If I had a dollar for every time a client said: “I hope I …” (complete the sentence – get the promotion/the job/the raise, etc.) Hope is critical to achieving success. This means that the foundation of success lies in having an optimistic mindset believing that positive outcomes are within reach. However, a hopeful mindset in and of itself isn’t enough. Those at the top of the mountain didn’t just hope to get there. They had to put hope into action and hustle to the top. Actions are necessary to pursue personal and professional goals. Your hustle must be as strong as your hope.
If truth be told, we are all probably guilty of sometimes doing more “hoping” than actual “working.” To fully own your hopes and dreams, you need the three fundamental pillars:
You must genuinely want to achieve your goal.
You must confidently believe you can achieve your goal.
You must diligently take consistent and focused action toward your goal.
Reframe hope to mean HOPE: Hit Objectives by Persistent Effort
Ask yourself: how can I hustle for my success?
Hustle is the driving force behind achievement. Progress will be minimal if you only keep hoping but get nothing done. When working to create change, we often start with “I hope.” Then, continue with “I will.” And oftentimes get stuck in fear, listening to that little whisper of the heart “but can I?” Hope is courage in action. When you think you can’t, you must. Work to make the things you want happen. To make things happen, you must make changes. We’ve all heard Albert Einstein’s famous line: ”Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Simple yet powerful. To get something different than what you already have, you have to take a new approach, try out new things, make different choices, and build new habits.
To turn hope into action you need to choose your habits wisely. There is no easy path to success. It’s never pain-free. Sacrifices and trade-offs are part and parcel of every goal-achievement strategy. And it is your daily habits that would help you make lasting change. Hope only gets you so far. The hustle lies in creating habits that actually stick. It doesn’t cost you anything to hope and dream. Hustle, on the other hand, costs time, effort, hard work, sacrifices, and often some tears. Success comes to those who persist; to those who commit to an action plan that consistently lead them in the direction they want and need to go. Once a plan is created, it is about cultivating the habits that link intentions, behaviors, actions, and outcomes. For example, if the intention is to live healthy, then the habits plan must include behaviors such as maintaining a healthy diet and engaging in regular exercise. These would translate into actions such as mindful grocery shopping and a realistic workout schedule. When repeated consistently, these actions will lead to outcomes such as improved Body Mass Index (BMI), lowered blood pressure, and a higher level of well-being. On the career front, if the intention is to find a new job, then the habits plan would include behaviors such as defining a viable job search target and application criteria. The actions would include applying for jobs and networking for access. When repeated consistently these actions will yield traction (job interviews.)
Cultivating quality habits for success means working strategically to hustle hard with mindful productivity. Simply put, being the right kind of busy working on what matters to produce consistent results over time. Do not hope for change to happen. Create the change you want. Start with thinking big to set your direction. Hope and action are products of a clear vision. You need both. Hope without action is futile. Action without hope is undirected. Believe you can and take action to make progress.
Build a better future for your career and success in 3 steps:
Create a vision for what you want and imagine what your future could be with specific details about what would make it better. The vision is about your goals for the future. Think: “what would move and inspire me to take action?”
Design an action plan including the success habits to cultivate to enable consistent actions over the long-run. The plan is the roadmap that will guide you to your destination.
Take action. Commit to and follow through on your step 2 plan. Adjust as needed and keep going until you reach the outcomes that match your “better future” vision.
Whatever you hope to achieve in the next step in your career journey, anchor yourself in action. You cannot hope yourself into results; you must hustle, hammer, and hack your way to success. Are you all in?
To learn more about goal-setting to advance your career, check out my book 52 Weeks: 52 Ideas for Scaling the Mountain of Career Success.
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