Want Help In Achieving Your Goals? Try a Little Hope
Really? Hope can help me reach my goals? This article caught my attention! I can use all the help I can get.
According to Ryan Niemiec, a licensed psychologist and education director of the VIA Institute on Character, it’s uncommon for us to have hope as one of our top 10 character strengths. Yet hope is an important part in helping us achieve our goals. Ryan points out that hope is made up of the will and the way.
“The will is our motivation and our belief we can reach a goal. The way is our ability to come up with the options to get that goal.”
This idea really resonated with me. I’ve been working on a big project for almost a year now. (I’m super excited to tell you more in the next month.) Deep down, I believe I can do it, but I struggle to stay motivated through some of the parts that go into the project. They either feel tedious and never-ending, or I’m unsure of the best way to get them done. Now I see that this is the way piece.
So if hope is more elusive than many of the other 24 character strengths, what can we do? Ryan has three suggestions:
- Visualize your best future-self. He suggests looking ahead to one year from now. How can you use your most prominent strengths to help you get there?
- Identify a goal for yourself, then write down at least three things you can do to help achieve your goal. Don’t forget to write about the reasons why you can achieve it.
- Write about one good experience in your life, why it will last, and what actions you’ve taken to make it happen. Then write about a bad experience, why it will pass, and why it’s not completely your fault. Try doing this every week.
As I look back at some of my struggles with this project, I now see that point #2 above helped me find the way. One of the main things I did that helped was sharing my goal and my struggles with other people. They not only made it easier for me to find my way, but they also made it possible for me to see why I could overcome my obstacles. They offered encouragement, ideas, and sometimes their personal help so I could move forward. Asking for help can do wonders for boosting our hope!
Could you use help with one or more of your goals? Consider if you struggle with the will or the way or both. Try one or more of the suggestions above to increase your hope.
