“It’s Good To have Hope, But You Better Have a Plan”
– Chris Gardner
Of all the debates we have had on this site, I really like the one about Optimists, Pessimists and Realists! I am often confused when someone asks me who I am and the only answer I can seem to muster is just that, I am who I am. I mean I have all those fears and insecurities of a pessimist. I also have all those hopes and bright colours of an optimist. I also am aware of the challenges and want to stand ahead of the challenges I face which perhaps makes me a realist as well.
It’s Good To Have Hope But You Better Have A Plan Meaning
The phrase “It’s good to have hope, but you better have a plan” suggests that while hope is essential for optimism and positive thinking, it is not enough on its own. Merely wishing for things to happen without taking action or having a well-thought-out plan may lead to disappointment or inaction.
It emphasizes the importance of combining hope with practicality and strategic thinking. Having a concrete plan, setting clear goals, and taking steps towards achieving them increases the likelihood of turning hopes and dreams into reality. In essence, the quote encourages the balance between hopeful optimism and proactive planning to create a path towards success and fulfillment.
Does Definition Really Matter?
We kept professing that a mere definition doesn’t really matter. The purpose of our existence in this world is pretty simple – to identify what we really want and to strive towards it, no questions asked and none answered. It is natural to feel full of hope and it is also natural to feel hopeless when a challenge arises, but then again what we do about it matters the most. Actions always speak louder than words.
I have seen so many other quotes as well – people say that a pessimist finds a problem in an opportunity and an optimist sees opportunity in every problem. An optimist sees the glass as half full while a pessimist sees the glass half empty. But the real question is, who among these two gets us and fills the glass? I mean, do we really care how life is perceived and be happy with that or do we need actual results which we can touch and feel?
So many times, I realize that it is so easy to feel happy and dreamy. Hope is a beautiful thing, it makes us look at the best side of things and rightly so, we all need that motivation to strive ahead in our lives. But at the same time, hope alone never achieved anything. Sure it led us the way, but hope alone never did anything.
What is the secret of your success?
If you look at all the achievements in the past, all those things you have done – what was the secret? If I have a heart-to-heart talk with you and ask you – What made you achieve all those things? What would your answer be?
- Would it be hope, luck or people around you?
But these are all good modest answers, some to the press, some to society and some just to make ourselves feel better. But I am sure that behind each one of those achievements in the past, there is a huge amount of hard work, and there is a lot of planning, execution and staying ahead of your own fears. There is your personality, there is your insecurity and the fear that you overcame. There is sheer strength in your belief which made you tell yourself how important it is to stand for. There is an amazement which drove you to work each day when no one else believed in what you did.
There is so much behind that success of yours and hope is just a part. The planning, the execution and above all the real you is the real reason for your real success.
And that is our quote of the day, stay tuned in for more :)
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True that
:) Welcome aboard to inspire99 Deeshani :)
Vinay, personally I have always disliked the pessimist, optimist debate. You are very right when you say we are all 3 – sometimes a pessimist; sometimes an optimist and perhaps more often than not a realist:)
Life is never black or white but Western thought tries to always box people into one compartment or the other because scientific rigor demands that.
Hope without action is merely a dream. Hope with action following may get you to the desired goal. Most important, when hope + action does not yield the desired result, you take the learning and move on. To my mind, that’s a true optimist for you – a never say die kind of person:)
Same here Lata. The definitions have never made any sense to me and I am even more confused when people say these things about themselves with a lot of pride. I mean practically speaking, aren’t we all in all those phases all through our lives? We all vacillate between these phases based on the situation, our previous experiences, expertise, resources and so many other factors which play a very meaningful role. I find it so wrong to blame success or failure on only one reason in life. There are so many more complicated aspects which maken life all the more interesting and fun and worth living. These minor debates have left people hopeless and to an extent really lazy as well.
Dreams alone never matter, it is what we do about them that makes all the difference.
Hope is a good start but hope needs action to win victories. There’s no secret of success other than hard-work & persistence :)
True Ravish, nothing ever in this world was achieved through mere hope. It was always what people did with that hope and their actions which made that distinction through results..
I agree. Without a definite plan, it’s not possible to execute anything properly. Hope is a good thing, but it needs planning to turn it into a reality….. :-)
Thank you Maniparna. Hope certainly is a very good thing. But I think that is all it is and it is a very good motivating factor. But that is the extent of it. It takes more than that for results.
Completely agree Vinay. Hope is the essence but it has to translate into an actionable plan for anything to materialize.
Thank you Somali. I have had these eternal debates about hope, action and optimism in life which always leaves me very confused. According to me, it is pretty simple, there is a problem and we need a solution. Hope just says that we can do it while the play says how. And finally it is the action which decides the course of the issue and the others are mere reasons and jsutifications en route