Experiencing hope fatigue and fighting your way through it.
I am in the gym right now after 4 weeks of heavy lifting. To be honest, this is nothing new, but I must admit that I am tired. It’s a cycle for me, though. It’s predictable. I know what I am doing. I know what to expect. I know how to recover and get back to my grind.
But what happens when getting tired isn’t cyclical or predictable. What happens when you hit the wall?
I was listening to a preacher over the weekend where he was discussing the human condition of “hope.” During the sermon described a study on what happens when animals (in this study) lost hope. Without going into the details of the study, the researcher found that when the animals in the study felt like there was no way out of their situation, when placed in a different situation, they didn’t try to find a way to relieve their situation, even though their situation was different.
What happens, though, when people hope and hope and hope and things don’t work out the way that they had, well, hoped. Repeatedly. Endlessly. To no end. To the degree that they begin to believe that regardless of what they try, they are not going to get the results they are after. To borrow from the lesson, we can all this “Hope Fatigue.”
In thinking about my work at the gym, my hope and expectation are that I will recover. As I write this, I am in my recovery week, during which I will work out less, I’ll take some supplements, drink plenty of water, get the necessary sleep.
But…
(It seems like there is always a, “but.”)
About 12 years or so ago, I hurt my shoulder. I probably had bad form during my lift of most likely too much weight and did some damage, perhaps to my rotator cuff. I was extremely frustrated! I could barely lift 45 pounds, I couldn’t throw a baseball, and I had an extremely hard time even taking my shirt off.
Eventually (yeah – I know…) went to see my doctor who informed me that I did indeed have some damage to my rotator cuff and would need to do therapy. So, I learned what I had to do and did the work. Over the next few years, I worked on it through stretching and exercises that would strengthen my rotator cuff. Perfect. Hope restored.
The great thing is that the exercises worked! But…
10 years later, my shoulder hasn’t had the complete recovery that I was looking for. As a matter of fact, it had gotten very strong for a while, but lately, my progress has regressed. It doesn’t hurt, I have nearly full range of motion. It is strong. The muscles around it are strong, but for whatever reason, my shoulder isn’t working the way it is supposed to.
…and I have been on the edge of “hope fatigue” and ready to give up on it ever getting better. I have a twinge of anxiety every Tuesday and Friday when I do the lifts or movements involving my shoulder. I won’t work out with the other lifters that don’t have the injury / impediment that I suffer from. I try to get the primary exercises out of the way quickly and keep my head down until I can do the exercises that I am more comfortable with.
Ugh. The embarrassment. My ego is not happy with me. Some might say that at my age I am doing pretty good. Pretty good isn’t good enough for me. :-/
I spoke with my amazing massage therapist about it. She looked at my shoulder, gave me some feedback on it, but most importantly, told me to get a coach who could look at my technique, evaluate where the deficits are and develop a plan to strengthen my shoulder. She emphasized that although I have been lifting for a long time, there may be some things that I am not seeing and therefore cannot fix. We cannot fix the problems we don’t know exist.
Nevertheless…Ugh. Blow to the ego. But…
She was and is right. Will it work? Maybe. Are results guaranteed? Of course not. What if I do nothing? I will get nothing. It won’t get better. The problem that I am not aware of will continue to persist and I will continue to experience hope fatigue.
As an entrepreneur, I see this on a regular basis both in myself and my ventures and in other entrepreneurs. I see people who have been in business for many years who, when they started out, had a vision of moving the world. However, 5 or 10 years in, they are finding themselves in a daily grind and not making the progress that they expected. They are experts in their field and in their business, but still don’t see the returns that would justify all of the time and effort that they poured into the business over the years.
They might do all the things that the gurus suggested, trying one thing after another, but the results are lackluster if anything is produced at all. Entrepreneurs with hope fatigue get to the point that when people offer solutions that could truly help them solve their issue, even if the approach seems logical, “hope fatigue” has discouraged them from taking the steps that could ultimately produce results. Hope fatigue also looks like, “Forget it. Let’s do it…” as an exasperated last-ditch effort.
What is to be done in this situation?
As my amazing massage therapist suggested, if you are experiencing hope fatigue, you need identify it and step back to get another perspective. You are going to be the last person who should decide what needs to be done in order to identify and address the obstacles. The interesting thing is that while you might say, “I know what the problem is – my sales are down!” or “my business is chaotic!” The person that you work with needs to dig in to find out “why.”
For example, sales being down could be the result of a number of things – internal or external to the organization. For example:
The demand for what you are selling in its current format may not be what your customers currently want
The economy changed and your offering is more of a luxury item than a need
The channels you are promoting on are no longer the primary focus of your target audience
Your sales process is obsolete, or your team isn’t delivering it at the level that is needed
Your competitors are targeting you, specifically, and have created some havoc to disrupt your sales (that’s their job by the way.)
Technology may fill some or all of the problems your product or service solves
Etc.
The key is, of course, to do something when the issues are identified, which requires commitment and discipline to see them through. Change is never easy and can take longer than expected. When I have to exercise my shoulder, honestly speaking, the exercises seem stupid. Nobody else is doing them. But as a result of doing them, I am moving closer to my goal, and because I see progress, I no longer have hope fatigue.
In the same way, if we are genuinely looking at solving a problem versus putting a temporary solution in place; if we are making incremental changes versus trying to re-invent ourselves; if we monitor outcomes versus expectations and make the appropriate adjustments, we will produce the results that we are looking for. We move closer to our goal and celebrate the incremental wins. Restore your hope.
Being tired, having hope fatigue, wanting to quit doesn’t have to be a permanent state. It can be something that you identify and take the necessary steps to break out of it. It’s not typically something that you can do on your own, and not necessarily a problem that can be solved overnight. But having a plan, working it, and celebrating incremental wins can bring you through it.
Aepiphanni is a 19-year-old Business Consultancy dedicated to providing Fractional Growth Leadership, Management Consulting, and Business Transformation to business leaders and entrepreneurs aiming to enhance or expand their companies. As a trusted advisor, we specialize in delivering forward-thinking operational and strategic solutions that empower our clients to navigate and overcome the challenges of business growth. Discover more about our services at Aepiphanni or schedule a complimentary discovery session at Coffee and a Consult.
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