What do I expect from myself? How much do I expect from myself? Are we living our life based on expectations we have from ourselves — and is my expectation on my achievements calibrated against the capabilities I actually possess? What will be my funeral speech?

We all live a life of uncertainty, where expectation is what is considered most likely to happen — a belief centred on the future that may or may not be realistic. A less advantageous result gives rise to disappointment.

Higher expectations, if unrealistic, leave us unhappy and demotivated no matter our achievements. Lower expectations leave us satisfied with whatever little we've achieved, but may stop us from unleashing our actual capabilities. We need to strike the right balance between our expectations and our capabilities, so we don't get disappointed.

A step-wise approach helps — keeping expectations at permissible levels, achieving rolling milestones based on our capabilities, celebrating each success, then raising the bar again so we keep growing rather than stagnating. We need to ensure that the process of setting expectations is aligned to our Purpose of Life — across Health, Wealth, Work/Career/Profession and Self Esteem/Spirituality, and for Self, Family, Friends, Society and Environment.

Make sure your expectations from yourself are realistic.