Excerpt From A Coaching Letter Written By David B Wolf
… To grow we want to challenge ourselves, to play a big game with our lives. This entails expecting a lot of ourselves. These expectations, transformed into practical and grounded commitments, drive us forward to satisfying accomplishments and internal development. I guess the downside of expectations is if we become emotionally attached to them. Emotional attachment to expectations can form a sort of self-imposed prison of disappointment, sadness, discouragement, etc. If we find that we don’t meet our expectations, that is an opportunity for a wonderful learning experience. There is a cycle- commit, act, learn. Whether we succeed to fulfill our expectations or not, we can definitely succeed in creating a valuable learning experience, if we approach life from a perspective of discovery and opportunity. Of course, such an approach is not meant to minimize the full intention we apply to our commitment to achieve and surpass expectations. So, this approach of learning from each experience is distinct from the stance of emotional attachment to expectations. If we are emotionally attached, then if we fall short we may descend into grungy states of guilt, inadequacy, etc., instead of positively and constructively learning from the situation…