You know mindfulness has significant benefits, but new research shows that when you’re in a stressful situation—especially one that is prolonged and associated with your work—you may be better to focus on being hopeful, rather than mindful.
Figuring out how to deal with your anxiety, worry, burnout or stress is wise, since it’s a rare job that doesn’t present some issues—at least some of the time. And in fact, most people report they feel declining wellbeing at work.
You’ll want to determine what kind of coping strategies work best for you. Here’s what to consider.
We Are Stressed and Fearful
Unfortunately, plenty of people are dealing with challenges. In fact, among 32,000 people across 28 countries, 88% say they fear job loss, 73% are worried about inflation, 73% are concerned about climate change, 75% worry about hackers, 73% are anxious about nuclear war and 61% fear an information war, according to Edelman’s Trust Barometer Global Report.
In addition, 84% of all employees said they were stressed, and 98% of Gen Z respondents said they felt burned out, according to a survey by Cigna,
Stress has huge impacts on how you feel and how you function. Fully 27% of people said they were so stressed they had trouble functioning on most days, and 62% of Gen Z and Millennial women and 51% of Gen Z and Millennial men said they were completely overwhelmed by stress. All this is based on a survey of over 3,000 people by Stress in America.
Why Mindfulness May Not Work Best
In the face of anxieties, many recommend mindfulness. And mindfulness is when you’re able to stay focused in the present and be fully in the moment—with openness, curiosity and non-judgement. Mindfulness is trending today, and for good reason. When you’re mindful, there are positive effects on your mental health overall, according to a new study published in the British Journal of Health Psychology.
Interestingly however, if you’re going through chronic stress, especially in your work, mindfulness may work against you, based on a study featured in the journal of Stress & Health.
First, it can be tricky to stay present, adding to the demands you’re placing on yourself. Second, mindfulness may keep you mired in your problems and exacerbate your experience of the stressful situation you’re in the middle of.
Why Hope Works Better than Mindfulness
On the other hand, hope is forward-looking and inherently future-focused—so it may be a better strategy.
In the Stress & Health study, when people were more hopeful, they also reported greater feelings of happiness. This wasn’t the case with those who were mindful. Hope was also correlated with greater levels of engagement and lower levels of distress or tension.
On a related note, optimism is also associated with an 11%-15% longer lifespan—even controlling for age, education, alcohol, diet and exercise. This was based on a long-term study of over 70,000 by Boston University.
And optimism was also linked with better job performance and job satisfaction in research published in the Prabandhan Indian Journal of Management.
How to Be Hopeful
So how can you cultivate hope? There are five tactics that work best.
1. Be Grateful
Gratitude helps you focus on what you have—fostering a sense of satisfaction and abundance. Gratitude can help you nurture both hope and optimism, because it reminds you of what’s working, what’s going well and what you already possess. All of this provides a firm foundation for looking toward the future.
Pro tip: Gratitude tends to be most impactful when you make it a daily ritual. For example, when you get out of bed in the morning or go to bed at night, reflect on what you’re grateful for.
In addition, gratitude has the biggest benefits when you focus on being grateful for relationships, challenges, opportunities to learn, experiences and the like. It tends to be less impactful when you’re grateful for material possessions.
2. Manage Your Expectations
Another way to stay hopeful is to manage your expectations. If you plan that things will be perfect, you’ll be perpetually disappointed and stressed about all you’re not achieving. On the other hand, when your expectations are both positive and realistic, you’ll experience greater satisfaction—which will in turn keep you hopeful and motivated to keep going.
Also know that you’ll have ebbs and flows in life. A stress-free, problem-free life isn’t realistic. If you’re not failing sometimes, you’re probably not trying hard enough—and if you’re not happy every moment, it doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong. Be realistic in knowing that stress is part of life, and you’ll have ups as well as downs.
3. Think Long Term
Another way to harvest hope is to think long term. First, reflect on what’s most important to you and set goals for where you want to go. Keeping a longer time horizon in mind can help you get past the small impediments that you’re likely to encounter.
The tough customer will be a memory in a couple years and the stressful team conflict you’re going through probably won’t be on your radar by this time next year.
4. Stay Agile
You’ll also stay more hopeful when you have confidence in your ability to grow, learn and improve. With a static mindset, if you have a setback, you may conclude that you’re not smart enough or capable enough. But with a growth mindset, you know you can always get better—working to improve your skills, your actions or your execution to achieve the ends you want.
Also remember that tough times help you build your resilience muscles. Post traumatic growth is a situation where you learn through trauma and have new focus on what’s most important, who you can rely on and on your own expanded capabilities. While you wouldn’t purposely choose difficult situations, you can use them to grow and improve.
5. Embrace Your People
An additional way to stay hopeful is to spend more time around people who are positive and optimistic themselves.
Of course, you appreciate your friends who are more critical or play devil’s advocate, but choose to spend the majority of time around people who energize you and motivate you to think hard, look forward and dream big.
Balance Hope and Mindfulness
Mindfulness has a place in a healthy life, of course. But in situations of stress, consider cultivating hope, because it is a proven way to get through the lows on the way to great experiences.