One thing many of you who are long time readers know about me is that I hate people who prey on the desperate and sell hope. For people that are just starting out or who are going through a rough patch, the single thing that they often cling to is hope.
It can be really hard. When your back is to the wall and everything looks like bleak, someone offering you a beacon of hope is a pretty attractive proposition.
Unfortunately, in the online world, there are people that target those in need and offer them hope all wrapped in a nice shiny bow.
I was in a Facebook Group today and I heard this referred to as “Hopium”.
Hopium Dealers
That made me laugh, but it was totally apt. These people are Hopium dealers.
I’m never going to sit here and say that “it’s not your fault” for the situation you find yourself in. We’re all responsible for ourselves and the state of our own life, whatever that may be. You can’t revel in the good times and celebrate your success if you’re unwilling to accept the responsibility when things aren’t going your way.
With that said, I think it is utterly unconscionable to try and make people believe that you somehow have the recipe to the magic pudding and you’ll give it to them if they sign up to whatever nonsense coaching program you’re peddling at this moment in time.
But what if you’re desperate right now?
What if there is nothing left to cling to but hope?
Wishing Doesn’t Make It So
There’s the old saying, “Wish in one hand, shit in the other and see which gets filled first.” Banking on hope is just wishing into an empty hand, it’s never going to fill up.
That’s why I have such little time for the people out there who talk about “manifesting” whatever they want in life. They can go get their hardcover copy of “The Secret” and insert it up into their south facing hole.
Wishing doesn’t make it so.
I believe in the idea that you reap what you sow. When you put the work in, you do the right things and you are consistent, then good things will happen for you.
Did you notice that I didn’t say, “Good things will happen TO you”? That’s because I don’t think I’m a passenger in my own life. I’m driving the bus and I’m making the stops when it suits me. By doing the work, good stuff will happen FOR me.
And that right there, that’s the hope that people should cling to in life when the chips are down. You are the author of your own story, you just have to put the time and effort in to write that story yourself.