Why are you unhappy? Why are you happy?
This is what psychologists have been trying to figure out for years, and it boils down to some basics.
Emotions are based on expectations. If you are betrayed by a friend, you feel angry because you expect them to treat you with respect, and those expectations have not been met. Opposite of that, if you expect you aren’t going to win the lottery because the odds are ridiculous, and you do win you are happy because your expectation has been exceeded.
This is very important if you are an marketer, entrepreneur or have projects you’re working on. Learning how to control your expectations, will help you deal with failure much easier. There is some planning and research, but a lot of life is trial and error.. keyword ERROR. It happens a lot, and so it should. It’s okay to fail, expect to fail, and you will not be unhappy when it happens, but will be 10 times happier when you exceed your expectations.
– Joel