Cheerful, unworried people (those whose mental state resembles that of a golden retriever) tend to split their expectations in two: a minimum level of performance about which they would feel content an aspirational level, which they may not seriously expect to reach and to which they do not feel extremely attached They reveal these twin achievement lines when they talk about their expectations. “I’m just hoping not to fall out of the boat and drown. But it would be fun to find out I’m great at this.” “It would be nice to ace this exam, but I’ll be happy just to pass it.”
