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Expectations are like several parts of our anatomy ... we all have them.

We expect that when we go to bed at night we'll wake up in the morning. We expect that if we call for a pizza at some stage a delivery guy is going to knock on our door with our order ... and it's still going to be hot.

We expect that when we turn our computer on in the morning then it's going to work and we expect that our Internet connection will work too. And why shouldn't we have all these expectations? They're all perfectly reasonable aren't they? We live in a world where all those things can ... and do ... happen every day so why can't we have those expectations?

And of course it is perfectly reasonable to expect that those things will happen as we expect them to but sometimes we tend to let our expectations run away with us. Without realizing it we begin to believe that all of our expectations are perfectly reasonable and things will go exactly according to our expectations. We fail to see that some of our expectations are built on little more than wishful thinking and they're never going to happen ... and when we don't see that we can set out on a course of action that is destined to fail.

Two of my current crop of clients are perfect examples of that. In mid-November one client approached me to build an online shop for them that will sell products that relate to their bricks and mortar store. They'll be drop shipping and the supplier had a spreadsheet ready for them that contained over 13,000 items.

No ... that's not a typo ... there are more than 13,000 lines in that spreadsheet and the client has had us building the framework for that online shop ... not adding stock ... just building the framework. There's nothing wrong with the client expecting us to build framework and in fact we've done that.

The unreal expectation came to light when we discovered that the client planned on stocking that shop by importing that spreadsheet and then writing unique descriptions for each item using nothing more than her mobile phone ... and getting it all done in time for the Christmas rush.

Unreal expectation number two involves a client who runs a business that provides some high-end services to other businesses. He's had us rebuilding his website and that has involved some tricky juggling a lot of important links for potential clients as well as current clients. Fitting them all in and having them easy to see ... and find ... when the responsive design shrinks down to fit a mobile phone is the tricky bit but it's not an unreasonable expectation.

The unreal expectation appeared after we looked at the images he gave us to use. There were lots of images but nothing bigger than 400px on the longest side ... and there were no big images available. So he's getting a whole new set of images shot but he expects us to be able to rebuild the site before the images are done so he can start some marketing the day after the photos are delivered to us.

This guy is in the building industry but what he doesn't seem to grasp is that what he expects us to do is like showcasing a new home before the first set of frames have been delivered.

So what are your expectations and how much trust do you put in those expectations?

Everyone builds their business empire based expectations. Some of those expectations are quite reasonable and there are no problems meeting them ... but some of those expectations are quite unreasonable and when those expectations aren't met the empire collapses.

Putting your trust in unreasonable expectations is almost a complete guarantee of failure and I would suggest that just about everyone who is trying to build a business needs to frequently go back and look at their expectations because ... even if your expectations were all perfectly reasonable when you started out ... things change.

What was once reasonable may well become unreasonable as the years go on. Google ... and people's reliance on Google for the success of their business ... is a perfect example. Years ago it seemed perfectly reasonable to expect to be able to build your online business and totally rely on Google to send you free traffic. Many people with that expectation made lots of money but things have been changing.

Starting a new business with that expectation today is a guarantee of failure ... so how are your expectations working for you?

Do you need to go back and look at them again or have you always based your expectations on common sense and reality?