A few years ago, I had the privilege of meeting with a leading psychologist who told me something amazing. He had built his career around working with deeply troubled married couples who had been damaging their relationships for decades. He enjoyed remarkable success in getting these warring spouses to turn the corner toward health. Counseling is not my greatest gift, so his obvious skill sparked my curiosity. How did he do it?
“I just try to get 10 percent improvement,” he said. “When couples get that 10 percent improvement, they get hope. And when someone gets hope, anything is possible.”
It’s an amazing thought. When a struggling individual gets just a 10 percent boost in hope, almost anything becomes possible. I looked back over my life and realized that I’ve seen a 10 percent rise in hope transform horrendous situations into amazingly great ones.
Hope is so potent that you don’t need to get 50 percent more hopeful, or 40 percent, or even 25 percent. Just 10 percent more hope is enough to launch you into a new and better orbit.
That makes hope the highest-octane fuel in the universe.
- When you get 10 percent improvement, you get a higher Hope Quotient. And when your HQ is high, anything’s possible. Hope is the beginning of everything.
- When people become more hopeful about their health, they start on the path to getting in shape.
- When people get hopeful about breaking bad habits, they start winning battles they haven’t won before.
- When people become more hopeful about their kids, they find new energy to invest in those kids.
- When people get hope in their marriages, they start making better decisions.
- When people become more hopeful about their financial future, they begin to develop the patterns that lead to financial freedom.
- When people become more hopeful about their future, hope is the match that lights the fuse that sends them back to school or helps them apply for a new job or helps them grow and develop.
- When people become more hopeful that they could actually connect with God, it fuels the kind of actions that lead them to spiritual vitality and health.
Hope is the most important factor, because when you have hope, anything is possible. I’m convinced that any great thing that ever happens in your life, in your family, in your marriage, in your community, in your country, and in your world happens because someone has achieved a higher hope level.
In my next blog, I’m going to write about the four things that hope does that nothing else can do.
YOUR HQ BOOSTER
Hope is the most important factor, because when you have hope, anything is possible.