BWW Blog: Micah Young - Great Expectations

Everyone who aspires, aspires greatly. That is a matter of perspective, but for the individual, their goals are great to them. Who doesn't think of their goals, and not make them the greatest goals possible? For each person there are the expectations they create for themselves, but sometimes the expectations are in fact detrimental to obtaining the goal.

Having had this discussion of expectations on success and goals, it seems that many performing artists put high expectations on themselves. I, for one, have put the expectations on myself to amazing and wonderful and all those good things, only to be disappointed when things don't go exactly to plan. This also creates negative energy, which doesn't put me anywhere closer to my goals. It's naïve to think that everything will go according to plan.

There are contradicting forces at work: one is to have high expectations of yourself and do your best. The other is to allow for the changes and other forces in life. For example if the expectation is to be on Broadway by a certain age, and that doesn't happen, the expectation wasn't met and that is a failure. Or if the expectation is to sing that high C you've been working at for months, and it happens (or doesn't), there is value placed on that.

The more we force something to happen, the harder it becomes. This is true in singing; the more a singer is forcing notes to happen in the voice, or push a note through their vocal chords, the harder it becomes. Sometimes we have to allow things to happen, if they will. And sometimes that means taking a look at our expectations and asking ourselves if they are relative to what we are actually doing? Are they positive and constructive in our lives.

Photo Credit: Kyle Szegedi