Think about it.  The lemons that Life hands you are disappointments - a big bushel of dispair - especially when you were expecting a bushel of some real beauties like apples or oranges.  Expectations sometimes get us in trouble, but unlike many psychiatrists that I know (it's weird, but three or four of my childhood friends became shrinks), I don't advocate lowering those expectations.

Take the realm of dating or marriage, for instance: My auntie says, "Claire... your expectations are too high for these men.  Lower them a little, give a little, and you'll be happy."  Then, she pours me a cup of tea, and, without adding any sugar, hands it over to me.

How can I possibly be expected to drink unsweetened tea?!  I've told my auntie that, time and time again, that I'm very picky about my men and that I like sugar in my tea -- honey, at very least!  Still, my auntie's one for making lemonade out of lemons, instead of simply pitching the entire bushel and moving on as I am. And so, as she drinks her unsweetened tea and prattles on about my lack of a husband at my overripe age of 25, I eventually come to the same point during each of these conversations:  "Auntie," I say, "I love you, and I would never change you, even though you're wrong."

As she sputters into her teacup, I smile pleasantly and tell her, "I'm picky about my men because I want what's right for me, not what you or anyone else think should be right for me."

That note is especially important: Disappointments are often the expectations of others foisted on your shoulders that you can't, in your heart, live up to and carry on under the weight.  Often, we take others' expectations into ourselves and depression lays in when they simply don't fit what is right for us.

Jon is a big fan of pushing people, of grasping higher, of reaching out into the ether to pull amazing things from the sky. His expectations aren't too low, and even though sometimes we, as his employees, don't quite make the grade, we've never asked him to lower them.  You see, Gentle Readers, having high expectations is giving yourself a personal push of motivation, wanting -- nigh, NEEDING -- more than what you have.

Here in the Real Estate Industry, you probably all know well how hard it is to hope for more, especially since this industry was so deeply plunged into the recession.  I'm sure many of you are still carrying around that bushel of lemons, trying to figure out where you can find the sugar my Auntie stole from me in order to make some lemonade. 

Let me ask you this: Are your disappointments and expectations by others truly worth the weight you're carrying?  The answer is quite simple and very, very succinct: Are you nuts? Of course not.

That weight will be lifted the moment that you recognize that having higher expectations and hoping for more is okay, even valued, over living under the depressive and soul-collapsing crush of what other people think is best for you. 

Learning to be good at what you do is not a matter of how many facts you know or where you place a chair (under the window?  In the corner?), but how adaptive, agile, and attentive you are.  By setting your expectations high and working in favor of highering them every step of the way, by pitching those lemons to the roadside and demanding sugar in your tea, by always feeding that craving for more, not only will you evolve and adapt as a professional, but you will come to realize that it's those who make lemonade who probably need people like you the most.