An engineer had just graduated when he went to meet with a potential employer. When asked what he expected from his job, he responded, “At least $125,000 a year and a good medical plan.” The employer responded, “How about $200,000, five weeks of annual vacation time and a company car?” “Wow!” the engineer exclaimed. “You must be joking!”
“Yeah, but you started it,” the employer replied.
Ultimately, life is full of expectations. Employees expect to get paid, pets expect to get fed and I expect one of my 20 readers to hand me a million dollars. Alas, expectations are not always fulfilled. (Way too many people are negligent about their pets.) Reality is a cruel mistress, who revels in destroying everything you hold dear in the world. She sneaks up on you when you are at your most optimistic, ripping joy out from the depths of your heart, all for the sake of a cheap laugh.
There is almost nothing in life as traumatic as when something important you expected to go a certain way goes horribly wrong. Ranging from relationship problems to bad tests to accidently buying diet Mountain Dew, few things are as disappointing as having reality quash your expectations.
It is because of these reasons that cliches always recommend tempering your expectations. In fact, my hero, Peter LaFleur, the protagonist of the critically acclaimed Hollywood classic, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, once said: “If you have a goal, you might not reach it. But if you don’t have one … it feels phenomenal.” Though I have generally modeled my life after his, I don’t actually agree with that statement. Essentially, LaFleur was tired of falling short of his expectations and decided it was easier to just not have any. But by doing this, he forfeited his drive and ambition. Without such attributes, any person would become a shell – in fact, even the great LaFleur became one.
That said, it is true some expectations are just ridiculous: I would not be able to run a marathon this weekend, most people cannot climb Mt. Everest and my friends can not each drink 150 beers in one day. But setting high expectations for yourself is ultimately a good thing. It motivates you to try your hardest and get the best possible results. Sure, it can cause stress, but that trade-off is well worth the anguish.
The expectations we put on ourselves are a lot more important than those others put on us. Other people might not necessarily understand where you are in life or on a task, which means their expectations can be lofty for reasons other than motivation.
At the end of the movie, LaFleur expects to win. He bets his entire bribe on his dodgeball team winning the Las Vegas International Dodgeball Open. His high expectations are rewarded when his team does win, and he wins millions of dollars. Much like the engineer at the beginning of this column, he decided he had a goal and expected himself to achieve it. That engineer will eventually get the job he wants, just because he expects himself to, and he will push himself to that point.
Or maybe he will remain unemployed and go to grad school to avoid embarrassment.
Rajarshi Chattopadhyay is a sophomore aerospace engineering major. He can be reached at chattopadhyay@umdbk.com.
