You don’t get what you want in life—you get what you expect.

There’s a powerful study that proves just how much our expectations shape our reality. A group of people suffering from chronic knee pain were selected for surgery. Some actually had their knees scraped out. Some had their knees washed out. And some… didn’t get surgery at all. The doctors simply made an incision to make it look like they had an operation.

Yet, after the procedure, every single person reported feeling less pain—even the ones who never actually had surgery.

Why?

Because they expected to get better.

This is called expectancy theory. The brain learns what to expect, whether it’s real or not. When your mind fixates on an expectation, it starts looking for ways to make it real. That’s why what you believe—and what you genuinely expect—has the power to shape your reality.

The Power of Expectation

You have to hold positive expectations in your mind, even when you don’t see the path yet. Even when you don’t know where the money will come from, how the right people will show up, or how the pieces will come together.

If you believe that something bigger than you has put you on a path, then you have to trust that it also intends to see you through.

The “how” isn’t your job. Your job is to believe and take faithful action with what you can today.

Question Your Limiting Beliefs

It’s not the things you don’t know that hold you back—it’s the things you think you know that aren’t actually true. The beliefs that tell you something is impossible before you even try.

Question every assumption you have about what can and can’t be done. Be open to new possibilities. Challenge the way things have always been done. Because when you shift what you believe is possible, you shift what’s actually possible for you.

Your Mind Shapes Your Reality

What the mind focuses on, it creates. What the heart truly believes, it moves toward.

Crazy how powerful little things like your expectations and beliefs can be, right?