One of the recurring themes of this blog on personal leadership is how powerfully our expectations impact our reality. To a much greater degree than we often acknowledge, we create ourselves. Often we learn a truth at a deeper level when we hear it in story form or from a new or different perspective. I will let the following letter to the editor speak for itself.
“I don’t like standardized tests…. I took (an IQ test) in the seventh grade. I was an average student until then. While examining the test booklet, I discovered the answers were tucked inside the test. I cheated but I was careful not to answer all the questions correctly. After I got a “near genius” score of 172, teachers treated me differently; they expected the highest achievement. Soon my grades went from average to superior. I graduated at the top of my class and now have my master’s degree. Teachers claim they don’t treat students according to their perceived level of intelligence, but I often wonder what my school career would’ve been like if I hadn’t cheated on that test.” (Jo Kelly, Conklin, Michigan. React Column, Reader’s Digest, May 2009, p.10)
Closing Quotes:
Our limitations and success will be based, most often, on your own expectations for ourselves. What the mind dwells upon, the body acts upon.” — Denis Waitley, American motivational speaker and author
“Nobody succeeds beyond his or her wildest expectations unless he or she begins with some wild expectations.” — Ralph Charell, author
“Our circumstances answer to our expectations and the demand of our natures.” — Henry David Thoreau