Is hope enough

27th March 2014

I recently read or heard something about “hope” being an essential part of people’s lives. They argued that without hope we would all be in a constant state of depression, because hope gives us something to look forward to and something to believe in. I suppose this has been particularly prevalent in the news over the last couple of weeks with the loss of the Malaysian airliner. The relatives left behind are surviving and keeping going because they still have a small amount of hope that by some miracle the plane has landed somewhere, and their loved ones may still be alive. Of course all rational thought says it simply cannot be so, but even those of us not directly involved hope that there will be a good outcome.

Bringing this back to something more tangible, there is often a huge amount of “hope” in all our businesses. I often meet business owners hoping that things will get better, and latching onto the smallest of life-lines in the vague hope that these will drag them out of the difficulties that face them. However, simply hoping things will change or just miraculously get better is optimism even beyond my levels. To envisage a better life and a better business without having some clear plan and actions in place is sheer folly. Of course it is a good thing to think positively and believe in a better future, but no-one gets something for nothing, so you must also be prepared to make the tough decisions, be they investments, changing staff, or radically overhauling your product/service portfolio, if you really want to make a difference.

But don’t just do one thing and hope it will do it for you, because if that doesn’t work, you are back to square one. So set clear targets, and plan a whole range of actions and changes you want to make, and you will soon see that your hopes for a better life will be rewarded.

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