I believe having a goal in life is what motivates me to do what I do. It is what directs my focus and attention. Expectations and goals are, imho, two different things although are related in the same manner as the chicken and egg roundabout question of which came first. If I set a goal, for example, of travelling to the Holy Land two years from now, I would definitely take the necessary steps to generate the funds in two years. After identifying the different courses of action I must take, then the expectations come in. Let's say I am a salesman. After determining how much I need for the travel, I find that I need to make 2 calls a day everyday for the next 2 years. Once I start doing this then the expectations come to fore as I will begin to monitor whether the steps I identified will be effective or not.

Just thinking out loud. I enjoyed reading the post.