Supercalifragilisticexpectations
Oh, hi friends!
“Your output rises or falls according to your expectations.”
I said this to a friend the other day. She said, “That better go in your newsletter.” So here it is.
If I have low expectations about my week, a call, a run, my output (or enjoyment) will come in around or under my expectations. It’s rare to think afterwards, “Wow, that was so much better than I thought it would be!”
Nah. I know what I expected. I expected crap and so I got crap.
But when my I set my expectations too high, I can be disappointed. I wanted success and I still got…crap. (There's really no dressing this up with fancier language.)
Finding that middle ground is the secret. How can you establish expectations that are Goldilocks caliber? Juuuust right? Maybe this lies in knowing yourself and what you’re capable of—and reaching just slightly beyond.
“The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.”
—Epictetus
Dude. This guy sounds epic. (h/t Swissmiss via Paul Jun)
A Friendly Hodgepodge
My friend Surafel is in the New York Times today! Read his Metro Diary column about a solo trip at a restaurant which turned into an unexpected encounter.
Inbox Pause is my new favorite thing. You can “pause” your Gmail or Outlook, so no messages come through until you unpause. I had no idea how psychologically destructive seeing Inbox (14) in my tabs was UNTIL IT WENT AWAY.
VinePair is a slick, New York-based site all about wine. I feel like you’d be into this. (Yes, you.)
Sweet profile of theater great Jayne Houdyshell by Tim Teeman.
And a book suggestion from my friend Jim McEvoy: The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp. It’s about creating rituals and habits to fuel creativity. *ADDS TO AMAZON CART IN TWO SECONDS*
Thank you for reading.
Love, Kara