It’s all good and well to tell people to think positively and great things will happen but what most motivators forget to add is that managing your expectations is an important part of that.  It is typically forgotten so people get frustrated and think the philosophy of thinking positive is garbage when they experience a failure or stall in their life plan. We must manage our expectations as we’re planning the goals for our life. This is the hardest thing in the world to do because we’re told to think outside the box and to think big for ourselves so how do we keep the element of reality in those plans? Every goal has a plan for how to get there. As you’re planning those steps to get there, think about each one and whether or not it’s possible to do that step. For example, let’s say I want to go back to school to get a PhD in Psychology (always a long time dream of mine). The goal is to get back in school. What do I do to get there? I have to find a school (easy) and then find the finances to do that (not so easy). Being “real” about that step means I have to ensure I can find the finances to do this. It doesn’t mean I can’t find finances it just means I need to be creative in how I do it. I have to make sure I’m ready to accept the fact that I can’t go to school quite yet. That is managing my expectation. What happens now is that I simply put my goal off until I’m able to figure out the finances. I’m not failing at going back to school but it’s being stalled until I can figure it out. I’m staying positive and keeping an open mind instead of getting frustrated and negative, completely giving up on my dream. So keep thinking big for yourself, nothing is unachievable as long as you’re willing to do the work and think positive! Even failures or stalls in life happen for a reason. Learn from it and apply it to your other goals and you may find yourself in an even better place than you had planned for!