No one likes being set up to fail.
We all want to succeed and we hope or assume that others want us to succeed as well.
So when we are asked or required to complete a task, we tend to have an expectation that whoever is asking us to do so has thought about what it will take to get it done and has accounted for that in their request.
This is not always the case, however.
In fact, this is often not the case.
When we set out to accomplish whatever it is we are supposed to do and begin to run into unexpected, or even expected, obstacles and resistance along the way, it is easy to get frustrated especially if we were unprepared or underprepared from the beginning.
When this happens, it is easy to assume the worst and think that we were intentionally or negligently set up to fail.
This is especially true if we tend to be overly prepared ourselves and, therefore, expect the same from others.
The truth is that most people are not ill intentioned.
They are just like us.
They are fumbling through life and trying their best just like we are.
Besides, being upset about something that has already happened will not take us back in time to fix it anyway.
Instead of feeling slighted, hurt, or frustrated, we will be better served by being patient, compassionate, and understanding of the fact that no one is perfect, least of all us.
When it is our turn to make requests of others, hopefully we will keep this experience in mind so that we can do better for them than has been done for us.
Inevitably, however, we will be on the other side of this experience some day and we will be the ones asking others to do things that we have not fully thought through.
They will feel as though we set them up to fail even if we did not.
Life has a funny way of reflecting back to us what we have put into the world.
We should keep this in mind when we feel put upon, let down, or like we were set up to fail.
Chances are, our actions have or will make someone else feel the same way at some point.