Change your Expectations, Change your Life

Are you aware that learning a simple Law of Mind could dramatically improve your chances of achieving long-term success and happiness? Conversely, are you aware that ignorance of this Law of Mind will undoubtedly seriously hamper your efforts to achieve success in life? Sadly many people are blind to this very simple yet powerful psychological concept, a concept that is a critical component of success – this concept is known as the Law of Expectation.

The Law of Expectation

The Law of Expectation is incredibly simplistic yet powerful. This law basically states that the expectations that we hold for ourselves and others often become reality. Are you even consciously aware of what your expectations for yourself and others are, or are these critical determinants of your personal success buried deep within a subconscious haze? If you are not consciously aware of your expectations, then maybe it’s time to start giving them some serious thought…..

The Placebo Effect – Scientific Evidence of the Law of Expectation

Over the decades, scientific studies have repeatedly uncovered the enormous impact that expectations have on the life experience of those who hold them. Repeatedly, such studies have dispelled any notion that the Law of Expectation is New Age mumbo jumbo – the Law of Expectation is scientific fact.

In one such study subjects were instructed to drink a completely harmless cup of sugar water – however, the subjects were informed that the liquid was actually an emetic (a liquid that induces vomiting.) How did the subjects respond to this false information? 80% of those taking part in the experiment responded by vomiting.

If your expectations are powerful enough to potentially make you physically sick, imagine the impact that they are having on other aspects of your life?

The Impact of your Expectations on Others

Few people are aware that their expectations can have dramatic effects on the performance and behaviours of others. A scientific study in the 1960’s conducted in San Francisco Elementary Schools, involved selecting a number of students totally at random, and informing their teachers that these students were particularly gifted – this information was entirely false unknown to the teachers. The results of the experiment were astounding. The ‘gifted’ students on average showed an average increase of 12.2 in IQ, while the non-‘gifted’ students managed only an average increase of 8.2. The teacher’s expectations of the children, quite literally made them more intelligent!

How Expectations Influence your Personal Outcomes

The expectations that your hold are based on your beliefs e.g. your beliefs about money, your beliefs about how you perform in your job, your beliefs about how you interact with other people, and so on – you hold a belief for every single aspect of your life.

Say for example you hold the unconscious belief that you are not very intelligent as you didn’t do particularly well at school (not necessarily an indicator of low intelligence.) This unconscious belief will impact your expectations of what you can and cannot achieve in life – if you believe that you are not particularly intelligent, it is likely that your expectations with regards to professional achievement will be negative. These negative expectations in turn will unconsciously impact your daily attitudes and actions for the worse, greatly decreasing your likelihood of achieving professional success.

Eliminate Negative Beliefs, Raise your Expectations

Imagine that you are holding negative beliefs about yourself that are entirely false, and that these beliefs are creating negative expectations. Holding negative expectations and beliefs is like driving through life with the handbrake on.

Personally, I am only too aware of the negative consequences of holding a false negative belief. When I was at college I somehow managed to achieve the appalling grade of 7% in an end of term exam. In fact it was the lowest grade in the entire year – my college lecturer suggested that I drop the subject entirely. From that moment on I started to develop the belief that I was somehow less intelligent than my fellow students, this in turn negatively impacted my expectations and quite literally contributed to years of underachievement.

Well there is a twist in the tale – after leaving college I took an IQ test that confirmed my intelligence quotient was 133, hardly Einstein, but certainly above average. For years, I seriously believed that I was less intelligent than most around me due to a false belief – I had been driving through life with the handbrake on!

Are you driving through life with the brakes on? What false negative beliefs are you holding about yourself? It’s time to start thinking, and get rid of them one by one – in turn you will automatically raise your expectations and achieve more in life with less effort.

Become your Own Fortune Teller

Expect little, and the chances are that you shall receive little. Expect a lot and that chances are that you shall receive a lot – the choice is yours. By adhering to the Law of Expectation, you can literally become your own fortune teller in life.