Episode 16 – The Power of Hope (The G.R.I.T. Podcast)

Episode Transcript

Hello everybody, I’m Steven Nathenson, CEO and Founder of Strive For More, and today I want to talk about, hope, for a minute. I want to talk about, what is it? We often talk about it, we know how powerful it can be, and we’re going to dig into that here briefly as well. But what really is hope? Is it wishing? Is it wanting? Is it optimism? Well, it’s slightly different. Hope really has three parts to it. The first of which is, I’ve got to believe. There is a way to bring about what I want, that fundamental belief, essentially, knowing it’s possible to achieve what I want. That’s this key critical first component of hope is really this pathway, knowing there’s multiple ways to achieve my goal. I can pivot, should I need to, to still reach my goal when something comes up. What does that pathway really look like?

Believing it’s possible to bring about what I want, that’s this foundational part of it. This other part about it is really this, what’s called agency thinking. I can do this, it is possible, I am capable. It’s self-motivating talk to help us truly achieve our goal, and that’s the beauty of hope. It’s not just about wishing something’s possible or wanting it to come true or having optimism around it, “Well, I believe this will happen in essence.” That want or that wish, or, “Yeah, I’m optimistic this will happen in the future.” The difference with hope is you truly do believe it’s possible and that drives you to take action towards it, it is inherently motivational to get you to where you want to go. Those are the two critical parts of hope. The pathway part of it, and this agency thinking part of it.

Now the third component of it, is it’s goals. We’ve got to know what that is that we’re looking to achieve that we’re hopeful will happen. So that’s kind of an inherent part of hope as well as knowing what ultimately is that we want to bring about that goal.

So, as I noted, I do want to just touch upon the difference there between say wishing and optimism, because it can often be confusing. When I wish and I am optimistic about something, there isn’t necessarily that agency part, that motivational factor, that drive of actually taking action towards something. So if I just say, “Hey, I want this to happen,” and I find that months go by and I never take any action towards it, I’m really just wishing. I’m not actually hopeful about it, so that’s the difference here. If I truly never take any action towards my goals, it’s just really wishful thinking, versus truly being hopeful. And the power in having hope, and this self-talk, and the belief that it is possible is, as I said, it naturally uplifts us, it drives us, it motivates us, we actually take action towards what it is that we want to achieve.

And that’s the critical piece, is this actual action, versus just thought process in wishing that something’s going to happen. That’s the power of this, the power of believing it is possible. And why we talk about this part of giving ourselves permission to be human in grit, is because it’s a foundational part of really what’s going to drive our success, because if I never believe something’s possible, if I have no hope of this ever coming true, I’m never going to take action towards it, it’s not worth it, it’s not valuable, there’s nothing in it for me. If I don’t truly believe and have hope that what I want is possible.

It’s essentially like being in a pit of despair, or disbelief, it’s not possible, it’s never going to happen. If I’m always telling myself that kind of self-talk, we’re never going to take any action because we don’t believe in it, there’s no value there. The power of hope and believing in that possibility is it’s going to uplift and motivate us to truly take actions that actually lead to where we want to go, that’s the powerful, and that’s why it’s such a foundational piece of giving ourselves permission to be human and in the give component of grit, give recognize, implement time because it’s a foundational mentality and outlook that we need to have to truly drive our success.

So I want to illustrate this one last wing and leave you with a question. When we talk about optimism, we talked about being the glass is half full, versus the glass is half empty, being pessimistic. I want to flip that a little bit, and I actually want to ask you, what’s your rhythm? And what I mean by that, when we think about what we want to happen in life, am I more upbeat? Do I naturally feel warmer, confident, driven, and have a sunny disposition, let’s say, about that? When I think about that? And I don’t necessarily question myself? Is it possible? This inherent initial reaction in us is more upbeat, the possibilities then.

Or am I downbeat? I don’t think it’s going to happen, it’s not possible, there’s all these hurdles, there’s all these obstacles, it’s too difficult, I’m just dreaming, there’s nothing possible about it. That’s the question I want to ask you, what’s your rhythm? Because when we have that awareness around what’s our natural inclination, it can tell me, am I truly hopeful? Or am I not? And it can give us that guide and an insight into something we may need to flip, and switch, and really harness our hope to truly bring about the success that we seek.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed today, I hope that it’s been insightful, and opened up a little bit more about what this concept of hope really is, and the importance of it as well to truly drive our success. And truly create that path forward and know we are capable of walking. So until the next time, be the movement in your life.

 

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