Unfortunately, you discover that you are still in the same place as if you were a hamster on a wheel, and every cycle you finish brings you back to the point where you started. It is unfortunate that this staggering is a recurring theme not just for this year but for all years.
At the beginning of the year, you arrange a schedule full of goals to discover at the end that you have not achieved even one goal, and yet you return to set the same goals again. That hope that leads you to optimism is illogical and deceptive; it’s called false hope syndrome.
Is there a solution? Is there an explanation for what's going on with you? If you want answers to these questions, read on.
What is False Hope Syndrome?
It is very natural for each of us to strive for the best, and it is also natural for us to make a long list of goals and concentrate our efforts on achieving them. However, when we notice that we repeatedly, over many years, still fail to achieve what we had aspired to, we continue to make the same list of goals each year to experience failure once more, and this is when things start to get unnatural.
All of this leads us to wonder: Where is the problem? Why are we repeating the same goals?
We simply have hope because, in the words of the great Syrian author Saadallah Wannous, "We are doomed to hope," but does it make sense to be a tenth-class employee without making any attempts, working nonstop, getting tired, and thinking about the management of the company you work for? Also, does it make sense to set this as your goal at the beginning of each new year? Of course not.
False hope syndrome means the experience of a false and illusory hope that causes us to expect significant outcomes that are not in line with our capabilities and without considering the elements and strategies we must follow to achieve our goals, no matter how modest they may be. False hope is more about trying to improve our feelings than making actual changes in our lives, only to feel better.
False hope syndrome is an attempt to turn to fantasy to escape reality; over time, this will develop into addiction. For instance, you should anticipate several factors that will influence your ability to achieve a goal when you have one in mind. The amount of time you have to achieve your goal, the range of your current capacities, its difficulty or ease, the need to break it down into smaller goals, tracking your progress, and many other factors should all be considered when organizing and developing a plan.
In the case of false hope, your expectations are inconsistent and incompatible with your reality, and the hope on which you build your dreams is not solid because it is untrue and false, and this is what sets your plan straight to failure.
Why do we have False Hope Syndrome?
We all wish to change and improve our conditions, and we all want the best and seek it. It is the beginning of our sense of hope, but often, expectations exceed reality, and our mind begins to weave tales of successes beyond our actual ability. It is the first obstacle to achieving our goal.
For instance, we begin studying for our course, finish the first lecture, feel that we can complete the remaining with the same zeal and activity, and start to picture the honoring speech that will be prepared for us, as well as how we will explain to our families that we were among the first in the batch and that we have only finished a small portion of the course and that our activity will begin to decline once we reach half the course, and every time the same thing happens.
Also, one of our goals might be to lose weight, and once we do, we feel satisfied. However, after a while, we start to slack off a little, so the satisfaction we felt when we first achieved the goal motivates us to reset and implement it again, and we feel we can follow through and succeed.
The issue with false hope syndrome is that we tend to concentrate on the outcomes rather than the methods for achieving them. It explains that the initial feelings of fulfillment brought with them strong feelings of optimism that rule the person and give them the impression that they can achieve their goal and more, but they are quickly shocked by the truth to learn that they will not be able to do so.
What are the results of False Hope Syndrome?
False hope syndrome has many negative results and bad psychological consequences, as follows:
1. Failure
Failure happens due to the large gap between a person's potential and expectations, as well as the irrationality of the goals and the inability to achieve them, as was previously mentioned. Overconfidence and inflated hopes are essential components of the false-hope syndrome. Failure is a natural outcome of having unattainable goals.
2. Low self-esteem
Repeated failure breeds low self-esteem and a sense of helplessness and powerlessness in achieving one's goals.
False hope syndrome can have both positive and negative effects. On the plus side, it can boost self-confidence, which shields us from frustration and unpleasant circumstances.
Tips to Eliminate False Hope Syndrome
Without a serious and sincere effort to bring about change, hope isn't hope. As we previously stated, it is nothing more than a mirage, a drug that masks your suffering, but you are fully aware that nothing will change, so you must actively work to alter your perspective on hope.
Here is a set of tips that will help you eliminate false hope syndrome:
1. Happiness begins when things are different
when they are accomplished, and when you reach your goal. You must understand that happiness is not about envisioning a lovely future and living in a world of illusions and dreams. You also must realize that you will not be able to make an actual change in your life.
2. Never overstate things and make impossible goals for yourself
Try to set goals you can reasonably expect to achieve, and remember that you must accomplish each goal one at a time to realize your dreams. For instance, if your goal is to read 100 books in a year, you should spread this goal out over the year.
It is not advisable to keep pushing back your goal in the vain hope that you will eventually achieve it. After some time, you'll realize that the year is over and you haven't finished reading ten books.
3. Plan revisions are a must
You won't get anywhere by giving up and starting over constantly, using the same approach and techniques. To avoid any emergency, you must always have a plan B and be prepared to change your strategy.
4. Recognize that the false hope syndrome you are battling is not a simple foe
Contrarily, you will frequently become lost in it, and it will take some time to realize that this kind of optimism is pointless and that you need to be motivated to start making changes for the better.
5. Realize that changing your feelings is insufficient
Changes in behaviors are also required in the design. You must also take a second to think about your actions, because feeling guilty about wasting an entire year daydreaming about the best is not enough.
What brought you here? Why is my condition not improving? What went wrong? Will I stay in the same place every year? Questions to ask yourself and then answer.
6. Remember, if you succumb to the false hope syndrome, failure is what you will reap
Failure to plan is the same as planning for failure, and doing things without a solid plan will impact you in the long run. You can accomplish nothing without facing challenges, and the only way to do so is to visualize these challenges and create a strategy to overcome them while armed with will, determination, hope, and optimism.
However, optimism should not be confused with motivation, as this will lead to laziness rather than work and perseverance.
In conclusion
We must fully comprehend that the value of hope derives from the difference it brings about in our lives. Hope is nothing more than an illusion that makes us feel good momentarily and without any lasting accomplishment if it is not accompanied by hard work and actual work.
We must work to match our goals to our skills and abilities if we want our hope to be realized. We don't overstate things, and we don't look. Only an impartial and logical examination will be sufficient to determine the objective we can attain.
Every time we succeed, we can raise the bar a little higher until we finally realize our true potential and dispel the false hope syndrome that has kept us stuck for so long.
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