Last week I posted a piece I wrote on “have to” versus “get to.” For me there is no difference between the two. All of life involves choice and “have to” is still a choice. In a couple days my newsletter will come out. In that, I have focused even more on the power of language to limit or enhance, to create or destroy, to move or hinder. If you don’t receive my newsletter, which comes out every six weeks, you can sign up here: https://mclarencoaching.com/contact-us/newsletter-sign-up/
Today in keeping with my language theme, I wanted to focus on a phrase I really love:
hope is not a strategy
This is a simple blog post. If you hear yourself say, “I hope I will do it” you are not committed. If you hear yourself say, “I hope this changes,” you are feeling powerless.
This one word is good to focus on as a starting point to noticing the language you use and its power. There’s nothing wrong with the word “hope.” (In some contexts it can be good to be hopeful.) But hope does not create. And hope does not move you from point A to point B. Just notice it when you say it and then ask yourself, “what am I meaning by this?”
There are many ways for you to move toward your outcome – hope is not one of them.
According to Wikipedia, Hope is a city in Hempstead County in southwestern Arkansas, United States. Hope is the county seat of Hempstead County and the principal city of the Hope Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Hempstead and Nevada counties. Hope is the birthplace of two long-serving Arkansas governors: Bill Clinton (who went on to become the 42nd President of the United States after the 1992 election) and Mike Huckabee (who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016).
But…hope is not a strategy.
