Get your hopes up...

[MichaelWinicki]

I do a lot of marketing for folks... my own businesses, businesses owned by others.

One of my favorite marketing "guru's" is a chap by the name of Roy Williams (Yes yet another Roy Williams).

This Roy Williams cut his teeth in radio advertising and over the years has written some outstanding books dealing with marketing mostly and life to a lesser extent.

Anyway he has a weekly ezine that he sends out and I thought this one was pretty good...

http://www.mondaymorningmemo.com/

Get Your Hopes Up

I’m talking with a man about his happy future. There will be decisions to make and risks to take, but it’s a future that can definitely be his.

And then he says, “I don’t want to get my hopes up.”

The air leaves my body and I want to cry. And then I want to slap him, wake him up, shout the question that screams its own answer: “Do you know what happens when you don’t get your hopes up? Nothing! Not a bloody thing!”

Lethargy. Apathy. Ennui. Depression. Hopelessness. This is the black water that rushes to fill the emptiness when you refuse to get your hopes up. So for the love of God I’m begging you, “Get your hopes up.”

He says he doesn’t want to get his hopes up because he doesn’t want to be disappointed.

Sigh.

Perhaps the right answer is for him to buy a bigger TV, watch more sports and drink more beer. Yes, that’s the ticket. The clock will tick, the time will pass, and when they wheel his ancient body into a nursing facility, he’ll watch those same sports on a different TV and drink Ensure instead of beer.

“Congratulations, friend. You never had to resort to Plan B. You never had to figure out what went wrong or find a way to fix it. You never had to deal with the joys and pains of Life, the only sport worthy of a human being.”

Can you believe in things not immediately present? Of course you can. Tomorrow isn’t here, but you believe it will come.

Can you have confidence in things you cannot see? Yes, you prove this every time you write a check. You have confidence – faith – that the bank won’t let you down.

Is there anyone outside yourself that you care about enough to sacrifice time, energy and money to help them? If so, you have experienced love.

I know of a sad woman who got her hopes up once, and things worked out pretty well for her. She became extremely famous and was widely quoted and lots of books have been written about her. She said,

Many people have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.”
Do you have a worthy purpose?

That woman couldn’t see the future and she didn’t hear the voice of God saying, “Everything is going to be okay.” In fact, she couldn’t see or hear anything at all. Her name was Helen Keller and she lived with disadvantages so severe that the mind recoils from imagining them.

When everything else is gone, faith, hope and love remain.

Some people have faith in themselves. Others have faith in something or someone else. Where you put your faith is up to you. Likewise, each of us chooses what or whom to love. But once those choices have been made, faith gives us courage, love gives us energy, and hope is the light that shines in the darkness.

Make a difference. Have an adventure. Get your hopes up.

Turn on the light.

Roy H. Williams

 

[PJTHEDOORS]

Groucho. Now that is happiness watching you on film. lol

 

[WV Cowboy]

I think there are definitely times to get your hopes up, .. but at other times it is better to "proceed with caution", depending on what it is that you are facing.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I think there are definitely times to get your hopes up, .. but at other times it is better to "proceed with caution", depending on what it is that you are facing.

That's a valid point.

I don't think going through life with an irrational belief that everything is going to turn out just jim-dandy all the time is healthy either.

But I think if you chart a course and there's something truly that you believe in that is going to make a difference– then go ahead and do keep your hopes up!

Life is a *****. We get beaten down far more often than we are lifted-up. And if you're dour about everything, all the time, even those border-line things that happen, where there is some good to be had, is looked at as another of life's failures. Then we seek solace in some outside stimulant or activity in order to make ourselves feel better, but really isn't getting us anyway.

 

[DallasEast]

Does Roy Williams have any experience in the fields of psychology or sociology? If not, he owns innate introspection and extrospection.

Excellent ezine.

 

[Hoov]

That's a valid point.

I don't think going through life with an irrational belief that everything is going to turn out just jim-dandy all the time is healthy either.

But I think if you chart a course and there's something truly that you believe in that is going to make a difference– then go ahead and do keep your hopes up!

Life is a *****. We get beaten down far more often than we are lifted-up. And if you're dour about everything, all the time, even those border-line things that happen, where there is some good to be had, is looked at as another of life's failures. Then we seek solace in some outside stimulant or activity in order to make ourselves feel better, but really isn't getting us anyway.

From lsitening to people (and i was guilty of this myself until I changed my perspective) Most of the complaining people do about life is actually due to a misunderstanding/unwillingness to take responsibility for the maintenance that is required in life. ( I will exclude tragedies and the onset of illness from this). But talking about what you hear people complain about daily.

Every time something "comes up" people take it personally. But there is a maintenance and a responsibility attached to hopes and goals and to having things.

If you own a home you should expect regular maintenance and repairs. If you run a business or manage people you need to develop problem solving skills because there are always going to be problems no matter how you try to avoid them. If you dont want those hassles and you forgo them to someone else then you have to answer to another person in some form as an employee with a boss/supervisor or as a tennant with a landlord. But them people complain that they have to do things they dont like, or complain about the policies of the company they work for.

I think in general people just have a misguided view that things are just supposed to go as planned or they plan for best case scenario and are upset when reality does not give them that.

I remember comin home from work one day and i was tired and grumbling about something and when pressed about it i started to argue and then when it was obvious that i didnt have a valid point i said something to the effect of having a bad day.

At that point another person who knew me well enough to speak on the matter interrupted and told me what i was complaining about was every day maintenance - then proceeded to tell me a bad day is when some one close to you unexpectedly dies or is in some type of tragedy. Since that did not happen - i did not have a bad day. Then they told me ive never had a bad day in my life.

It may sound extreme - but the more i thought about it the more i agreed. So that became my new standard for how my day is going. I actually started to realize how many things i had to be thanful for.

And though not much changed around me, i changed and my perspective changed to the point where when i had to take care of problems i didnt look at it like life was beating me down, just that it was something to take care of and i was thankful that i had the resources to deal with whatever it was. And if it was something beyond what i could control then it was a matter of recognizing that and accepting it.

I agree that hopes and goals are very important and you should keep trying to acheive them and i think the key to being able to do that is to assess your situation and expect that there will be bumps on the way - dont take it personal when life gives you challenges and obstacles because those things are inevitable - in fact, i think they are puposefully put there to make a person stronger because ultimately the most improtant goal in life is YOU, the person you become when trying to acheive a goal is more important than the goal itself.