Character strength · Transcendence
Hope as a character strength: meaning and examples
The short answer: hope, also called optimism, is expecting the best from the future and working to make it happen. It is not wishful thinking: hopeful people believe their actions can make a difference. It is one of the 24 character strengths of the VIA classification, in the Transcendence family: the strengths that connect you to something larger than yourself.
What hope looks like
People with a lot of hope tend to:
- expect things to work out, and plan accordingly
- bounce back after a setback
- set goals and picture how to reach them
- see a bad day as a bad day, not a bad life
- lift others' spirits when things look bleak
In everyday life
At work, hope is the colleague who, after a project fails, is already thinking about the next attempt. In personal life, it is the person training for a first race, saving for a house, or starting again after a breakup.
Hope combines two things: believing a good future is possible, and seeing a path toward it. Both can be strengthened, for example by breaking big goals into small, visible steps.
Hope and the strengths close to it
- Gratitude looks at the good in the past. Hope looks for it in the future.
- Zest brings energy; hope gives that energy a direction.
- Perseverance keeps working toward the future that hope expects.
When hope is overdone, or underused
Like every strength, hope works best in the right amount. Overdone, hope can turn into ignoring real risks, or unrealistic plans that set you up for disappointment. Underused, people stop setting goals, expect the worst, and give up too early.
The aim is optimism with a plan.
Is hope one of your top strengths?
Ask yourself:
- When something goes wrong, do you usually expect things to improve?
- Do you have goals for the next few years, and an idea of how to get there?
- Do others turn to you for encouragement?
If you answered yes to most of these, hope may be one of your signature strengths. The only way to know how it compares with your other 23 is to rank them.
Find your top strengths with the free test
Where this comes from
The 24 character strengths were described by psychologists Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman in Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification (2004). Happy Me's assessment uses public-domain questions from the International Personality Item Pool and is not affiliated with the VIA Institute.