Expectations, hopes and goals!?!
Before an imminent sailing weekend on the West Coast, my partner asked me what I had for the weekend. "Sunny weather!" I said right away. Yes, he said then, precisely the weather may be stupid to have expectations about, we can not influence that. And he was right in that. It was rather a hope I had.
Similarly, I see that we often confuse the concepts in our approach to managing and directing companies and organizations. What is a forecast - is it what we hope to happen or is it an "objective" assessment of the future? Do the goals and follow-up measures we formulate reflect the things we can actually influence the outcome of, or is it rather something we have to take into account and respond to when it happens?
For my own part, I decided to change my expectations that the weather can actually be anyway (the metrologists have been wrong before ..). Action - pack both full sailboats, linen and shorts! And what I can actually influence was to contribute to a nice weekend, regardless of the weather and wind, so that became my goal.