Qualities: HOPE

I hope so. That simple thought pervades so much of what we think and do. It is the initial foundation of focused optimism and ambition. It keeps the brain in the optimism mode, helping to overcome the debilitating negativism and fatalism and desire to quit. That’s important, but not nearly as imperative as converting vague hopes into specific objectives and plans. That’s where an energetic new success is born of tired progress and disorganized dreams.

Never hope more than you work.
––Rita Mae Brown

After all, tomorrow is another day.
––Margaret Mitchell, final words, Gone with the Wind, 1936

Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not.––George Bernard Shaw

Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good. ––Vaclav Havel (President, Czech Republic)

From the perspective of emotional intelligence, having hope means that one will not give in to overwhelming anxiety, a defeatist attitude, or depression in the face of difficult challenges or setback. Indeed, people who are hopeful evidence less depression than others as they maneuver through life in pursuit of their goals, are less anxious in general, and have fewer emotional distresses.
––Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More than IQ, 1995

Many great accomplishments began as unreachable, undefined hopes and dreams. In each case, someone believed in the dream, and did the work of building it into a possibility, then a reality. Success is more than a dream: it is vision, then a financial plan, then a floor plan, then a construction project, then a conversion of a house into a home and, finally, a place to live in happiness with those you love.
––John Roberts


To achieve a level of hope, a level of realistic expectation, that a dream can be achieved, is a wonderful feeling and a source of strong motivation. It brings the dream from outer space to within reach and sets off the hard work that still must be done to finish the job. Hope, in other words, is only the necessary beginning. A lot of hard work is involved in moving it from the dream stage to the accomplishment of practical objectives.

Hope can be a small flame, hardly different from an unreachable goal. Such dreams can be a source of happiness, perhaps even an escape, even though we know they will never be; but we must guard against investing our time and energy in this way if that diverts us from the practical necessities of life and the more likely probabilities. The tipping point is where we can add fuel to the flame, fire up our motivation, imagination and effort because changing circumstances or our own effort have changed the dream into a possibility. The dreamer sees what needs to be done, and becomes a worker, a manager and a leader.

Some dreams should be put in the closet to await a better season, or destroyed altogether. Dreams can become a distraction; they can get in the way of the practical things we can and should do. Cleaning out a closet or bookshelf or the box of old toys calls for difficult decisions. Saving things saves memories. We might use them later. OK, some of this is normal and does no harm. But, try to show no mercy, get rid of those things that are cluttering up the mind, clear the way for the important and practical things that can change your life.

Before a dream is discarded, however, some consideration should be given to what might be done to convert it into something achievable. If you can’t do that, perhaps it is better to set it aside and not waste your time and emotional energy on something that will never come to pass. If you set your sights very high, to achieve an extremely difficult personal objective, it may be necessary to thrust aside nearly everything else in order to focus all your energy and attention on that single, shining goal.