Did you ever get excited about something that you hoped would happen? I’ll bet you have.
Did you ever buy a lottery ticket and just get excited thinking about the win?
Have you ever played a game and thought about what it would be like to win?
Did you ever play a sport and fantasize about becoming a star or winning the championship?
I have done all the above. The thrill of what could happen often outweighs the reality. In sports you get hurt. In games, if you win then someone else might have hurt feelings. And the lottery, I would like to know what it’s like to win, but it just hasn’t happened to me yet. I’m optimistic though.
The feeling of anticipation makes us get excited and feel the win. Even when we’re rooting for our teams, we want them to win even though there’s little in it for us except bragging rights. We want to win!!
I feel the thrill is gone after the big win.
If you get a job you really wanted, then you realize how hard it is to keep the job and move up. It’s more work and suddenly our goals shift to what could be ahead. Yet, we still hope to take over the world. I know I do!!
Then again, as you get older you realize that anticipation is just the preview for working hard, except with the lottery ticket. After all, we may get lucky once, but how much of it was skill?
As we learn, anticipation should not be the end goal but the messy middle. The boring repetitive tasks we have to repeat to get good at something. From sports to Microsoft Excel, we have to work at it to get better.
While the anticipation builds excitement, the work creates the win! And the satisfaction, even if it’s boring or painful at the time. That should be the real excitement.