The Hope QuotientSample

Refocusing on the future helps you bounce back. The Bible confirms it’s not where you start—it’s what you become.

•   Jonah started out running from God but ended up influencing a metropolis. 

•  Thomas started out wracked by doubt but ended up taking the gospel to India.

•  Moses did nothing significant for two-thirds of his life—which I find encouraging—but ended up delivering two million people from slavery.

•  Jacob started as a liar and ended up as a leader.

•  Timothy started out shy, insecure, and fearful but ended up Apostle Paul’s protégé.

•  Paul started out persecuting Christians but ended up writing most of the New Testament.

•  John Mark started as a quitter but ended up painting a word portrait of Jesus Christ.

•  Peter started as an arrogant loudmouth but ended up as a great Christian leader.

Back in 2002, a slumping Reuters was fighting for survival with recorded losses of almost 500 million pounds. One year later, it recorded profits of almost 500 million pounds. How did the leadership manage this astonishing turnaround? They stopped focusing on what was and reimagined what the company could be, then took decisive action to make that a reality.

Refocusing on the future also energizes and stabilizes. It accelerates you to the kind of fresh vision that fuels forward motion. Looking at what things can become gives you hope and a future.

If you feel discouraged or dejected about life, or if you’re trying to claw yourself out of a setback, or if you desire to move to a higher level of living life, no strategy is more powerful than to focus on what you can become rather than on what you are.

Do your future a big favor. Give preference to become over is. The future you will thank you for it.

Think Up:

Focus on what things in your life can become that are currently bothering you.

How can a lifestyle focused on the future cause your circumstances to change? (Read on).