Expectations — Why having your own propels you towards success

According to Oxford Dictionary, expectation is defined as a belief that someone will or should achieve something. From a very young age we are expected to behave a certain way, achieve certain things (or milestones) and learn skills or other such things. While as children, it is natural for parents and caregivers to expect us to learn, thrive and behave somewhat better than untamed gorillas, the concept is much different once children have grown up and are preparing to receive higher education.

As soon as a student steps into a classroom, reviews the syllabus and meets the professor, they are bombarded with expectations and deadlines. Immediately, anxiety settles in and they wonder: "Oh gosh! Am I ever going to be able to reach these expectations? What if I can't?". These students willingly sold their soul registered to receive an education in a chosen field, in order to reach a desired career. That was their goal. That goal is near and dear to their heart and needs to stay there. It is imperative that it remains a top priority throughout the span of their training and throughout their career. Furthermore, professors should utilize these goals in order to boost motivation and energy from day one.

Professors, get to know your students — Who are they? Where do they come from? Why are they there? What makes them tick? What is their vision of the profession?

Most importantly: Why did they choose this particular field / this particular career? The answer to that question is the essence of what will drive them.

Utilize this information to help them create their own set of expectations and goals. Learning is by no means a one size fits all process, therefore by letting students personalize what they want to achieve, they are far more likely to persevere, excel and self-motivate. You'll see that the establishment or course expectations will come through naturally within the ones they create for themselves anyway.

To illustrate this, let's picture a child who is asked to go vacuum the basement. The job is rudimentarily done and no one is happy. Now, picture this same child being asked to do a chore but is offered to choose one he wants to accomplish. Likely, the child will come up with a chore he a) wants to do b) does well c) is aligned in time with whatever else he had planned for his day. Thus, the concept of controlled choice succeeded. This concept isn't just valid for early childhood education, it can be transformed, adapted and remodeled to fit higher education needs.

Encouraging this autonomy and individuality in students will result in a more diverse cohort that will learn from each other, therefore enriching their education experience as well as their classmates. They will have acquired, from the very beginning, how to be open minded, how to use thought process, how to innovate and be leaders. They will not enter the working world thinking everything should be done a certain way and that certain only.

Just like Maslow's hierarchy of needs, in which needs are to be fulfilled by priority in order achieve full self actualization, Bloom's Taxonomy proposes a very similar model in which a solid foundation of knowledge needs to be built in order to attain full educational potential. If, from the beginning, we do not encourage autonomy and individuality, the top tier can never be achieved, resulting in professionals who feel unfulfilled and/or frustrated. New graduates and professionals must then learn how to innovate and lead further down their career path, possibly stunting their progress and delaying the reach of their goals.

The professional world is an incredibly diversified place with infinite possibilities. Let's stop pumping out new graduates that are taught one way and one way only. Let's motivate our new professionals to be unique, think out of the box, innovate and have solid faith in their own thinking process. Let's focus on goals, not expectations  — and let's breed a new and solid generation of leaders.