On occasional Wednesdays, I offer tips for adulthood.
I was talking to my son on the phone yesterday. He’s at college in the U.S. – ( we live in the UK) – and he was telling me about a recent mid-term he’d taken in Economics.
“Yeah, I don’t think I did very well on it,” he said. “I’m hoping I got a B.”
Hmmmm. As someone who regularly sets the bar too high in just about everything I do, I had trouble swallowing this at first. When I was in college, getting a “B” in anything felt like a massive failure. But I suppressed that thought and instead asked him how he felt about the experience.
“I was bummed for a few minutes,” he said. “Because I did study for the test. But then I just went back to reading Antigone for my literature class and realized that mattered so much more to me.”
In other words, rather than castigate himself for not performing to his highest standard, he moved on.
Wow. Not for the first time, I realized I was taking life lessons from my 18 year-old.
In that spirit – and because I’m all about adopting a growth mindset – here are five tips for lowering your expectations.
Read the rest of this post over on Better After 50…
Image: Cherry Chocolate Danish Pastry via Pixabay
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