Today, President Barak Obama accepted his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslow, Norway, as the world debates whether or not he deserves the award. I’ve been asked if I think President Obama deserves a Nobel Peace Prize… I don’t think I’m one to judge. I tend to not be very politically minded. I do, however, have some thoughts on the subject in general, though.
As I wrote in my Examiner.com column today, I think if President Obama hasn’t done enough to earn the Nobel Peace prize yet, receiving the award will drive him to do so in the future. Just as parents who hold high expectations for their children raise high-performing children who more often than not meet their parents’ expectations, there’s nothing wrong with offering a prize for something we expect our president to accomplish. (It’s a little odd, I know, but it does work…) This makes him feel responsible for accomplishing the task.
Like a good father, God often gave characters in the Torah, like Moses, large tasks to accomplish. God’s expectation that they could do these things surely helped motivate them to accomplish their task.
When people expect me to accomplish something, I’m more likely to do so. Recently, I’ve been very aware of this fact. I completed a project that entailed getting 90 people on board with me. Those 90 people expected that project to become a published book. (I had a publishing contract at the time, but the publisher backed out at the last minute.) It would be easy for me to just say, “The heck with it,” and give up. However, I know those 90 people are waiting…wondering…and expecting one day to see that book published. So, I keep on trying to find a publisher, and I’ve committed to self-publishing the book if need be. (Anyone know of a publisher interested in a Jewish celebrity cookbook with 25% of the profits going to MAZON: A Jewish Response to World Hunger?) Plus, I told so many people that I had received that book contract. They, too, expected me to have a published book in hand at some point… These facts keep me moving forward, albeit slowly.
The other day I walked into Aleph Bet Judaica in Los Gatos, CA, and the owner of the store asked me about another of my book projects: my book on Shabbat candle lighting as a spiritual practice. This reminded me that when my former agent failed to sell the project, I simply let it drop. I tried to sell it to one other publisher on my own, but that was it. I never wrote the book. I never peddled it myself. I haven’t spoken to my new agent about it; instead I have her peddling a new book project. Suddenly, I felt the need to go home and write the book. Or, at the very least, to ask my agent about sending out my query and proposal to publishers after she sells my current project. Why? Because someone expects me to actually produce this book. She’s waiting to be able to sell it in her store.
What about my own expectations for myself, though. An even great driving force is…or should be…the fact that I expect myself to accomplish these goals. Of course, these are goals I set for myself. God didn’t ask me to write the books. (Well…I do feel writing them corresponds with my soul’s purpose, so, in a sense, God did ask me to write them.) I only let myself down by not accomplishing them.
When I announce to anyone that I plan on accomplishing these goals, suddenly I have accountability partners. American’s serves as accountability partners for President Obama. My accountability partners let me know when I’m not doing what I said I would do.
Yet, we still must account to ourselves. What kind of expectations are we setting for ourselves? High ones or low ones? Do we live up to our own expectation for ourselves? And then we must go out and meet our own expectations. In the end, that’s all that really matters.
