Hope May Not Be Your Number One Business Strategy, But HOPE Can Lead To Greater Resiliency
Chaos, challenge and trauma can derail us from leading a full and fruitful life. However, HOPE can provide protection against life’s trials.
According to research out of George Mason University, out of seven different character strengths in their ability to predict resilience, hope was the most significant moderator of well-being in the face of negative life events.
If it were not for hope, the heart would break. Greek Proverb
Hope was defined as being more than just being optimistic about things getting better in the future. Hope involves having goals and pursuing them with flexibly, allowing for many different pathways to getting positive results. Hope in this way, can help us withstand negative life events, because when you encounter obstacles, you can just take a different path.
Failure is not the end, it points to the need for a new path.
Hope is often thought of as a kind of wishfulness; something that is fleeting, passive and often desperate. In order for hope to have a serious impact on reducing stress and increasing resiliency, it must be persistent and not a fleeting thought. Hope is a way of thinking and behaving. It requires us to have the ability and the desire to exert influence in order to change our world. Optimism is the expectation that good things will happen, whereas hope is what triggers action and achievement.
“Hope enables us to act; it enables us to acknowledge and dissect a situation so strategies can be found and applied in pursuit of an acceptable solution or resolution of a crisis”. Jerome Groopman.
A report from the Mayo Clinic showed that hopeful people experience better general health, including a longer lifespan and lower rates of cardiovascular disease, as well as greater achievement, increased determination and lower rates of depression. It has been associated with higher pain tolerance and lower levels of depression in the chronically ill. Hope, acts as a protective mechanism, while hopelessness can lead to physical, psychosocial and spiritual deficits.
So, how do we boost ‘HOPE’?
Our personal levels of hope are influenced by those around us and how others have drawn upon hope in difficult times. By learning to set goals and by developing an emotional attachment to them, we start our journey of hope. Talking through various outcomes in achieving our goals, helps us to see that if one path doesn’t seem to be getting us where we want to go, another path may.
Support is crucial.
Maintaining hope is not always easy and a crisis or the unexpected can throw us off-balance and leave us feeling hopeless. Our supporters can prompt us to rethink our goals, shift our plan of action or provide assistance. Leaders need to be skilled at building hope in their teams by inspiring a positive vision of the future and setting realistic goals on how they are going to get there. Leaders need to get into the habit of asking three simple questions: (Lopez, 2013)
“What do you think you should do?”
“Can you think of more than one possibility/solution?”
“Which solution would work best?”
These questions can inspire creative problem solving and strengthen the path of hope.
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Today’s leaders need to inspire hope in their teams.
According to a study by Synovate,1 out 6 of us reports being more moody and irritable when stressed and with more than three quarters of the Canadian population feeling very or extremely stressed every day or almost every day, that can lead to a lot of very negative people.
Stress changes us. It impacts us physically, emotionally and mentally. It changes who we are and how we relate to those around us. Beverly Beuermann-King
Beverly’s Hot Tips For Increasing Hope During These Times Of Chaos:Replenish Your Energy.
Hope requires energy, so remember to come up for air several times throughout the day.
Energy declines after a certain period, so replenish with these 10 strategies:
- stretching or exercise
- nutritious food (fruit/vegetables)
- sufficient water
- deep breathing
- meditation
- nap (20 minutes)
- going outside into natural light
- fresh air
- music
- laughter
Learn Something New.
Learning a new skill or piece of technology forces you to explore different problem solving skills, which keeps you from becoming inflexible in your thinking.
Look For The Win.
Plan for and celebrate the small successes along your path to achieving your goals.
Acknowledge The Obstacles That You Have Overcome.
Take stock of the challenges that you have faced in the past and praise yourself for having the fortitude to overcome these potential barriers.
Connect And Find Positive Mentors.
Look for like-minded people who you can count on to pull you up or push you along.
Plan For Something Fun During Your Down Time.
Use low periods to connect with others.
Finally, Celebrating and Encourage HOPE by watching and sharing the newly released video: https://youtu.be/XVzb49u0qCY
If you have some strategies to share – comment on this posting!
Stress Facts:
- 85% of employees say work performance has been affected by work, health and personal pressures. (Canada Life)
- 81% say that the pandemic has negatively impacted their health
- Those who had high work-related stress were found to have elevated inflammatory parameters and faced twice the risk of Cardiovascular Disease than those who had low levels of work stress. (Aviva)
- Six-in-ten Canadian adults and youth feel tired most of the time.
- 27% said that they had too much on their mind and couldn’t relax. (Leger Health of Canadians)
- 81% of those who considered them self successful said that having a good work life balance was important to their success. (American Express)
- Stressful work can lead to a 25% increased risk of heart conditions but a healthy lifestyle, outside work mitigates this effect. (CMHA)
Additional Resources
More Facts about sources, symptoms and coping strategies can be found at
https://worksmartlivesmart.com/sos-to-stress-day
To receive the latest stats and info on stress follow Beverly on Twitter at @sostostress https://twitter.com/sostostress
Stress or Wellness Blog – https://worksmartlivesmart.com/blog/
Other Articles That You May Like:
Mental Health In The Small Business Workplace
Employee Health and Barriers To Wellness
Celebrating Healthy Workplace Month
Lessening The Anguish of Depression Through Supportive Workplace Conversations
Do You Know Your Stress Numbers
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