Low expectations are easy to meet

Make sure your goals are truly attainable

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is that low expectations are easy to meet,
So when you are having a hard time meeting your

(00:24):
daily goals, consider adjusting them downward. You may find that
you accomplish more then when your goals are more ambitious.
I'm sure many people listening to this podcast have heard
the advice to set smart goals, ones that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic,

(00:48):
and time bound. This is wise advice sometimes though our
calibration of what is attainable and realistic might be a
little off. You may find find yourself setting goals each
day that seemed doable, but that you haven't achieved by
the end of the day. This can be discouraging. You

(01:09):
may even feel frustrated or bad about yourself. After a
few days or weeks of this, you may throw up
your hands and stop caring about your goals. If you
consistently fall short of your daily goals. Eventually your daily
goals become more like daily wishes. You wind up viewing
them as things that it would be nice to accomplish,

(01:32):
but that you are not necessarily expecting to get to
you don't hold yourself to them, your to do list
becomes meaningless. It is not what you are going to
do today, so it is just a list of stuff.
This is not a productive approach. Instead, when you find

(01:55):
yourself discouraged because you keep not meeting your goals, consider
lowering them. Ask yourself, what is the lowest reasonable expectation
you can set for yourself? Then aim for that. I
am talking really small. Instead of putting a hundred things

(02:16):
on your to do list for tomorrow, maybe put two things.
In the morning, you will draft an employee satisfaction survey.
In the afternoon, you will lead the department meeting and
complete the follow up. You can aim low in your
personal life too. On Saturday, you will not redecorate your

(02:37):
entire house. You will plant flowers in the planters on
the front porch. Tonight, you will not hold yourself to
anything other than calling your father to wish him a
happy birthday. You get the idea. When the only thing
on your to do list for tonight is to wish

(02:57):
your dad a happy birthday, how could you not get
that done when your only goal for tomorrow morning is
to draft that employee Satisfaction Survey, and that is it.
You are highly likely to complete it. You can meet
the low expectations. But here's the thing. Paradoxically, less can

(03:21):
be more. If you intended to draft the employee satisfaction
survey and develop a job description for a new position,
and create the agenda for the conference next week, and
write that memo about the annual review process and answer
the twenty emails you flagged from Tuesday, you might not
get to any of it. It feels overwhelming. But if

(03:44):
you are expecting to just do the survey, you will
do what you set out to do. And then, who knows,
maybe that sense of satisfaction will nudge you onward to
do other things or it won't, but you will still
be better off than if you did none of it.
You'll start to become more confident in your ability to

(04:05):
do the things you set out to do. You can
start treating your to do list as a contract with yourself.
When you reach that state, it can be a real breakthrough.
You can put some things on the list for three
days from now and no, they will absolutely still get done.
You don't feel bad that you aren't doing them today

(04:28):
because you know that whatever is on the list will happen.
But the only way to truly hold yourself accountable to
your to do list is to make it short and
so you want to lower your expectations. Achieving little things
in the short run means you can achieve big things
in the long run because you keep moving forward in

(04:53):
the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
to making the most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd
love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,

(05:15):
Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's b E
the number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can
also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at
i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled
out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look
forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production

(05:42):
of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,
visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.