Expectations Can Change Reality

One of the most thought-changing books I read recently was “The expectation Effect.” The book describes our brain as a “prediction machine” and shows multiple examples of how our expectations can change reality (for better or worse).

The example that most people are familiar with is the “placebo effect,” a term used to describe how believing that a medical treatment will help by itself will help you get better, even if, in the end, it is just a sugar pill. It is so powerful that medical trials always need to compare the result of the actual medicine with the sugar pill to prove the valid results.

In the book, I learned about the “nocebo effect,” which is the opposite of a placebo. A nocebo is when negative expectations happen even when there is no evidence. One example in the book is how patients who were told that the aspirin might cause side effects of indigestion and stomach discomfort were six times more likely to report nausea and indigestion and stop treatment than those who weren’t told about the side effects.

This provides an essential takeaway on managing expectations in our lives. If you read that the job interview you have is hard, and 80% of candidates fail, it will make you much more likely to find the interview hard and fail. You want to reframe your expectations and focus on that 20% of the candidates get the job, and focus on what they did to prepare for that, to increase your chances of success. Reframing your expectations on a positive note is as important as working on your craft to help you achieve the best outcome.

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