcome." - Kristin Armstrong

Did you feel it happen?

Was there a big shift in what you expected from yesterday to today?

This Friday morning, March 20, 2015, the March equinox occurred at 6:45 PM EDT. The equinox marks when the Sun crosses the celestial equator, an imaginary line in the sky above the Earth’s equator from the southern hemisphere to the northern. A seasonal change of winter to spring in the northern hemisphere and summer to fall in the southern hemisphere.

This natural change in the seasons always brings renewed excitement for those entering a spring and for those entering fall. Spring will mean planting of new dreams and fall is the harvest of those same dreams.

Either way, the natural order of the seasons means something good always awaits us.

Stay inspired my friends.

Something Unexpected

"We are never prepared for what we expect." -James A. Michener

Today, Ps Ronald Berg arrives in Atlanta from Curitiba, Brazil. He will be speaking at our local C3 Atlanta Church this coming Sunday and I know it will be a great one to listen to. But somehow it feels like he is coming to take away friends of ours, Dave and Annie Spell. I know in fact this is not the case, but the human part of me hates to see them go.

You see, Dave and Annie are moving to Brazil in order to help build the C3 Church not only in Curitiba but also throughout Brazil and South America. Ps Ronald Berg has a great vision to help other people live a great life; to give them new hope and opportunity. As I have said before, this isn't about religion, it is about connecting with other people and lifting them up.

I have visited Curitiba, seen the church, spent time with Ronald and others in the community. My impressions are the same as anywhere I have been. It is a great city, great people, but the same issues exist for them as do for you and me. All are working to have the best life possible, raising families, and dealing with all of the mess that goes on in a normal, everyday life.

There are also people struggling to survive. There are addictions, poverty, abuse, and social strain just like those that exist in your own hometown. The same things we want to lift people out of are the same things they face in Curitiba and every other part of the world. So it really is not strange that two people from Georgia should go to Brazil to do the same thing.

If you would like to hear more and you are in the Atlanta area this Sunday, May 19th, come on over to the C3 Church in Lawrenceville, GA. Dave and Annie will be sharing their vision and Pastor Ronald Berg, of C3 Curitiba, will be speaking. It will be your last chance to see them as the Spells fly to Curitiba that same night.

We are never fully prepared for what we expect and you might be surprised by your own expectations in life as well. If you would like to help out the Spells with your tax deductible donation, click on the following link; Annie & Dave Spell - Brazil Missions.

Step out of the ordinary in your life and find something new.

And for those that know the Spells, they are fitness fanatics and here is a short video of the place I'm sure they will be working out at while in Curitiba. Stay inspired my friends.

Raise the BAR

"No one determines vision for you; vision is yours to see, believe in and grab hold of." -Me

This morning I had the opportunity to speak at a business breakfast called Pathfinders. I was invited to talk about "Raising the BAR" in your personal and business life. If you have not heard about it, check back next week to this blog as I talk more about it. In fact I will be putting out an eBook - free for a limited time - that you can get by subscribing to my blog.

Getting up and speaking to the folks this morning was an absolute joy. After the meeting, I was able to talk to some of the attendees and found their stories amazing. You see each of us has a story to tell or experience to share. Every one of those stories can provide us with a new idea, a new way or new hope that we can overcome any obstacle in our life.

The BAR gets set in your life that must be cleared before the next one is attempted. So each time we accomplish one thing, the BAR lifts higher. Staying connected, networking with other people, being strong in belief of your vision will give you the ability to get over any BAR that is set in your life.

Raise the B-elief A-ction R-ealization of expectation in your life and stay inspired my friends.

Big Expectations

"There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something better tomorrow." ~Orison Swett Marden

You have had it happen before, probably many times before. You go to bed at night having an expectation of something happening in the morning. It could be waiting on news from a doctor, word of a new job or anticipation of reuniting with family. Quickly you fall asleep and slumber takes over in a comforting way.

And then it happens, something startles you awake from a deep sleep. You clear your senses and look to the clock on the bed stand to find it is only 11:00pm. Not to worry, you snuggle back into the covers and fall asleep only to wake again. This time it is only 1:45am, far short of the rising sun.

This goes on and on while you start to think ahead to the new day's events. The expectation grows in you and it only makes sleep harder to achieve. You worry and stare at the clock as the alarm draws closer and closer.

Expectation of things to come can have this type of effect upon us. We draw up grand thoughts of what is to come. We then start to concern ourselves that the reality will not meet the expectation. Over and over again we do this and eventually we stop trying to expect good things in our life.

This is when we stop living a life geared as movement towards a great life. We stop realizing our dreams, stop acting on our dreams, we stop dreaming.

Don't ever let the reality of something win over the expectation you may have. Expect grand and great things for your life. Always expect more then what the reality may provide.

When reality hits, understand that it is providing you with the opportunity to shoot for even more in life. If the reality doesn't rise to meet the expectation, keep believing in more, keep trying for more.

You can give up when reality doesn't meet the expectation. Or you can still get up when the alarm goes off at 7:00am and go meet the reality. Once you have met up with reality, then dream some more, expect more and spend another night with great expectation of greater things in your life.

Expect the Unexpected

EXPECTATION by Gustav Klimt

"If you do not expect the unexpected, you will not find it; for it is hard to be sought out, and difficult." - Heraclitus of Ephesus

All of us have expectations in life. We expect,

- our kids to be good
- our marriage to be wonderful and exciting
- our jobs to be enjoyable and well paying
- our health to be good with little suffering
- our car to always function properly
- our retirement to be well funded and relaxing
- our death to be pain free and peaceful

But having an expectation and actually having it happen requires some level of work on our part. Many of the above expectations do not simply 'occur' to our benefit. They require that we put time and effort into achieving each of them.

Achievement in each of these or many other areas of our life depend upon us having some level of expectation. Expectation is the yearning for something that we either dream of or envision for our life. It drives us to attempt and reach a goal.

It is with this expectation that we learn to "expect the unexpected" that life will either throw at us or give to us. You can't plan for it, but you can accept that the unexpected will happen. While we tend to accept that bad things will happen, we should put as much effort into believing that unexpected good things will happen as well. If you concentrate on the bad things, you are going to miss the good things that will happen.

So 'expect the unexpected good' that will happen in your life. Move forward towards your dreams and envision the outcome. Before you know it, the reality will occur.
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