If you've hung out with me in the last few years, I am sure you have heard me say:
"Low expectations are the key to happiness."
I really truly believe this when I say it.
Why was my mom happy with my grades in College? Because every time I visited I told her, "I sure hope I pass my classes!" So when I got a good grade she was ecstatic.
When you're raising a round of money and you expect it to take 6 months, and it takes 3 months, you are extremely happy.
I try to live my life with low expectations, but high standards. Standards are a few things (no more than you can count on your hands) that are core to your identity and really truly matter. I try not to compromise on my standards. People may call this semantics but there is a very core difference between a standard and an expectation.
So much of "happiness" is just perception of a situation. People often set unreasonably high expectations about a situation so that when it actually happens the reality can't live up to their expectations and they have a miserable time. This is real life. Real life kind of sucks. If you want a fantasy, play a game or watch a movie.
I wonder why people spend so much time in the pursuit of happiness. It's simple. Just expect life to be miserable and try to make it enjoyable, then you can find happiness.
