Winning Words

Hope — a strategy and a tactic in the pursuit of success

Column by Michael Norton
Posted 9/3/19

Is hope a strategy that can drive success? Is hope a tactic we can put into practice to help us achieve our goals and dreams? Is being hopeful a character trait that when fully developed can lead us …

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Winning Words

Hope — a strategy and a tactic in the pursuit of success

Posted

Is hope a strategy that can drive success? Is hope a tactic we can put into practice to help us achieve our goals and dreams? Is being hopeful a character trait that when fully developed can lead us to even greater heights? I believe the answer to all three questions is yes.

Let’s start with the first one. Is hope a strategy? There are many of us who have been taught that hope is not a strategy, there is actually a very popular book by Rick Paige called “Hope is Not a Strategy.” And I agree with the author’s point of view in the context in which he wrote the book. If we rely on hope alone, and we do not carefully plan for our success, and then diligently execute against our plan, hope becomes more of a tactic as opposed to a strategy.

When we plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win, we do typically include hope as part of that strategy. Just think about this for a moment, if in our planning, preparing, and expecting we were thinking that we were going to lose instead of win, hope would not be a part of our strategy. Instead, we would be looking at contingency plans for what happens after we have lost. And we all know what happens when we go into a contest of any kind, any match, any sales call or meeting, and we expect to lose, we lose. The truth is we lost before we even entered the playing field because we didn’t have hope as part of our strategy.

Hope fuels passion, passion drives purpose, purpose ignites performance, and performance delivered equals results. Leaving hope out of our strategy never allows us to fully tap into the power of hope as a tactic. And hope as a tactic is incredibly important whenever we are planning for success or attempting to make a change in our lives personally or professionally. Alfred Adler says it this way, “Hope is the foundational quality of all change.” If there is no hope, there is typically no change. John Maxwell says that, “If there is hope in the future, there is power in the present.” Meaning that if we have hope, we can leverage that hope as a strategy and a tactic to take the action today that is necessary for our success tomorrow.

And when we add the character trait of being hopeful, we are engaging our positive attitude, we are letting go of any negativity and pessimism as we look forward with great anticipation to the success we desire. We allow others to encourage us along the journey, we encourage ourselves in the pursuit of our own success and we remember what Zig Ziglar taught us, “The doors of hope swing widest on the hinges of encouragement.” Being hopeful means, that we are hope-filled.

Now having hope, living with hope, and recognizing just how powerful hope can be doesn’t mean that we live with blinders on either. As stated earlier, we must take the time to plan to win and prepare to win, if we expect to win. We must look carefully at our win strategy and game plan for each initiative, every endeavor, and in whatever arena it is where we are trying to put a win on the board. We need to take all factors and challenges into consideration, including the risks. Balancing those challenges and risks with the right amount of hope is the key.

So how about you? Can you see where hope is a strategy, a tactic, and how being filled with hope can help you achieve your goals and dreams? Can you see how hope can help shape any change that you would like to experience in your life? I would love to hear your story of hope at gotonorton@gmail.com and when we can tap into the power of hope, it really will be a better than good week.

Michael Norton is a resident of Highlands Ranch, the Chief Revenue Officer at Eventus Solutions Group, Strategic Consultant, Business and Personal Coach.

Michael Norton

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