{"id":22884,"date":"2020-12-30T09:34:07","date_gmt":"2020-12-30T13:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=22884"},"modified":"2021-01-08T21:54:01","modified_gmt":"2021-01-09T01:54:01","slug":"how-to-have-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-have-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Have Hope: Grit Leads to Optimism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Do you want to know how to have hope? How does hope help you have more grit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hope is one of the four main components of grit<\/a>. Learning how to have hope means that you have optimism about one day achieving your goals<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to learn how to have hope, and what it has to do with having grit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

How to Have Hope<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Grit depends on hope that you have the power to improve things.<\/strong> Hope sustains passion by giving optimism that one day you can achieve your goals<\/a><\/strong>, and thus they\u2019re worth holding for long periods of time. Hope sustains perseverance by encouraging thinking about how to overcome setbacks<\/a><\/strong>, rather than just accepting them as permanent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helplessness vs Optimism<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In a classic experiment, scientists Seligman and Maier split dogs into two groups. In one group, the dog is put in a cage and is shocked at random times. If the dog pushes against a panel at the front of the cage, the shock ends early. After 64 shocks, the pain ends. In the other group, there is no panel that ceases the shocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next day, the dog is put into a box with a divider leading to another box partition. The shock is now announced with a warning tone, so the dog has a chance to react. There is not a difference in behavior. Nearly all the dogs who had control over the shocks learn to jump over the wall and escape the shocks. Of the dogs who originally had no control over the shocks, only 1\/3 of the dogs who had no control escape \u2013 the other 2\/3 simply lay down and wait for the shocks to end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This concept is called learned helplessness<\/a><\/strong>. Suffering without the belief of control habitually leads to depression symptoms, lack of concentration, and mood disorders. It can feel like all is lost, and there is no solution to your problems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The antithesis to learned helplessness is learned optimism<\/strong>. Optimists tend to explain their suffering with temporary and specific causes, while pessimists seek permanent and broad causes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, consider the prompt of “you can\u2019t get all the work done that others expect of you. Imagine one major cause for this event.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n