Our Expectations Can Undermine Our Happiness

We naturally set up expectations, and they affect how we view things, and can undermine our happiness. 

A famous study on Olympians found that their overall satisfaction with their medal was related to expectations and reference points.

A bronze medal winner tended to be happier because they felt lucky to be on the stand - they were only one place away from not being there.

In contrast, a silver medalist's comparison point was the gold, and they felt dissatisfied compared to that reference point. The wished they had gold, and tended to feel like they had missed out.