Metro: seeking views on managing high expectations

"It's not uncommon for people to have high expectations of themselves as it helps to drive them towards better opportunities and outcomes. "We often have high expectations placed on us by our parents, teachers or bosses, so it's perfectly normal to have internalised these ideas for ourselves. "However, sometimes what we expect to be able to achieve proves to be unattainable and can lead us to feel like a failure. "When this happens, we need to take a self-compassionate approach and understand that these things happen. Talk to yourself compassionately in other words. "Breaking expectations down slightly by making them more realistic and achievable means we'll have less chance of falling short and criticising ourselves further."