Transcript:
Ängela:
Hello, and welcome to the What's Career Got to Do with It Podcast, where we hope to provide a space for honest conversation and information that encourages the listener to take the next steps in their career journey. Wherever you are in this process, we hope this episode will meet you with affirmation, guidance, and maybe some laughs along the way.
Rudi:
On today's episode, we discuss an answer, or many, to the question, "How do we manage expectations?"
Ängela:
Dun-dun-dun.
Nicole:
One day at a time.
Ängela:
That's a whole TV show.
Nicole:
Is it? Because in my head, I made it a teen Disney movie, and...
Ängela:
It could work.
Nicole:
I saw Demi Lovato singing it. I did a whole production in my head, guys.
Ängela:
I'm following you. Okay.
Nicole:
Expectations.
Ängela:
Cool, cool.
Rudi:
Yes.
Kai:
They had the remake, what, on Netflix? Oh, my mic ain't even in my mouth.
Ängela:
Good morning, Duke!
Kai:
Good morning, Baltimore!
Rudi:
We'll have to turn K down.
Kai:
All right.
Ängela:
Okay, y'all.
Kai:
Keep that bit. Keep it.
Rudi:
Thank you, Meg, for putting up with all of our shenanigans. Meg is our great communications person that helps to edit our episodes. So now here we go. Contact.
All right, so how do we manage expectations? How do we manage expectations for this podcast? Yeah, what comes to mind when we think about managing expectations, whether... Just broad, nebulous question, just throwing it out there, what happens?
Nicole:
Expectations are evil. I think sometimes we very much set ourself up for failure and disappointment when we have a lot of expectations, versus going in with the idea of you know what you know, work around that, and then set a goal, maybe, rather than expectation. I don't know why. Just expectation to me sometimes can have a negative connotation. And when I say, "Okay, well maybe I'll set a little goal, right?" It's like a treat. It softens it up a little bit, but I think a lot of times we do set expectations for ourselves, some unrealistic, and sometimes I think that can deter us from really kind of blossoming, growing, and even being our authentic selves.
Ängela:
I'd say that expectations and goals, to me... As you were talking about that, Nicole, I was just thinking like sitting in reality of whatever is going on. And even with a goal, you can have an unrealistic goal as well.
Nicole:
Yeah.
Ängela:
So I think just trying to stay grounded and stay realistic of what can actually happen in this particular time and space, that you set to work on whatever that expectation is, can kind of help keep your mind from racing as much. Because I think at some point it's just going to as you process.
Kai:
Yeah, I think especially thinking about the audience we want this podcast to speak to, the first thought that came to my mind was whose expectations are we managing or thinking about or putting as the thing we have to reach? Is it expectations from our peers, parents, faculty, or just from the world in general?
Rudi:
Yeah, I immediately just think of the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, and it reminds me of the feeling I had when we were assigned this in school to read, of, "This book's way too long. I don't want to do this." And then the only takeaway I have from that, now as I'm going through the Wikipedia page, is that it was too long and I only remember the title. And I think that's an issue.
I think we're given these expectations to read books, to read these long things, and the expectations don't always match up with what exactly we want to do. And the expectation was that we take something, and we glean this greater message behind it, and I don't know if I was developed enough in my brain to be able to think through that. And that's my concern with expectations, is that we give people these expectations to take away something without being explicit, or to look into something and not really share exactly what we are looking for. And then we even have our own ambi
