Hope is the worst of evils, for it prolongs the torments of man

My role as a Directionist (the term one of my clients used to describe me the other day when he introduced me to a few of his team members) is to give guidance and support (whether it be from a strategic career or business perspective) to those who may be looking for a professional change in direction. 

Whether they are looking for a new job, a total change in career, or a chance to start (and ultimately grow) their own business, it is usually a matter of looking closely at their skills, attitude as well as their level of motivation. After all they may have all the skills and qualifications but totally lack the motivation to make the change. While sometimes they are totally pumped but quite simply lack the skill that would give them credibility in the marketplace.

So that is where I step in.

Today, however I heard a really interesting remark from one of my favourite clients: "I've lived my life in hope and missed out on a lot of opportunities along the way".

It made me think (for around a microsecond) whether I needed to start to factor hope into the skill-attitude-motivation equation. But I quickly put the idea to the side and continued to give my client the reality check she needed - albeit one that she may not quite have expected to be so direct at the time.

You can't possibly blame the fact that you may not have your dream job on the fact that you are still "living in hope" for it to come along. There are many other more pressing factors to take into consideration - and in the case of this particular client (as we quickly ascertained) what she has been "hoping for" is actually something she is not suited to at all, and worse still it is something that she certainly wouldn't enjoy as it wouldn't allow her to maintain the work-life balance she has strived so hard to achieve.

So whilst many live with the mantra "you can live in hope", sometimes it's just not worth the effort since when reality steps in it really does come down to skills, competencies, job or business fit, culture, attitude and motivation.

Image courtesy of: anadelmann

Title quote by: Friedrich Nietzche