They said, “Expect the worst but hope for the best.” This saying helped me a lot loads of times before, especially when things didn’t go my way. It’s hard not to expect something while you hope of it, especially when you really think you did everything to get it.
Hoping for the best is easy. Everyone wishes for everything to go their way. Why would anyone try to do anything if they didn’t want something to happen or get something from what they do? A performer may sing on stage and just want to hit the notes properly and show the audience his/her musical prowess. Another performer may sing on stage to tell the audience a story through the words and notes of the song. Another may perform just to entertain people and hitting the notes properly is not important to him/her at all. Each of them wants something he/she may or may not get from a performance. Each of them may do something or nothing about it.
When we know something will go badly, will we even try to do it? What for? I can do something else and spend my time on something that would get me somewhere instead. If we are sure we will not get something we want from the things we do, will we still do it? Will you practice if you don’t believe you’ll get better? Expecting the worst from everything all the time will eventually make one a pessimist. If you’re too sure that bad things will happen, no matter what you do, why would you even bother to resist it?
But the truth is, we don’t know. No one surely knows what will happen. It can be bad, but it can also be good. And we do the things we do so we can increase the chances of our chosen outcome. The first performer can vocalize and practice everyday. The second can internalize more and study his/her piece to tell its story properly. The third one can practice to learn when his/her singing becomes funny or entertaining, so he/she can practice more of those. They can do these things to prepare for the performance, increase their chances to get what they want and slim the chances of failure. Or they can all do nothing and just wait for everything to be over. Of course, they can’t expect everything to go well and perfect because they didn’t do anything to increase their chance of achieving their goal.
Of course, no matter what we do there is still that chance, however small, that something bad will happen. After all, we can’t possibly control everything. What we can do is prepare ourselves that unexpected things could happen and think of ways on how we could respond in case they do. You don’t want to get wet? Bring an umbrella in case it rains later. You need to have battery all day today, though you prepared it and have it fully charged, still bring your power bank in case it drains.
Do everything you can to get your chosen outcome. Don’t just expect the worst. Hope for the best and be prepared to turn the outcome the way you want it to.
Level Up Lorr 