Welcome to my psychiatrist’s chair. Make yourself comfortable and ease right back because I want to take you back to your early childhood.
You were five years old and you saw a toy you really wanted. I mean you really wanted it, so you went to your parents, and asked if you could have the toy for your birthday.
Did they say: “yes, of course, no problem at all.” Chances are, they didn’t. If they were like most parents, they said: “wait and see.” If you pressed them, you probably got: “Well, if you expect, you won’t get!”
Whether you got the toy or not, this sort of response was one you probably became accustomed to hearing over the years – no definite commitment, and always the warning not to expect too much.
Of course, there were perfectly good reasons for this. Your parents weren’t sure whether they’d be able to get the toy for you. They’d be concerned that they couldn’t afford it when the time came, or that the shops would be out of stock. It was all down to them, and their response reflected that.
They didn’t want to disappoint you; so there was always a warning to lower your expectations, not to expect too much, because unfulfilled expectation leads to abject disappointment in your average five-year-old child, and no parent wants that.
I’m sure you can see where I’m heading with this. Psychologists, personal development experts, and just about everyone else who has studied the human psyche and the factors determining success and failure, broadly agree on two important things:
1. What we learn in early childhood has a significant on-going effect on our thoughts and behaviour throughout our lives – unless we make a determined effort to re-programme and re-learn.
2. We get pretty much what we expect to get from life, but rarely more. Expectation always precedes acquisition.
So we have a situation where early childhood has created a general tendency towards low expectation. At the time it was appropriate – you had no control over the fulfilment, or otherwise, of your expectation. You’d be devastated if your expectation wasn’t met. But all that’s changed now. You’ve grown up. You have control, and what’s more, you’re big enough to take it on the chin if you fall short of what you expect.
Low expectations are completely at odds with achievement, financial or otherwise. Very little of any consequence is ever achieved without the expectation and belief that it can be done – except when it happens by sheer accident. Why?
Because we only take the actions necessary to achieve success when we expect a successful outcome. In any endeavour, there will be setbacks and low points. The only thing that gets us through these is the belief – the expectation – that we will ultimately succeed. If we don’t believe and expect that we’ll ultimately triumph, why the hell should we put ourselves through the pain and difficulty of pressing on through adversity?
Can you see how high expectation must always precede high achievement, and how your early conditioning might be holding you back from achieving your full potential now? It’s definitely worth taking a little time to assess whether your expectations are as high as they should be, and whether they’re being created and shaped by old and obsolete influences. What you discover may surprise you. And this doesn’t just apply to achievement. Your expectations shape everything.
From time to time, I visit an online forum for people who have nothing better to do with their money than waste it on expensive cars. Just out of curiosity, you understand. Anyway, two of the topics, which repeatedly come up, are: “When at a junction, which of your cars is least likely to be let out by other drivers? ”And: “Which car is likely to get the most abuse from members of the public? ”Opinions always vary widely.
Some people say that you can sit there all day in a Ferrari, but be let out straightaway in an Aston Martin, while others swear the reverse is true. Someone else will say they’ve driven Porsches for years with no bother, but get hassle from all quarters in their Bentley, and then another Bentley owner will say this is nonsense. Then others say they get little courtesy and lots of hassle in any car that is out of the ordinary. But then there are people, like me, who say it doesn’t make a blind bit of difference.
It’s true. I’ve had more than my fair share of very nice cars over the years and I find that being let out at a junction while driving one is no more trouble than when driving a bog standard saloon. I’ve never experienced any animosity from people, and the only conversations I’ve had while driving something unusual, have been the result of genuine interest and curiosity. So how come people’s experiences vary so greatly?
The answer has implications for just about everything we do. You see it’s pretty clear that the cars are no different, and the public who are reacting to them are the same. The only thing that’s changed is the driver. Each driver will have his own opinion on how people are going to react to his car, and this opinion will form the basis of his expectations.
If you drive your Ferrari believing that everyone is going to be hostile, then that’s what you’ll find. If you believe they’re going to be interested and friendly, then you’ll find that too. It’s partly a result of how your expectation affects your behaviour, and partly your own perception of the reaction. If you expect to see hostility, that’s what you will see. If you expect to see interest, then that’s what you’ll see.
I’m sure, like me, you know people who get into fights easily. And then you know others who go to the same environments, who never have so much as a crossed word. The former will always claim that it isn’t their fault – that trouble just seems to follow them around. And it does, because that’s what they expect.
If they go into the same environment expecting something else, then the vast majority of the time, ‘something else’ is what they’ll get. Their demeanour and body language will be non-confrontational, drastically reducing the likelihood of causing offence, and their perception of the behaviour of others will be positively focused, eliminating the chances of imagined slights.
I can’t over-emphasise how important expectations are. They almost totally shape our future reality (barring outrageous good or bad fortune). If you’re hoping for success, but grimly expecting failure, you have little chance, if any. Your subconscious mind will find a way for you to fail, and your conscious mind will, in the most unlikely of places, recognise signals that it’s time to give up.
When you expect success, every glimmer of hope is a clear sign that you’re on the right track. When you expect failure, every tiny setback is confirmation that you should give up. You’re going to get what you expect, so you might as well expect something good.
Kind Regards
John Harrison
PUBLISHERS NOTICE
Streetwise Member Makes $400,000
Dear Streetwise Customer
Streetwise member Roger Woodman tried making money from the financial markets for YEARS with little success.
In his own words…
“I bought many, many courses, spent thousands of pounds on webinars, books, systems … At the end of it, I worked out that I’d made precisely nothing.”
Maybe you can identify with how he felt?
Well, it all changed for Roger when I personally introduced him to my good friend and expert trader Guy Cohen …
In Roger’s own words … “Trading with just Guy’s system, I’ve made over $400,000.”
That’s a pretty big difference … From “precisely nothing”, to over $400,000, right?
And this success has enabled Roger to live the kind of retirement life he’s always dreamed of. For example, here he is pulling up into Guy’s driveway in his rather swish new car (Guy often meets with his students to help them) …
Better yet, with Guy’s system Roger has never been chained to his computer desk all day …
He says, “It takes me about 30 minutes a day … remarkably little stress … very little drawdowns. If I have got drawdowns, they’re peanuts.”
It’s no wonder he calls Guy’s trading system a “godsend”.
And here’s the good news for you …
I’ve persuaded Guy to hold an exclusive live training session for Streetwise members.
During this short training he’ll walk you through the exact same 3-step system that made Roger $400,000.
And even show you how to automate it so you can profit in less than 30 minutes per day.
The training takes place at 8pm on Thursday.
And it’s absolutely FREE.
Reserve your free spot now.
Who knows …
Maybe you’ll become Guy’s next protege and make nearly half a million dollars too!
But that can only happen if you attend.
Reserve your spot now.
Best wishes,
John Harrison
PS.
Of course, Roger isn’t the only person whose life has been transformed by Guy’s trading system.
There are COUNTLESS others too, like …
- Chloe Hung who made $6,528 in 100 days … and then another $32,616 after that!
- G Lawrence who made $26,733 in 9 weeks …
- And Alan Tunnicliffe who says the extra $1,288 tax-free income he’s making “will make a huge difference to my life right now”.
Guy even helped well-known online business coach Simon Coulson make $25,356 in just six weeks … and that was with ZERO prior trading experience!
Want to become Guy’s next success story?