(Great) Expectations
The power of standards, and why goals pale in comparison
Hey everyone 👋🏻,
Happy Sunday and welcome back to another edition of The Gunn Show. As always, I hope you had a fantastic week.
It’s been a busy last couple of weeks with the Thanksgiving holiday, house projects, baby prep, and more on the docket - as well as MLB Winter Meetings in Dallas this upcoming week.
As such, there are a number of things worth updating. First and foremost, I would like to wish a belated Happy Birthday to one of the biggest supporters of this program - Mom! I know I speak for many others when I say thank you for the endless grace and love you show us all. Each of us is better off for having you as a light in our lives and here’s to hoping you feel that love returned ten-fold on your special day.
The past two weeks have been both full and fulfilling for the Gunns. It was a great Thanksgiving as it was our first time hosting for the holidays at our new house. We were full of projects from start to finish: from patio furniture to bedroom sets, Christmas decorations to a nursery setup - if you can name it, we probably took care of it. In the event that you are in need of any assistance with a hand wrench for your home improvement needs, I can confidently say that I can be of some assistance (assuming I don’t develop Carpel Tunnel syndrome over the coming days…).
And considering the sports centric nature of this family, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention a particularly special occurrence: the Tennessee Volunteers are College Football Playoff bound for the first time in program history following a 36-23 win over Vanderbilt last week. After a nerve-wracking start that saw the Vols down 14-0 in just 5 minutes of play, they re-grouped and found a way to come out on the right side of the scoreboard in a “win and in” situation for what was arguably the program’s biggest football victory in 3 decades. The bleak aftermath of the Georgia loss three weeks ago seems like a distant memory at this point, as college football’s never ending penchant for chaos has set the Vols up in prime position to be one of the 12 teams left to compete for a National Championship. As of noon Eastern today, we will know who awaits the Big Orange in the first round of the playoff. Here’s to hoping the committee does the right thing and sets them up for a Round 1 home game in Neyland two weeks from now….
But enough on the update front - let’s get on to the topic for this week. It’s one I’ve been thinking on for a while especially as it relates to sports and athletic accomplishment - expectations.
Let’s dive in.
- CG
Expectations
There was an innocuous yet powerful comment tucked away at the back end of Josh Heupel’s post-game press conference last Saturday that caught my attention.
When asked for his breakdown of the post-game message he shared with his Volunteer team in the aftermath of their victory - specifically as it relates to the College Football Playoff spot they had just clinched - he offered the following:
"There was an expectation from our staff and our players… it was a goal… but it was [also] an expectation to be in this," Heupel said.
It was a small quote, but one that struck a chord with me considering I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about the concept of ‘goals’. It’s an idea I find myself coming back to on a routine cadence this time of year with the MLB playoffs in the rear-view mirror and CFB soon to follow suit - specifically as it relates to the ‘goal’ many have but few realize: the opportunity to be crowned a champion.
What I found most interesting about Heupel’s comment was the way in which he drew a line between two words we often use in conjunction with one another - expectations and goals. Rather than treating them as one and the same, he instead juxtaposed each against the other, saying that the Vols had both. Like many, they had a goal to be in the College Football Playoff; but like few, they also had an expectation that they would be. And in that contrast, I believe, is a very powerful lesson.
From my perspective, that lesson is this: expectations and goals exist in very different realms, such that a cavernous gap marks the distance between them both. And while many like to think there is a bridge that joins them together, it may not be nearly as sturdy as we might initially believe.
The Difference Between Goals & Expectations
Let’s talk about why, starting with goals.
I think of them in the following way: goals are the things you “hope for”, the end points you “aspire to”. They are something out in the distance that you want but do not have, a vision that offers the promise to be captured yet comes with no guarantee that it will.
From my perspective, goals are about “nice to have” outcomes - blurry pictures we hope to one day turn from dream to reality, accomplishments for us to work towards. When goals are realized a sense of pride accompanies them; when they are not, disappointment reigns. But while falling short of them is painful, it is not crippling - there will always be other goals to take their place, opportunities to reset and reload. A chance to dust ourselves off and try again. Life will go on.
But expectations are something entirely different. Because while goals are concerned with outcomes, expectations revolve around what drives those outcomes in the first place. They are the things that you believe you are, rather than the things that you aspire to be. They are the bars you hold yourself to, the standards that align your vision and clarify your behaviors. Expectations compress your actions to a narrow band of possibilities because at the end of the day they simply say that you see no other option.
Expectations are similar to goals in that a sense of pride follows when we meet them. Prizes and praise, too. But unlike goals, the riches of accomplishment are often muted in the context of our expectations - not because they ‘don’t matter’, but rather because there is no accompanying sense of surprise when you wind up at the place you expected to be at all along. With expectations, the surprise does not come when you meet them - instead, it comes when you do not. So while failing to reach our goals leads to a softened disappointment, falling short of our expectations leads to something much more powerful: an excruciating cascade of emotion, a brutal awakening of dealing with the reality of not living to the standards that you have set for yourself.
And so, the contrast between the two - between goals and expectations - could not be more stark. Because where goals say “I want to be”, expectations say “I am”; where goals are a “nice to have”, expectations are instead a “must have”. And while goals deal with dreams and life as we wish it would be, expectations deal with reality as we believe it is meant to be.
The implications of this delineation is important, because while goals give us something to strive for we still must walk a pathway in order to reach them. This is where expectations come in - with the right standards in our lives to hold ourselves to, we add a wind to our back along the journey; a laminate on the surface to provide us the traction we need to keep moving forward when the going gets tough - if only because we expect nothing less of ourselves.
Expectations drive the realization of goals, and to think otherwise is to put the cart before the horse. By shifting our perspective on endpoints, we can turn our aspirations from a foggy dream into an inevitable outcome in a story that has yet to reach its conclusion, but one that we know will ultimately run its course. So much so that I believe there is a blunt truth to be learned about the delineation between goals and expectations:
The fastest way to bigger and better outcomes is bigger and better expectations - not bigger and better goals.
Expectations and Outcomes, Through the Lens of Sport
The above statement is a fundamental concept to consider when it comes to human behavior - whether we are talking about understanding it or changing it.
Why? Because expectations are inextricably linked with identity - who you are as a person; the things you believe you are about; the guiding principles that provide the foundation from which you operate. What you expect of yourself tells you what you believe about yourself, and when you believe something your actions will naturally follow suit.
This is a concept that is well documented in the domain of habit change, and one that is captured well in one of my favorite quotes from the author James Clear:
“ The most effective way to change your habits is not to focus on what you want to achieve, but on who you wish to become” (Atomic Habits)
Said differently, expectations shape behavior. And there is a logical conclusion that follows: if you want better results, spend time realigning your expectations of yourself first and your goals second.
When I think about this conversation in the context of sports, I can’t help but think of it as a principle I’ve seen play out time and time again watching elite players, elite coaches, and elite teams.
First, in regards to players. As I’ve stepped back to think about what makes an elite performer beyond just their physical abilities, there is one recognition that stands out above the others: many of the best have goals, but virtually all of them have expectations.
Some are certainly motivated by awards and accomplishments, wanting to bring home Silver Sluggers, MVPs, and the like. But the best are driven by something much more powerful than accolades - they possess a foundational expectation of what they are capable of, a bar they hold themselves to on a daily basis.
From my lens, it is the existence of a standard - rather than goals - that guides the actions of the best athletes at every moment of the day. It is something that they hold themselves to rather than something they chase, which in turn leads to a powerful inner confidence and conviction that allows their natural talents to be on full display when the lights are the brightest. So much so that we joke in professional baseball that there is actually a sixth tool on top of the traditional five: delusion.
What this means is that the quickest path to being good is often believing that you are in the first place - regardless of whether that may or may not be true in the moment. In the case of athletes, expectations are the Schelling point around which all else orient. They are a pre-requisite to high performance in front of 40,000+ every night. Because at the end of the day, you only get what you expect.
And I think the same can be said when it comes to coaches, perhaps even more so than with players. Think about it - how many times have you heard a head coach mention the words “standard” or “expectations”? Whether in an introductory press-conference (ie “this is going to be the standard here”) or in media responsibilities after a tough loss (ie “we didn’t play up to our expectations tonight”), you will hear them talk about the two concepts ad nauseam for a simple reason: as figureheads of their respective programs, coaches are the ones setting the expectations for everyone - not just themselves.
Take it from one of the greats in Nick Saban, who when asked recently about his time at Alabama said the following:
“It wasn’t about winning championships…..There were no signs in the building that said win the SEC. There were no signs up in the building that said win the national championship. There was a sign that said be a champion in everything you do. Then there was a definition of what that took.”
For Saban and the Tide, the championships sitting in the trophy case in Tuscaloosa are the direct result of living up to a standard instead of chasing a goal. Rather than pushing his staff and players towards something, he instead held them to something. Expectations of championship behavior meant championships followed suit. Funny how that works.
Another example can be found far to the northwest in Eugene, Oregon - Dan Lanning, head coach of the newly minted Big 10 Champion Oregon Ducks. A disciple of the Saban-Smart tree himself, he had the following to say last year:
“[It’s] 1A and 1B. 1A win, 1B playing to the standard. If you do either one without the other you’re going to feel unfulfilled. And that’s really what it’s about for us is making sure we hit one 1A and 1B. We want to play to the standard, and we want to win the game.”
It’s a perspective I love: when it comes to the best, goals alone are not what makes the journey of achievement fulfilling. You need expectations and a standard to hold yourself to, and a recognition that the outcomes you want will be a natural byproduct of simply meeting the bar - assuming it is high enough.
Expectation Implications
Let me provide a few more rapid fire thoughts on expectations before we close:
1. Expectations are a Shortcut to Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
This is something that has stuck out to me like a sore thumb watching college football over the last two weeks - some teams simply find a way, no matter the circumstances. I believe this is something naturally stems from high expectations.
Take Georgia as an example. Two weeks ago, they won an 8 OT thriller against Georgia Tech in a matchup where they brought their “D-” performance to the field. A mere week later, they followed that performance up by winning the SEC Championship after having to insert their backup quarterback into the game for the entirety of the second half - a player that has attempted less than 40 pass attempts over the last two seasons combined.
During both games, the odds were bleak for the Dawgs at critical points - but it didn’t matter. Down 14 to your in-state rival with 5:37 left in the 4th quarter at home? No problem, we’ll win anyways. Lost your starting QB against a top 5 defense in the country in the biggest game of the year? No problem, we’ll win anyways.
In both cases when it mattered most, Georgia found a way to win because it is was their expectation. Circumstances be damned, they were going to come out on top because that’s simply what they do. And I’d be lying if they didn’t have me believing the same way as I watched those games unfold: regardless of the score, I couldn’t help but think they’d wind up on top when the clock hit 0:00.
So call it what you want: confidence or conviction; the placebo effect or a self-fulfilling process. But the point remains: more often than you think, you don’t get what you want. You get what you expect.
2. Expectations You Set for Yourself >>> Expectations Others Set for You
We live in a world where people are hyper-focused on what others think of them. Our friends, our parents, our co-workers, our bosses - in every aspect of our lives, there is a never-ending stream of people that supposedly get to have an opinion on us. And the weight of all those expectations for us can be a hard burden to bear.
But there is a hack to solving this, one I’ve learned personally over the past number of years: the higher the expectations you set for yourself, the less you have to worry about the ones others set for you.
Setting your own standards high is a shortcut to stripping the pressure from others out of the equation. Because when you set the bar for yourself higher than anyone could ever set for you, a perspective shift occurs: you no longer need to focus on rising to the expectations of others because the ones you have of yourself are plenty enough.
Meet your high expectations first and it will leave no doubt that you’ll meet those of others.
3. The Dark Side of Expectations
Expectations are a paradox in that they are freeing yet demanding. And as such, there is a dark side that can come with them if not managed properly.
A key here is that your expectations have to be somewhat aligned with reality - because while they can force you to rise to a new level, they can also drag you into the darkness should you fail to meet them.
To misalign your expectations with reality is a recipe for disaster: at a certain point, no matter of effort or confidence will be sufficient to surmount a large gap between where you expect to be and where you actually are. And in the case where your expectations are poorly calibrated to truth, that is likely going to lead to you being pissed off a lot.
This is a concept that likely bears deeper discussion at some point, as it is perhaps the biggest thing I see holding athletes and others back from true progress. But for now I’ll leave you with this: leveraging expectations properly necessitates an appropriate alignment between where you actually are and where you believe you should be.
Closing - Expect More, Get More
From my view, great expectations are in short supply in our modern world. We have shifted away from standards in favor of goals, rewarding participation with trophies and prizes regardless of where the bar is set in the first place. And so it is my strong belief that we are in need of a perspective shift as a society, one that eschews the allure of goals and instead priorities the power of expectation.
Lyndon B Johnson once said that “what convinces is conviction”, and it is this sentiment that underscores the necessity of expectations over goals.
Internal standards and expectations lend themselves to a resulting conviction that far outweighs the power of aspiration. Which leads me to a hard truth to close: people that expect more generally get more.
Many want, but few expect. And in that realization is all the help you need. Change your expectations first, and watch your outcomes change as a result.
It really is as simple as that.
