On hope


The evolution and survival of a species depend on its ability to weather challenges and dangers. As humans, we have been given the unique gift of consciousness. With it come many abstract emotions and ideas. Some aid in survival, others don’t. The capacity for hope is unique to humans.

What exactly is hope?

Charles Richard “Rick” Snyder (1944-2006) — an academic who spent a lifetime on the study of hope — established the Hope Theory. His work on the subject is seminal. Snyder states that there are three main elements that constitute hopeful thinking:

  • Goals – Handling life in a goal-oriented fashion.
  • Pathways – Finding or delineating routes to reach your goals.
  • Agency – Summoning up the physical and emotional strengths to  initiate events and work towards these goals.

What cannot be measured, cannot be improved.

Being the scientist that he was, Snyder devised three scoring systems for objective measurement of a nebulous entity like hope.

1. The Adult Dispositional Hope Scale (ADHS). It is a self-reported questionnaire of 12 items. Total scores range from a minimum of 8 to a maximum of 64 with high scores reflecting high levels of hope
2. The Adult State Hope Scale (ASHS). One drawback to the ADHS is that it assesses hope solely as a baseline trait. It only measures an individual’s general level of hope. Hope levels may vary based on specific circumstances. (ASHS) assesses goal-directed thinking in any given moment or situation.
3. The Adult Domain Specific Hope Scale measures an individual’s level of hope in six specific areas: social, academic, family, romance/relationships, work/occupation and leisure activities.

The scales make it possible to compare assessments across different groups and times.


Hope is the best predictor of success, better than optimism

A growing corpus of scientific research has shown that hope enhances academic success.

  • A study conducted by a group of British academics found that hope is not just linked to academic achievement, but it is a better predictor of success than IQ tests, personality, or past academic performance.
  • Researchers at Santa Clara University discovered in 2014 that hope was the most constant predictor of GPA, edging out optimism.

When you lack hope, you are more prone to set “mastery objectives,” which are straightforward, doable activities that are not difficult and do not contribute to your growth. Pursuing mastery targets signifies a loss of control over one’s circumstances, making it simpler to give up.


Realistic optimism

There is a middle ground between starry-eyed optimism and relentless dark thinking. It’s called “realistic optimism“. Realistic optimists believe they will succeed, but emphasize that they have to make success happen through their own efforts.


Surfacing from the depths of hopelessness, into creativity

(By Francesco Jodice – ticket:2013022110009441, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24823403)

The Japanese word hikikomori translates to “pulling inward.” It was coined in 1998 by Japanese psychiatrist Tamaki Saitō to describe a burgeoning social phenomenon among young people who, feeling the extreme pressures to succeed in their school, work, and social lives, decided to withdraw from society for at least six months.

In recent years, there has been a subtle change in how people understand the phenomena, manifested through increased awareness of the complexity of the experience. It can be understood as a radical act of introversion and self-discovery.

Kazumi Leiri, a recovering recluse, suggests that there is no need to hurry to retie social bonds, rather to “tie small knots, little by little.” Creative expression could be a powerful way to both share experiences of isolation and to reconnect with others within and beyond the state.


Good “dumb questions” can flush out valuable information


“𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕡 𝕥𝕣𝕪𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕠 𝕒𝕤𝕜 “𝕤𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝕢𝕦𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤” || 🆃🅸🅻 A Smart Question is a query designed to advertise the wisdom of the asker. … how counterproductive feigning intelligence [is] during the process of trying to collect [information]. Big Dumb Questions (BDQs) … Really revelatory and surprising answers can come from extremely basic questions.

📄▶️ Read the article


🔑 question

The ideal number for a meeting is …

Key words: brainstorming creativity productivity strategy meetings number


ABOUT THIS SERIES OF CARDS: “Men follow their sentiments and their self-interest, but it pleases them to imagine that they follow reason. And so they look for, and always find, some theory which, a posteriori, makes their actions appear to be logical.” — Vilfredo Pareto

Parkinson’s Law of Triviality

Key words: Parkinson triviality law meetings time 


ABOUT THIS SERIES OF CARDS: “Men follow their sentiments and their self-interest, but it pleases them to imagine that they follow reason. And so they look for, and always find, some theory which, a posteriori, makes their actions appear to be logical.” — Vilfredo Pareto

The Peter Principle

Key words: Peter principle, hierarchy, incompetence, bureaucracy, management


ABOUT THIS SERIES OF CARDS: “Men follow their sentiments and their self-interest, but it pleases them to imagine that they follow reason. And so they look for, and always find, some theory which, a posteriori, makes their actions appear to be logical.” — Vilfredo Pareto

The sunk cost fallacy

Key words: sunk cost, fallacy, bias, loss, aversion behaviour


ABOUT THIS SERIES OF CARDS: “Men follow their sentiments and their self-interest, but it pleases them to imagine that they follow reason. And so they look for, and always find, some theory which, a posteriori, makes their actions appear to be logical.” — Vilfredo Pareto

This tyrant now rules the world: our screens

Key words: screen, device, attention, mind, productivity, entertainment, creativity


A restaurant, a waiting lounge, a family dinner: chances are that most people in front of you will be looking at a screen. Mobile phone, tablet, laptop: they grab our attention and hold it in a vice-like grip. The “Feeds”, and the algorithms that drive them, have taken over our minds and our ability to think independently.

In an article in the blog, Infinite Play, Nat Eliason writes about “The locus of entertainment.” He says that avoiding contact with other people and burying ourselves in our own sources of pleasure is not new. We read books and newspapers while traveling in a train or plane. But, something has changed in a major fashion. The locus of entertainment, according to Eliason, has been slowly wrested from within our own choosing and dropped onto our all-pervasive screens.

Here are the take home messages that I got from this article.

➡️ Backstory: “Screenworld”. We have given up the power to chose for the false luxury of endless choices. Eliason calls this the “screen world.”

➡️ Main idea: “Entertainment muscle atrophy.” Entertainment, until the advent of the Internet, was something we generated. Writing, music, painting, and the performing arts are some common examples.

Today, entertainment has become something that is generated for us. A complex web of data, obtained from our browsing, is mined with powerful tools. Algorithms control the list of choices on offer. Manipulations are made that are well beyond our cognitive capacity. Free will no longer exists.

We surrender totally. As couch potatoes, our “entertainment muscles atrophy.”

🔴 Eliason warns us that it is a very short, slippery road to “depression, addiction, and asociality.”

➡️ Call to action: Take back control.

There is a solution, Eliason adds, but it is not an easy one. You have to become the master of your devices; take charge of creating your own entertainment. You have to use these tools to build up your internally generated sources of entertainment. The apps and software available today are wide-ranging and powerful. We have never had so much power for creativity and innovation.

In a single sentence, Eliason’s recommendation would be: Switch from being a consumer to being a creator.

Read the article.