The Psychology of Hope

Let’s start with the definition of hope.

ACTUALLY, let’s start with the fact that Rick *came up with* the definition of hope.

It’s easy to take it for granted and say, “Yah. That makes sense.” But we want to remember that someone spent a LOT of time and life force trying to wrap their brains around how to clearly articulate a conceptual definition of an idea—which, btw, is one of the reasons why I don’t speed read. (It’s also why I like to read books rather than blog posts.) When I sit down to read a book, I try to imagine the fact that the author has spent years (or decades) focused on the topic. I feel like I get to sit down and spend a day with them exploring their best thinking. And I don’t like to rush time with friends. I like to go deep.

So… The definition of hope that Rick Snyder came up with after his pain-staking years of work: “Hope is the sum of the mental willpower and waypower that you have for your goals.”

Quick breakdown: Hope has three components: Goals + Willpower + Waypower.

First, you need to have Goals. You need to have a target at which you’re aiming. It needs to be challenging AND doable. What do YOU want to see in your life? High-hope people have Goals.

Rick says: “Neither a goal you have no chance of obtaining nor one you are absolutely certain of meeting is part of hope as I am defining it. Why? If the probabilities of getting your desired goal are truly 0 percent or 100 percent, the outcomes are so overdetermined that hopeful thoughts are irrelevant. My conclusion, therefore, is that the goals involving hope fall somewhere between an impossibility and a sure thing. Of course, there are a lot of goals in this range.”

Second, you need to have what Rick calls “Willpower.” It’s that spark of belief in yourself and your ability to bring that goal to life. High-hope people have strong “Willpower.”

Rick says: “Willpower is the driving force in hopeful thinking… it is the sense of mental energy that propels the person toward the goal. Willpower, as I use this term, is a reservoir of determination and commitment that we can call on to help move us in the direction of the goal to which we are attending at any given moment.”

Then, you need to have what Rick calls “Waypower.” You need to have that clear goal plus that spark of “I can do this!!” AND you need to *know* that you will run into obstacles that will require you to create multiple pathways to achieve your goals. That’s “Waypower.”

Rick says: “Waypower reflects the mental plans or road maps that guide hopeful thought… Waypower is a mental capacity we can call on to find one or more effective ways to reach our goals. That is to say, the perception that one can engage in planful thought is essential for waypower thinking.”

So, again, Hope has three components: Goals + Willpower + Waypower. You need to know what you want, believe you can get it and be willing to explore different ways to get from here to there.

Rick’s protégé Shane Lopez said the same thing in a slightly differently way in his book (written years after this book). He said that Hope has these three components: Goals + Agency (the belief you can make your dreams happen) + Pathways (the willingness to go from A to Z).

Goals + Willpower + Waypower. Goals + Agency + Pathways.

However we want to frame it, it’s good to keep those three elements in mind. And, it’s equally important to move from the THEORY of these ideas to the PRACTICE of them. As always, we can’t be mere librarians cataloging interesting ideas. We must be warriors of the mind rigorously and vigorously practicing this stuff—ESPECIALLY when we don’t feel like it.

P.S. Pop quiz: What are the three facets of Hope? Make It Stick by challenging yourself to write them down in your own words, explain them to someone today and, perhaps most importantly, check in on each of the elements as they relate to an important goal!

So, we now know the three elements of Hope.

Let’s recognize the fact that it’s possible to be high on the Willpower side of things and weak on the Waypower (or vice-versa). We need all three humming to feel hope and all its benefits (which are enormous).

Let’s do a quick inventory. What’s an important meaningful, challenging and doable goal for you right now? (Note: Not having that would be, in itself, a red flag for hope. :)

OK. Write that down. Now, do you believe you can achieve it? How’s your “Willpower?” Spark of determination strong? 1 to 10, how are you doing there? If it’s low, do you need to adjust your goal so it really feels doable or do you need to tend the fire a bit more?

Now, how’s your Waypower? If you’re feeling stuck, one of the best ways to Optimize your hope is to step back and SEE the multiple pathways you can take to achieve your goals. (When I journal, as I demonstrated in Journaling 101, I like to draw my mountain and its peak, then draw multiple arrows around the mountain up to the peek to represent all the ways I can get there.)

Before we move on to some more details, here’s one more look at the high-hope person: “High-hope people operate with several goals in their differing life arenas, and they typically set difficult goals for themselves. Our studies show they embrace their goals and view them as welcome challenges that are a normal part of life. High-hope people use their goals as mental touchstones for success; they go after their goals and think they will obtain them. In short, high-hope people are bullish investors in life goals, and they expect to obtain excellent returns on their mental investments. Low-hope people, on the other hand, appear to be used by life goals; they are bearish investors who do not actively pursue goals and are more concerned with protecting themselves from losses.”

Let’s be bullish investors in our lives and our goals!! Here’s how to invest wisely…

That’s from a chapter on how to kindle hope—from which we’ll be pulling our next Ideas. Want more happiness and self-esteem? Flip to the section of Optimal Living 101 labeled “GOALS.”

As Sonja Lyubomirsky says in The How of Happiness: “Working toward a meaningful life goal is one of the most important strategies for becoming lastingly happier.”

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi tells us that goals are essential to get into Flow: “The optimal state of inner experience is one in which there is order in consciousness. This happens when psychic energy—or attention—is invested in realistic goals, and when skills match the opportunities for action. The pursuit of a goal brings order in awareness because a person must concentrate attention on the task at hand and momentarily forget everything else. These periods of struggling to overcome challenges are what people find to be the most enjoyable of their lives. A person who has achieved control over psychic energy and has invested it in consciously chosen goals cannot help but grow into a more complex being. By stretching skills, by reaching toward higher challenges, such a person becomes an increasingly extraordinary individual.”

And, of course, ancient philosophers agree. The Greeks told us we are “teleological.” Telos = “ends” or “targets” or “GOALS!” We need to be aiming at something!

OK. So, we need Goals. Got it. Tell me how to rock it, please. OK. Rick gives these tips.

First, we need to focus on “Authoring Your Own Decisions.” You need to let go of the “shoulds” and focus on what you *really* want. That leads to a sense of autonomy which all the research says is SUPER important. (Recall that to be authentic means to be the author of your own life.)

Then he tells us to go “Goal Shopping” and walks us through an exercise in which we write down all the goals we’d like to achieve in all areas of our lives across all time frames. Then we identify the ones that *really* fire us up and focus our energy on them. (Our Big 3 framework of Energy + Family + Service is helpful as a categorization method here!)

Then he tells us to “Control Attention Robbers.” In other words, reduce your distractions so you can focus your energy on what’s truly important.

Then he tells us to make sure we’re “Setting Challenging, Yet Doable Goals.” He describes the science of “goal-stretching.” He tells us: “Goals should not be so far beyond your reach that you are unlikely to attain them. Conversely, goals should not be so easy that you are certain to meet them. In fact, research shows that people believe hopeful goals should involve roughly a 50 percent probability of attainment. … Be careful not to set your goals at such an easy level, however, that you become bored or disinterested. Likewise, avoid making goals so difficult that you or anyone else would be unlikely to achieve them. This can be as deflating to hopeful thinking as the setting of exceedingly easy goals.”

So… Goals checklist: What’s on the top of your authentic list? How are you eliminating distractions? And, are you focused on stretching and not snapping? Carry on.

Guess what? On the path to a challenging yet doable goal we WILL (!) face obstacles. Period. That’s a GIVEN. So… Let’s quit acting surprised when they show up!! (Laughing.)

This is precisely why I PAY to run obstacle courses and why Spartan Races are my sport-hobby. I like to remind myself that obstacles make me stronger (OMMS!) every morning and all day every day as I train for these races.

Expect the obstacles. See them as reverse indicators—not signs that something’s WRONG but signs that something’s RIGHT. Specifically, that you are out of your comfort zone getting better. Know you’re not alone (common humanity!), love the obstacles Byron Katie style and practice the art of acquiescence Stoic style as you use them to get better antifragile style. Repeat.

(And, of course, sometimes we bump our heads against a goal enough times to realize it’s time to “Regoal”—stepping back, learning the lessons and setting new meaningful, challenging, doable goals without losing our confidence and mojo.)

You start fired up with a clear goal then kinda sorta give up when the first plan doesn’t work? Might be time to Optimize the waypower.

Rick tells us about something he calls “Stepping”—which is basically our dominoes strategy of breaking the big goal down into micro doable goals. He also talks about something called “Multiple Routing” that reminds me of the “optionality” facet of being antifragile. If you only have one way to get to your goal, you’re fragile. 2? A little more robust. 3? Getting stronger.

Infinite pathways? Antifragile. Practically speaking, whenever I set goals and do planning—on a high- or micro-level—I always write down 3 potential paths to remind myself that I’m not attached to any one path and that I’m willing to go from Plan A to Plan B to Plan C to Plan AA to Plan ZZZ. Knowing you’re ready to do whatever it takes for however long it takes creates a certain level of antifragile confidence.

Can you see multiple pathways to your Goal?

Those are the very last words of the book. I always love to focus on the last words because I know the author was especially thoughtful about how they wrap up a big chunk of their life’s work.

I second Rick’s vote. Let’s become time travelers making a difference—Optimizing our lives so we can actualize our potential and give our greatest gifts in greatest service to the world!

Sending love and hope and tenacious commitment to our fundamentals,