We use the word “hope” too often in my opinion. There’s a difference between hoping and deciding. We say things like:
- I hope I lose weight
- I hope I go to college
- I hope I get that job
- I hope I stay married
- I hope I get to work on time
What if instead we abolished the word, “hope”? Then we would say:
- I decide to lose weight
- I decide to go to college
- I decide to get that job
- I decide I’ll stay married
- I decide to get to work on time
You might be reading this and thinking, “But I’m not in control over all of these things. How could it make sense to say ‘I decide to get that job?'” So, let’s look at that example.
What if, you decided to get that job and you were going to get it no matter what it took? Maybe you’d go about the job hunt differently. Maybe you’d take the hiring manager out to lunch to find out more about the job. Maybe you’d create a unique pitch about why they need to hire you. Maybe your pitch would include a section about why their posted hiring criteria is wrong and why they want you instead of someone else who matches their posted criteria better. Maybe you’d keep interviewing for the position every single time it became open. Can you see now that you can decide to get that job and that eventually you’d get it – even if you don’t get it right away?
We are in control over a lot more than we want to admit. We don’t want to admit it because then we’d have to take responsibility for a lot of things in our life. But I think admitting that we are responsible for a whole lot in our life is far more empowering. When we admit that we are in control over a lot, we can stop hoping and start deciding.
What about you? When have you decided something and then made it happen?
