Hope Is Not A Strategy

by Chris Strom

Employee_motivation_2 Are you hoping things will get better?

Do you hope that the outcome will be the best possible?

Are you hoping for a raise?

Is your team hoping for a raise?

Do you hope your executive team works together more effectively?

Notice the common "denominator" in the above statements - hope.

As a Performance Coach, I am often asked for advice about what to do about a particular issue.  Like your issues, the "typical" issues are personal, interpersonal, and team-oriented in nature.  Many of my coaching Clients are CEOs, Vice Presidents, sales managers, and potential high performer "Rainmakers" who are seeking to get to the next level of performance excellence.

The single biggest challenge I see again and again and again is that the person I am coaching has not decided the outcome.  They are busy hoping things will work out for the best.  The first step and the single biggest key to making any decision successful - whether large or small - is to decide

Yes...  Deciding is the key

Sounds simple, doesn't it?

Deciding is simple if you want to be.  Yet it often is not.

The single biggest challenge to making a decision is a lack of commitment to the outcome.  Until one decides what the outcome is going to be, the decision will always, always, always lead to something less than it could and should be.

I often ask future Clients who seek my assistance to make change happen in their lives and their organization - "Have you decided what the outcome is going to be?"  The response is typically, "We hope success."  Ouch...

Hope is NOT a strategy folks.

Unless you or a loved one has cancer, hope is never, ever a strategy.

How do you know if you are hoping or deciding?  Review your commitment to the decision.  Are you already making excuses for a poor outcome?  Are you making contingency plans in case things go wrong because you know they likely will?  Are you using weak language?

The reality is we are often our own "worst enemy".  We hope too much rather than decide. 

The human mind is an incredibly powerful instrument that is ready to be used to make fantastic things happen.  If we can put man on the moon (think of that commitment - THAT was a decision), we can do anything we want to do - if we are committed.

Hope_is_not_a_strategy_decideWhat are you hoping for?  Stop hoping and decide.

Decide what you really want and go make it happen.

When you fail, pick yourself up.  Then evaluate the decision you made. 

 

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