Hope is crucial for human flourishing but is a subject rarely addressed in business until the pandemic made it unavoidable. In times of great turbulence, hope can feel naïve — or worse, like a set-up for future disappointment. And yet, hope is essential to our satisfaction, motivation, health, and performance. When things look bleak, remaining hopeful is one of our toughest and most essential self-management tasks. It’s tough because it requires a delicate balance of accepting that we cannot know the future, while believing things will be better than the present. It’s essential because when hope is lost, so, too, is our will to endure and ultimately prevail.
Sustaining Hope in Uncertain Times
Techniques to help you imagine a better future.
March 15, 2022
Maciej Toporowicz, NYC/Getty Images
Summary.
It’s easy in these difficult, uncertain times to lose hope. But allowing yourself to sink into a funk can affect your professional and personal lives. What’s more, there’s an alternative: a process that involves imagining a plausible positive future, identifying steps to achieve it, and viewing inevitable setbacks as inflection points when you can reset your course.