Our world is filled with millions of different brands representing the products and services available to us within mere seconds. In addition, thousands more brands represent the causes of non-profits who are spreading ideas to create a better world.

Recently the UN determined that our world population has reached 7 billion – another set of brands. Personal branding – in the reputations of individuals carried out by their physical appearance/movement; their words/communication style and their actions/behaviors. And part of this concept is how we set ourselves up to carry our brand out through expectations we and others have for us.

Expectations …..the results that we anticipate. Low/high, realistic/idealistic; short/long term. My sons and students will tell you that I’m often heard talking about “average being overcrowded – so strive for more.”

Seth Godin reflects on this concept in his blog. In fact he’s the one that really got me thinking about it. I’ll summarize briefly here, but please read his perspective. Low expectations usually led to low performance and high expectations often lead to disappointment. Seth suggests another approach of no expectations, but rather intense effort and acceptance on results.

This concept made me stop and think. Intense effort – of course I understand his thought process here, but just acceptance? What about goal setting and measurement? Aren’t we supposed to have a plan to really succeed in life, not just move from one thing to the next with little purpose?

I struggled with this. I understand and have much experience with setting high expectations for myself and for others. There is much good that results from this: inspiration; accomplishment; growth and then there is the darker side: disappointment; regret; resentment. But, ultimately I have control over the expectations I set. Why not put great effort into the doing and not just into the thinking? Again, life is best managed with planning, I’m not advocating for something else. If I can find acceptance, however, for what I gave or what others gave, maybe I can spend more energy on the original effort and on the success. Think about the last time you did not accomplish something you wanted to. How much time/energy did you spend on justifying to yourself or others why you failed? Why not, accept and move on, recognizing what you can change next time, but focusing on making it happen, not just on the definition of what that looks like. And rather than disappointment, you might experience surprise and joy in the accepted results.

“Everyone has a fair turn to be as great as he pleases.” Jeremy Collier

Now how this plays out in the professional world is a bit more challenging to me. We’re well practiced at setting expectations for our teams (usually called goals) and then having a more formalized evaluation process, beyond just acceptance. I’m certain, however, this concept of intense effort and acceptance has relevance in all aspects of life. I’ll practice it for myself and then see how it plays out. Take a shot at it for yourself and let me know how it works for your life.