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Unit 13, page 211, read.

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I hope for it, but I don't expect it.

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It's the 22nd Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

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Slovenian skier Tina Mazzei has emerged as a strong favorite

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to medal in the super-combined women's downhill in alpine skiing.

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In her record-breaking season of 2012-2013,

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Mazzei had won 11 World Cup medals,

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and she had previously earned two silver medals

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in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

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Many expect her to win this downhill race, but she doesn't.

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After finishing in the number four position, she says,

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somebody had to finish fourth.

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Two days later, however, the situation is different.

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Few, if any, are expecting Mazzei to take a gold medal

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in the women's downhill.

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She doesn't want to take a downhill race, but take one she does.

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Amazingly, Tina ends up tied with Swiss skier Dominique Hizine.

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The two skiers finish with exactly the same time,

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the first time this has happened in a Winter Olympics.

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Mazzei later says she'd thought she'd blown her chance for a gold medal

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because in the second part of the race she'd made some small mistakes.

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But the 30-year-old Mazzei wins Slovenia's first gold medal,

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even though after her supposed mistakes, she hadn't expected to win at all.

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It's the weekend, and you and your friend feel like going to a movie.

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You search the local movie listings, but nothing sounds particularly interesting.

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Then you remember that a film website has recommended

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the Academy Award-nominated film, Her.

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The website raves about its fascinating plot,

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its excellent color photography,

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and its awesome commentary on our culture's technological addiction.

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The movie is about a man who writes love letters for others

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and ends up falling in love with the operating system on his computer.

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You find this an amusing idea

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and are curious to see how the movie's storyline will be developed.

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So you go to the movie, expecting to like it,

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but as you watch it, you find it full of increasingly preposterous

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and unconvincing events.

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Contrary to your expectations, you end up disliking the movie.

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Your friend, who didn't read any reviews prior to seeing the movie,

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winds up having much more positive feelings about it than you do.

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These two situations illustrate what we might call

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the mystery of expectations.

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On the one hand, events often have surprising outcomes

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that turn out much more positively than we had expected.

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On the other hand,

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events often do not turn out as we feel they will or should.

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Sometimes children do not meet their parents' career expectations of them.

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Athletes do not win the contests people expect them to win.

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Great literature doesn't live up to its reputation.

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I asked a psychology instructor at a local university

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whether she thought expectations can actually make things turn out negatively

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or whether we're merely talking about an unpleasant,

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frustrating irony of the human condition.

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She observed that the mind has immense power to control outcomes.

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In sporting competitions, for instance,

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she noted that athletes sometimes concentrate too hard

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and make mistakes they wouldn't normally make.

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They miss the basket, don't hit the ball, or lose the race.

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In effect, they're letting their expectations control them.

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I then asked the professor at the University of Michigan,

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if she had ever experienced this phenomenon in her everyday life.

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She said she had, many times.

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Let me give you a personal example from skiing

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that shows the mind's tremendous power.

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There are days when I feel like a tense, cautious, intermediate skier,

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and I stand at the top of a steep, icy slope,

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plotting my every move down the course.

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I fear that I'll fall, thereby ensuring that I do fall.

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Other days, I feel different.

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My expectations are miles away.

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I forget about myself, ski well, and don't fall.

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To be successful, people should concentrate on the process

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instead of the goal.

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When they persist in placing an excessive focus on goals,

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they often fail.

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Have you heard the phrase, trying too hard?

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That's what people often do.

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I asked the professor about her overall recommendation,

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for dealing with the phenomenon of expectations.

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Her concluding statement was this.

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It's better to hope for things than to expect them.

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Good suggestion, I thought.