Fast Expectations Aren’t Great

This tree may have sprouted overnight, but it took many years to reach this height.

We’ve all heard of Charles Dickens’ book, Great Expectations. Many of us read the book in high school — well probably the Cliffs notes because that was the fastest way. But like the cliffs notes version, most of us have fast expectations. This is not the same thing as great expectations.

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve given up sugar, eating a snack after dinner, my beloved Diet Pepsi, and generally eating healthier except for a meal here and there. The first week I was killing it on the scale. Five pounds down, and then up a pound with a fluctuation between a couple of pounds for over a week now.

It is discouraging in one way to not see that number on the scale edge down toward my goal weight. One would think if you drank more water, ate better, started strength training and hopping on the elliptical for forty minutes three times a week, something would happen.

I mean, it’s been a whole two weeks. I hope you can hear my sarcasm in this. Yet, there is a little part of me over this last week of maintaining that I’m like, why?

We, more than ever before, expect things to happen for us instantly. If we need something, we order Amazon and sometimes it’s here the same day. We want a book, we download it immediately to our device and voila — there it is. No waiting or driving to the bookstore in hopes of it being there.

Where once we had a question about something, we had to find someone who knew the answer, or go to the library to research it, or remain ignorant about it. Today we just ask Siri.

The internet, while wonderful on some level, has changed the way we live along with our expectations of how things are supposed to be.

Life, real life anyway, isn’t like this. If we start something new, whether it be a new way of eating or practicing a new skill, it takes time. Sometimes, lots of it.

I started painting in February, 2014. It’s coming up on ten years now and I’ve put in who knows how many hours. I’ve made many ugly paintings that have been painted over. I still make ugly paintings on occasion, and I’m sure I always will. But to be good at painting, like anything else, it takes time.

Yet many of us feel like, oh I could never do this or that simply because you can’t right now. Well of course you can’t. You haven’t put in the time and effort to bring that skill about. I’m not saying we are cut out for everything. I don’t believe I could be a great at basketball or football or almost any sport for that matter because I’m not built for it. Further, and maybe even more importantly, I don’t have the desire for it.

We all have our areas of strength where we naturally shine. One of those areas for me is photography. Maybe it’s because my dad was a photographer for a while and I subconsciously picked up some things, not sure. But I think I understood the rule of thirds and composition to a degree long before I ever really learned about those. I just know how to frame a photo. For me, it’s common sense.

The trick is to find those things you are naturally good at AND have a desire to go further and develop that skill. Then realize that it will take some serious time and effort to get really good. Years even.

Most of us have heard the old adage that it takes ten thousand hours to become really good at something. That is a lot of hours. I remember when I first began painting, I read that to be a half way good painter one would need to paint hundreds of paintings. That overwhelmed me as at that time I had maybe painted forty or fifty. I even remember going around my house and counting them. Now, ten years later, I have painted hundreds but I STILL feel there is so much more for me to learn.

So I guess my rambling point to all of this is for us not to expect instant success with anything we start. But the success will come when we work at it, day by day with consistency. This isn’t easy, especially on those days where you feel like you are moving backwards. But success isn’t linear. It’s an up and down, back and forward process and if we will just keep on doing what we’re supposed to do regardless of any setbacks, eventually we will look back to see just how far we’ve come. Therein lies the way to success.

Having great expectations is wonderful, just understand that nothing great is obtained overnight unless you win the lottery.

Sending my best,

Connie