Achievement vs. Expectation

Two words I've seen used interchangeable far too often.

Achievement (n) : A result gained by effort.
Expectation (n) : The act or state of anticipation.

"She met my expectation."
Expressing that your dog met your expecation usually can mean very opposite things. Did you expect success or failure? Why did you expect this outcome? Is it fair to expect it? You expected your dog to Q, but have you considered the variables that home into play on an agility course?

"We achieved our goal."
Expressing that you did in fact set a goal. Goals may not be acquired quickly, as many of us are familiar with. Say you set your goal to be getting a MACH on your 4-year-old dog before the dog retires; you aren't committing yourself to the mindset that you have to get it because you expect it to happen.

Now look back at the quotes. What do you see?

In the expectation quote, it uses words such as "She" and "my". Referring to one or the other teammate. Handler and dog are seperate parts. It'd be silly to say, "we met our expectation", because did your dog expect this? Did she tell you this?

In the achievement quote, you instantly see "we" and "our". Referring to the dog and handler team as a whole.

So...
Is it okay to expect outcomes? That's completely up to you and what you believe. I'm not going to tell you that an opinion is incorrect, but looking further in depth to the word "expectation", is it really fair to use?

I think we should all step back and look at what we're really in this sport for. You're never guaranteed to Q and/or place, therefore if that was you're expectation, you just let yourself down and most likely, you're going to be upset like I see too often at trials.
However, if you set goals to achieve, you can gradually work towards them staying positive and happy with your dog.

Just my random late-night mini rant.