Expectations can be brutal, just ask Matt Williams.
Last week, Williams was fired as manager of the Washington Nationals after the team did not make the playoffs and finished second in the National League East.
Flashback to a year ago and times were very different. Williams was at the top of his profession having led the Nationals to an NL-best 96 wins and an NL East title in his first season as a manager. His tremendous year was rewarded with the National League Manager of the Year Award.
In 12 months, Williams went from being the best coach in the league to out of work. Did he forget how to coach? No. Did he trade away all the best players? No. So what changed?
Expectations.
Following an impressive season in 2014, the Nationals were favored by many to win the World Series. Expectations were through the roof which made the second place finish feel so much more disappointing. Fans and ownership were expecting great things and when those things did not happen, Williams was to blame.
“You look at the roster that we had in the winter here and going into spring training was a roster that many, many people felt was a championship-caliber roster,” Nationals General Manager Mike Rizzo said at the press conference announcing Williams firing.
Expectations can be brutal.
Williams was a victim of his own success. I can relate, although on a much smaller scale.
When I wrote my first children’s book, I had no expectations. I had never written a book before, and quite frankly, I didn’t even know if I could. I expected very little and so few people knew that I was working on a book that no one had time to develop expectations for me.
Flash forward a year and my book was released to generally positive reviews. Now all of a sudden people we asking when the next book was coming. It seemed that all people wanted to do was look ahead to book number 2. Couldn’t we just enjoy #1 for awhile? Nope.
This caused me to panic a little. People wanted a second book and I became nervous that I couldn’t deliver.
On the surface, it seems silly. You’d think the second book would be easier. After all, I went through the process of the first one, I knew what to do and was better prepared for how to write a children’s story. Not only that, but I should be a better writer after spending so much time practicing while working on book 1.
I imagine it was similar with Williams. He had gone through the rigors of a Major League Baseball season and had great success. That had to make him more prepared for year 2, right?
Maybe not.
I can’t speak for Williams, but I know the expectations paralyzed me. I was so concerned that I might not be able to live up to people’s hype that I spent weeks without writing at all. I had an idea for book #2, but I was afraid that I would create something that would fall short in people’s eyes.
This fear prevented me from even trying.
It took a long time for me to get over this fear. I don’t remember what turned it around for me, but eventually I decided to just start writing again. In the back of my mind, I was still concerned that I wouldn’t be able to replicate, let alone improve on, book 1, but I didn’t let that concern paralyze me.
First, I had to acknowledge that yes, there is a chance book 2 will stink. And and yes it may not live up to expectations. Just as we saw with the Washington Nationals, things can go wrong in year 2 (or book 2). So wrong in fact, that you could be looking for work, like Williams.
Expectations can be brutal. If Williams was the manager of the Chicago White Sox, he probably would still have a job right not. It can be much easier to fly under the radar.
But just because things can go wrong, doesn’t mean we should give up before we even begin.
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