Empathy & Expectation

Originally posted on The Thought Depository

Many a time, we expect others to reach our standards/levels of ability, be it intellectual, emotional, or physical, in what we can sometimes refer to as the Expectations Model.

But we too often fail to recognise that there are limitations we do not see. We cannot expect the rest of the society to be as fortunate as us, a level of awareness our ‘meritocratic’ system has inhibited.

Elements of The Expectations Model
– Disparity in perceived level of experience and intended/predicted level
– Lack of communication and feelings of unfairness
– Self reinforcing-loop of negative emotions

Here are some rules I suggest:
– Always be explicit with what you want.
– Make people do it for you as a friend.
– Never have expectations, and treat everyone else as ‘one-down’ from an area you are an expert in.