I Hope For It, But I Don't Expect It

I cited once this article from my Advanced English class book, because I agree with the idea... sometimes we suffer this syndrome of having too many expectations on something, and also because it starts with a speed skating example (and I do like speed ice skating!!)... hope you like it!

I Hope For It, But I Don't Expect It

by Jessica Taylor (Pocket Digest)

Picture the scene: It's the seventeenth Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. Dan Jansen, a famous American speed skater, is about to compete in the 500-meter race. This is the fourth Olypics he has participated in; in the first three, he missed winning any medals, but this will be his last Olympic competition, so the pressure is on. About halfway through the 500, one of Dan's skates catches a rough spot on the ice, slowing him down. He wins no medal at all. Three days later, Dan competes in the 1,000-meter race. Everyone knows this is his last chance for a medal. Some observers have already written him off. Dan starts off well. As he is coming around a turn, though, his skate again hits a rough spot on the ice, and he almost falls. But this time he says to himself that he's just going to keep skating and let what happens happen. In effect, he "casts his fate to the winds". The result? Dan sets a world record and wins the gold medal.

Picture another situation: Your two best film-buff friends have seen the reissued Citizen Kane. The rave about its superb black-and-white photography and applaud its profound, sensitive, serious treatment of the lonely life of an anxiety-ridden business tycoon. They say it's the best American movie of the century. When you go to see it, though, you feel disappointed.

These situations illustrate what we might call "the expectation syndrome". Children ofter do no meet their parents' career expectations of them. Athletes do not always win what people expect them to win. Great literature doesn't always seem as good as it should. I asked neurophysiologist Robert Stevens whether there is an actual scientific basis for the negativity of expectations or whether this is merely a philosophical question, an unpleasant, frustrating irony of the human condition.

Stevens: Well, what we're really talking about here, I think, is the immense power of the mind. For example, there is a documented medical phenomenon called focal dystonia, which is an abnormal muscle function caused by extreme concentration. Somehow, when athletes are concentrating too hard, they "short circuit" certain brain functions and miss the basket, don't hit the ball, or lose the race. So there's a physiological counterpart to what the mind manifests.

Pocket Digest: Have you ever had any experience with this phenomenon in your personal, everyday life?

Stevens: Yes, I think I have. We're learning more about the human brain all the time. It seems that the mind has immense power for both positive and negative things. Let me give you an example from skiing. There are days when, as a cautious, high-intermediate skier, I stand at the top of a steep, icy slope, plotting my every move down the course, fearing that I'll fall. Sure enough, I do fall. Other days I feel different. My expectations are miles away. I ski well and don't fall. When we focus excessively on goals, our expectations tend to take over, and our mind places us outside the process. On the other hand, when we concentrate on the process instead of the goal, we're often much more successful. Have you heard the phrase "trying too hard"?

Pocket Digest: Very interesting. What would be your recommendation about expectations, then?

Stevens: Well, all I've been able to come up with so far is that it's better to hope for things than to expect them.