Expectations

"X is meant to be tough, but not so tough that you're set up to fail."

Last night I said the above to my son, with "x" being replaced with "school," when he was complaining about having too many quizes to study for. I obviously agreed with him in this instance.

But the "x" could be just as easily replaced with any number of words, including "work" and "life." And saying this to my ten-year-old got me thinking about expectations.

There is a fine line between a "stretch goal" and being set up to fail. If the goal is self-imposed, it's up to you to know your strengths, limits, and what's tough but achievable.

But what if it's set by your boss and you realize it's just not doable? Hopefully you don't feel that you're intentionally being set up to fail; if you are, that's another issue and can be dealt with in another post. Chances are, your boss just isn't aware because she hasn't done your job, so if you make a strong case, backed up by hard facts, she'll hopefully see the light. If she doesn't, clearly document your progress, bottlenecks, conflicts, issues, etc. so that you have a documented case to prove that you accomplished as much as was possible.

And if you're going into a new situation, whether at work or home, take the time to have your and the other party's expectations spelled out at the onset of the relationship. You know what they say about assuming...