You’re Going to Let Someone Down, But Take Heart…
It’s going to happen today. It will likely happen tomorrow, unless of course you don’t bother to leave the house, or boot up your computer — you’re going to let someone down. Someone was desiring more from you — more money, more time, more attention, better results.
There will be some part of that person who will think to themselves: man, that guy [or girl] is an asshole! But don’t fret. That is okay. Just be the asshole. It is not your job to be liked by all of these people, and in fact, if you actually fulfilled the crazy, unfounded desires of these people, you’d be derailing the most important things that you are trying to do.
You may have read about managing expectations, and you may focus on trying to ensure that all of the people that you touch base with are on the same page as you regarding what to expect. That seems good, right? But there is a problem: people have both expectations and desires — and they are different animals.
People — despite what you communicate to them — are going to continue to hold out hope that they can get more from you — from everybody — than what they expect. They will be let down based on what they hold out hope that you (or others) can do for them. The worst part is, the more you communicate with them to temper their expectations, and the clearer you try to be about that, the more of an asshole you’ll likely seem to be to them.
So here’s the trick: just be an asshole, but the right kind of asshole to the right people.
Be understanding, patient, flexible, and apologetic to your family, friends, and those who show the same traits to you. But to those who don’t give way for you, who aren’t in your inner circle, be clear about what they ought to expect from you, but be okay with coming off as an asshole if they don’t match their desires with their expectations of you. You truly can’t win them all. Be okay with it, and you’ll be okay with what they all think.
Thanks for reading. Godspeed.