Disappointment often results from high expectations.
Less than useful expectations often come from wanting to know “how” something will be achieved, or “how” someone will behave. We want to have control over the “how”.
When we have an outcome and we have expectation of “how” it will happen and those expectations are met we usually experience satisfaction.
However when we have an outcome and we have an expectation of “how” it will happen and those expectations are not met we can feel disappointed.
When we have an outcome and have no expectations around “how” it will happen we can experience surprise and delight when we achieve the outcome in the most unexpected way.
The worst case scenario when we have no expectations and they go unmet is that we will still experience satisfaction because there was nothing to be disappointed about!
So when we have expectations we are likely to experience satisfaction or disappointment; whereas when we have no expectations we are likely to experience satisfaction or delight – overall it would seem to be better to have no expectations…
So the challenge is to set the outcome of what you want to achieve in any given situation or moment and then let go of needing to know “how” it will be achieved.
The most important part is having an outcome and then focusing your attention on what you can do right now to move you towards that outcome. Take action, observe what happens as a result, and then be willing to take the next action at that new moment in time. If we have no expectations along the way we can truly enjoy the journey and make the most of all the wonderful opportunities that can show up unexpectedly along the way towards our outcome.