#40 Hope as a Discipline

#40 Hope as a discipline
[Speaker 1]
Welcome to Different Points, episode 40, with myself, Catherine Llewellyn, and my wonderful co-host, Roy Colan. So welcome back, everybody. Today's topic is hope as a discipline.

And the question is, Roy, how do you nurture hope?

[Speaker 2]
Usually people say to me, I hope this, I hope that, and I'll say to them, hope is not a strategy. And I break it down, because if you say discipline, everything I do, I break it down to tasks. And then I try to systemize everything, like the podcasting, because I started off first, and I took so much time doing the very first one, editing, taking out all the pauses, pause fillers, listening again, uploading it, listening again, and then just improving, improving, improving.

And, you know, I have 10 now, including this one with yourself. And it's all about discipline, strategies, and making sure you're doing it so it's not, I hope this will be successful. I hope I will make money.

I hope my health will be okay. It's like, no. Discipline, understanding everything, putting it in place.

And that's what works. I don't think hope works without a strategy.

[Speaker 1]
Right. And having worked with you for a while, Roy, I know that you're very, very good at doing that. But also, I feel that you have a hopeful attitude, you know, in the sense that you've got this sort of attitude of, I can create something, which I think, which you might not call that hope, but I think sometimes people go into things or live their lives with this kind of underlying expectation that they're going to fail, and that they're not going to be happy or receive their just rewards.

And I think there is a discipline. It's interesting, it's called a discipline, because you could say it's just a natural attitude, a natural attitude of possibility, and that the universe wants us to be happy, if you want to go kind of woo on it, that you can have that basic fundamental attitude. But I also think it's possible to invest in and develop the point of view, which says, there's no reason this shouldn't turn out.

Obviously, I've got to do the work. Obviously, I've got to make the plan, take the steps, do the tasks, review how it's going, you know, adapt, change, change how I'm doing it, whatever I need to do, like you're saying, Roy, you have to do what's necessary. But I do think there is an important thing about the fundamental attitude of possibility.

And the attitude of optimism does make a massive difference to whether or not things are going to work. Someone said to me that if you're doing marketing or promotional work, they're saying, don't do it. If you're sitting there, terrified, it's not going to work or convinced it's not going to work.

Don't do it in that moment. Go out, have a walk, have a bath, play with the cats, watch some rubbish TV, do anything else. But and don't sit there and start creating promotional stuff until you're in the right mindset, which says, hey, I'm about to communicate something that could be a gift.

This post could change someone's life in a good way, or I'm about to offer something which could be really great for somebody. And I've got every right to do it. And when I do it, I'm adding something.

I'm not stealing people's time. I'm not manipulating and forcing them to do something they don't want to do. I'm contributing something.

So I think hope as a discipline, if anything, is more about. How do we practice seeing the wonder and the miraculous and the possibility in life as opposed to always being driven by doom and gloom? We're all doomed.

It's not going to work. I'm going to fail. Nobody loves me.

No one's going to listen to me. It's all meaningless, etc. You know, when we have those moments, we can notice them, laugh at it and then come back, get back and get back on the same page with ourselves.

So that's my kind of take on it. Roy, is there anything else you'd like to add?

[Speaker 2]
No, well, I'm just happy that we've reached 40 episodes as well, which is a nice milestone. So I've enjoyed every 40 episode with you, Catherine.

[Speaker 1]
Me too, me too. And I suppose, you know, deciding to do this show, you know, you could have said, oh, I've already got, you know, nine shows. If I had another one that can't possibly work because I won't have enough energy or time, I could have thought, who's going to want to listen to me talking about all these topics?

But instead we go, hey, let's do it. You know, which is a much more hopeful, positive approach. So everyone out there, let yourself be hopeful about things, but not in the way of going, oh, I hope, and then you wait for a hand to come down from the skies and make everything better.

You know, of course we have to do the tasks. Yes, exactly. Thank you, Roy.

That was a bit scary. So yes, positive mindset. Have a beautiful day.

Please tell your friends about the show. Please give us reviews and also please write in with any requests or suggestions for topics. I received one yesterday from a friend, which we will be doing in a few sessions time.

So thanks again very much and take care.

[Speaker 2]
Take care.