I heard an interview with Howard Jacobson the winner of the Man Booker Prize 2010 as I drove home last night. After being an early favourite to win he’d been relegated by the bookies to the bottom of the list. As a result of no longer having an expectation of winning he commented that he’d really enjoyed the evening – eating, talking, drinking etc. It came as a HUGE surprise therefore when he was announced as the winner.

I wonder how often our expectations – whether good or bad – get in the way of us enjoying the moment. Howard certainly suggested that if he’d know he was a possible winner he’d not have enjoyed the evening. It’s sad that such a great day might have been marred by the expectations weighing so heavily. Although he found time to promise his wife he’d buy her a handbag with his winnings :-).

My personal trainer had me doing 10/20/30/30/20/10 repetitions of a number of exercises this morning. The dread started with my first repetition – ie before the effects of the physical exertion kicked in. I certainly wasn’t happy on one exercise when I thought I was on my 2nd set of 30 to find I was only on my first. Not because of the level of discomfort but the expectation of how much was still to come.

I can think of many other instances where expectations – good or bad – have seriously impacted our lives up until an outcome is known – and who knows may have even negatively impacted the outcome itself.

So lets release our expectations and experience the moment and lets notice what we notice.

Alison Smith
Facilitating the Transformation of Purchasing Relationships
www.alisonsmith.eu [email protected] 07770 538159