I’m an optimist.  That’s not changing.  But, when I read about the science around hope and optimism, and that you can absolutely be a hopeless optimist, that got me thinking. What we discover is that it’s not only a matter of perspective, but about personal agency. 

Transcript:

Welcome to Everyday Happiness where we create lasting happiness, in 2 minutes a day,  through my signature method of Intentional Margins® (creating harmony between your to-dos and your priorities), happiness science, and musings about life. 

I'm your host Katie Jefcoat and today, I wanted to chat about hope and where scientists think us optimists can learn a thing or two.  People tend to use hope and optimism as synonyms and that’s where the conflict arises.   

In a 2004 paper in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, two psychologists used survey data to parse the two concepts. They determined that “hope focuses more directly on the personal attainment of specific goals, whereas optimism focuses more broadly on the expected quality of future outcomes in general.”  Harvard Professor and happiness scientist, Arthur Brooks says “In other words, optimism is the belief that things will turn out all right; hope makes no such assumption but is a conviction that one can act to make things better in some way.”

This is fascinating because it indicates that hope and optimism can go together, but they don’t have to.  Brooks says “You can be a hopeless optimist who feels personally helpless but assumes that everything will turn out all right. You can be a hopeful pessimist who makes negative predictions about the future but has confidence that you can improve things in your life and others’.”

The biggest take-away is that hope involves personal agency.  It’s the action step in creating a happy life.  So if you are feeling hopeless, try to imagine a situation where you can take action in one very small step toward what you envision as more hopeful.   

Let us know what you think over @everydayhappinesswithkatie and if you want this audio and transcript delivered to your inbox, you can sign-up over at www.katiejefcoat.com/happiness

Inspired by this article in The Atlantic, The Difference Between Hope and Optimism.

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