Looking for Hope? Stop Putting Things Off

Hope - "a confident feeling about what will happen in the future."

If you aren't feeling confident about some aspect of your work life, career, or business, chances are it's because you aren't acting to make it hopeful. You can't control what's on the news or in the news, but you can control what's in your news.

Hope and Action

Psychologically, Charles Richard  Snyder characterized hope as the will and the way to achieve your goals. More specifically, he defines  hope "as the perceived capability to derive pathways to desired goals, and motivate oneself via agency thinking to use those pathways" .

What does that really say?

• The first part involves feeling capable to create a reasonable plan of action (the "way")

• The second highlights the motivation to follow the plan (the "will").

Using this line of thought, hope is the opposite of procrastination.

Take action. Even if it isn't perfect, you don't have to get it right you just have to get it going.

Credit where credit is due: I had recalled an article I read some time ago that prompted this particular post. After Googling around, I found it. For the complete research study and the article partly paraphrased here, visit the excellent original by Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D. (with that name, his career was predestined!) at Psychology Today. 

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Something special tomorrow. I'm going to be doing a phone interview with Dr. Charles Polk, President of Mountain State University in the morning. Their action-oriented leadership program grabbed my attention because it's really how people "learn leadership." So, the post will give you a glimpse into what is happening with leadership education in two ways:

Becky Robinson of Mountain State has done a guest post for me that is to-the-point and explains their approach. I'll add some of the interview with Dr. Polk and, "Voila!"--some excitement about leadership education and its possibilities.

Comments

[Becky Robinson]

Thanks, Steve. Can't wait!

[Mile High Pixie]

Hi Steve! I've been away from your blog for a while working on my own projects, but I think often of the advice you give and ideas you share. This is a brilliant one, such that I might have to email it to everyone I know or even get a tattoo of it. :-) Hope is the opposite of procrastination--BRILLIANT! I'm one of eight non-procrastinators not in captivity, and I've recently had people ask me how I don't procrastinate. My response is that when I see a problem or task, I can almost immediately see the smaller steps required to make it happen. Because I see the steps, i see the achievable end, and voila! Prcrastination is banished. Many of my friends who suffer from depression also have a certain perfectionist streak--they have to do it all at once, and it has to be done perfectly. When that obviously can't work, their mood plummets. Your observation on hope and procrastination is so timely. Thanks for keeping it up!

[Steve Roesler]

MHP,

As we say in Philly, "Good to see your face in the place" again! (We also have some great ink artists who can can do the job).

Perhaps one of the reasons for the developmental work you've been doing there is because you "saw" it, along with the smaller steps involved. That's a million-dollar attribute that all coaches would like to possess.

Welcome back,

Steve