Back for another spoonful of strange-but-true brain stuff? You, my friend, are in the right bowl. 🥣
This week in Sugar Cereal, we’re zooming in on how expectations (from others and ourselves) can make or break our success.
Let’s dig in. 🧠
believe to achieve 💪
Have you ever surprised yourself by accomplishing something crazy…just because someone believed in you?
Or on the flip side: ever let those negative self-talk spirals get so bad you actually do flub that presentation?
According to one of psychology’s most powerful findings, people live up (or down) to the expectations placed on them. This is known as the Pygmalion Effect.
In a famous 1968 study by Rosenthal & Jacobson, researchers told teachers certain students were “intellectual bloomers” who would make it big that year.
Here’s the twist: Those students were chosen completely at random.
By the end of the year, those “bloomers” actually did outperform their peers…and not because they were smarter. The teachers subconsciously treated them as if they were, which made all the difference. 🤓
The bloomers got more encouragement, support, and patience. Because they were expected to be smart, they were! That’s one heck of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
This shows up everywhere humans interact with each other…and themselves. We see it play out at work, in relationships, and in those morning mirror pep talks.
If others (or you) believe in your potential, you’re more likely to stretch into it. And the reverse is just as true: low expectations are like pouring poison on your growth.
Wanna put the Pygmalion Effect to work in real life?
👥 If you lead people… Set high, specific, positive expectations for them. Tell them you love the way they ask sharp questions and ask them to drive the next meeting. People tend to rise to the roles you hand them.
💬 If you give feedback… Make sure to correct behavior, not identity. You can tell someone they missed a deadline without telling them they’re disorganized. When we give people labels, they internalize them.
🧠 If you’re working on yourself… Swap “I’m bad at ___” for “I’m learning ___.”
Your brain performs better under growth‑oriented expectations, not doom‑oriented ones.
Sometimes the biggest difference between who we are and who we become is simply what someone believed about us.
Set expectations that feel exciting and achievable…for yourself and the people around you. Remember, your brain (and everyone else’s) is listening!
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