Your Daily Dose of Hope

Welcome to your Daily Dose of Hope.

Looking forward to something is one of life’s pleasures.

A visit. A vacation. A celebration. Even a quiet weekend with very little on the calendar.

I love having something to look forward to.

But today, I want to give a little attention to the day we already have.

This one. The one with the appointments, the unanswered messages, the laundry, and whatever you were thinking about when you pressed play.

Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow isn’t here yet.

To...

Welcome to your Daily Dose of Hope.

Sometimes the thing keeping us stuck is an idea we’ve stopped questioning.

“This is how it has to work.”

“This is what success is supposed to look like.”

“If I can’t do it this way, I guess I can’t do it.”

We can become so focused on making one version happen that we forget to consider whether another version might work too.

Maybe even work better for the life we have now.

You wanted to host a big gatheri...

Welcome to your Daily Dose of Hope.

Have you ever caught yourself thinking, “Once I get through this, things will settle down”?

Once this project is finished. Once the house is organized. Once the schedule changes. Once I finally get into a good routine.

I’ve certainly done it.

And sometimes, finishing something really does bring relief. There are demanding seasons we’re glad to see end.

But I wonder how much of our lives we spend mentally reaching past the day we’re actually living.

We’re getting s...

Welcome to your Daily Dose of Hope.

We hear a lot about the pursuit of happiness.

But today, I want to turn that around and think about the happiness of pursuit.

The enjoyment that comes from having something you’re interested in. Something you’re learning. Something you want to try, even if you’re not especially good at it yet.

Maybe you’re growing tomatoes. Learning to paint. Training for a walk. Starting a business. Figuring out how to make really good bread.

There’s an outcome you’d like, cert...

Welcome to your Daily Dose of Hope.

Here’s a thought I want to offer you today:

You don’t have to care less. You get to carry less.

There may be something weighing on you right now that matters deeply to you.

Someone you love is struggling. A decision is being made that affects your future. Something is happening in your community or in the world that you wish you could change.

You care. Of course you care.

And for now, there may be very little you...

Welcome to your Daily Dose of Hope.

There’s something lovely about doing something kind and letting that be the whole story.

No announcement. No explanation. No waiting to hear how much it meant.

Just making someone’s day a little easier because you can.

Maybe it’s returning the shopping cart someone left near a parking space. Maybe it’s picking up the trash you notice on your walk. Maybe it’s leaving a generous tip without hanging around to see the reaction.

Or maybe someone will know it was you...

October is an interesting time to look at the goals we set in January.

Some might be coming along nicely. Some might be sitting on a list we haven’t looked at in months.

And some might make us think, “Do I even want that anymore?”

I think all of those answers give us useful information.

One of the ideas I appreciate from James Clear’s Atomic Habits is paying attention to the systems and habits that support what we want to accomplish.

A goal gives us a direction. But we a...

Autumn is here in all its multicolor glory, and I have to talk about it because it’s my favorite.

I love watching the trees change. I love those days when the air feels cool and the sunshine is still warm.

And I like that we call this a season of harvest.

It’s such a useful reminder that what we do today has something to do with what becomes possible tomorrow.

When you plant something, you don’t expect a harvest the next morning.

You water it. You pay at...

When you were eight, what did you want to be when you grew up?

An astronaut? A ballerina? A veterinarian?

And how closely does your life today resemble that plan?

Probably not very closely. We don’t usually question that. Of course our ideas changed. We learned more about the world and about ourselves.

But somewhere along the way, we can start expecting our choices to become permanent.

We chose this work, so we should keep doing it. We’ve always been the person who organizes everything, so we shou...

Isn’t it interesting how quickly we can remember something that went wrong?

An awkward conversation from years ago can show up with remarkable detail. Meanwhile, something we handled well last week barely gets a mention.

When we’re facing something unfamiliar, those memories can make us question ourselves.

What if I mess this up? What if I can’t do it? What if it’s harder than I think?

Our minds are pretty good at calling our attention to potential problems. That can be helpful. But a possible problem doesn’t tell the...

I recently saw someone use the acronym WIN to mean “What’s important now?”

I liked that immediately.

It reminded me of a friend who used to say, “Keep the main thing the main thing.”

Simple advice. Also surprisingly easy to forget when you’ve got a full calendar, a long list and several people who need something from you.

There are days when I can stay busy from morning until evening and still feel like I never got to the thing that mattered most.

I answered questions. Took care of litt...

Have you ever told yourself, “I’ll do it when I feel ready”?

I certainly have. And sometimes there are good reasons to wait. We need information, resources or a little room in the schedule.

But sometimes “I’m not ready” means something more like, “I’d really like to know this is going to work before I try it.”

Wouldn’t that be nice?

To feel confident before the first attempt. To know exactly what to say before the conversation. To have the whole plan figured out before taking the first step.

E...

Welcome to your Daily Dose of Hope. I’m Phyllis Nichols.

Recently, I was working at a coffee shop, and there were people on either side of me who were clearly on first dates.

Apparently, Sunday morning coffee is a popular way to meet someone.

Both couples were talking loudly enough that I could hear them. Sometimes they got pretty animated. I eventually put my earbuds in so I could concentrate, but before I did, I noticed something.

They were sharing little pieces of their lives, hoping to find common ground.

Welcome to your Daily Dose of Hope. I’m Phyllis Nichols.

A former business coach of mine used to say he could look at someone’s calendar and tell exactly what was important to them.

They might say their family or their health mattered most. But he said their calendar often told a different story.

I understand the point he was making, although I don’t think our calendars tell the whole story.

Your daily walk might not be on there. Dinner with your family might not be either. And sometimes our sc...

Welcome to your Daily Dose of Hope. I’m Phyllis Nichols.

Today, I want to remind you of something: there is no prize for suffering.

Nobody is going to hand you an award because you made something harder by refusing to ask for help.

And yet, asking can be so difficult.

Especially when you’re used to being the person other people lean on. The one who figures things out. The one who says, “I’ve got it,” sometimes before you’ve even considered whether you do.

It can feel uncomfo...

Welcome to your Daily Dose of Hope. I’m Phyllis Nichols.

My friend Nancy invited me to meet her at her family farm in Kentucky recently. It’s about a four-hour drive, and I got to stop and visit my aunt and cousin on the way. That was a lovely added bonus.

There wasn’t an agenda for our time together. No project to finish. No big event. Just the chance to hang out, talk, and spend time with a friend.

The farm is beautiful. And honestly, it felt like we had a two-da...

Welcome to your Daily Dose of Hope. I’m Phyllis Nichols.

My friend Donita shared something in her weekly email that I loved, and I wanted to pass it along to you.

She’s a professor who really loves her work. But recently, she had a rough week. She was doing what a lot of us do when things are hard. Showing up, powering through, and trying not to let everyone see how much she was carrying.

On one of those particularly hard days, a student told her that on the mornings they have...

Welcome to your Daily Dose of Hope. I’m Phyllis Nichols.

When you’re going through a hard time, it can feel like nothing good will ever happen again.

You might know, somewhere in the back of your mind, that things can change. But knowing that and feeling hopeful are two different things.

So what do we do when hope feels far away?

I want to offer three small things you can try. You don’t have to do all of them. Start with whichever one feels possible.

First, make t...

At the end of a season, I can get caught up thinking about everything I didn’t do.

The trip I thought we’d take. The friend I meant to see. The project I was sure I’d finish before summer ended. I can look at all the things that did happen and still find myself focused on the unfinished list.

Maybe you have one of those lists, too.

If something mattered to you and it didn’t happen, it’s okay to be disappointed. You don’t have to turn it into a lesson rig...

I sometimes make plans based on how much energy I wish I had and I’m a HUGE optimist about what I can truly accomplish. 

On paper, it all fits. I can get the work done, take care of everything at home, say yes to the invitation, and start a new project. Then the week begins, and I wonder why I’m so tired and why I feel so depleted. I see events on the calendar that don’t feel like something I’m going to enjoy as much as things I now can’t get out of. 

When life gets busy, I notice that the things I enjoy are often the first things I stop doing.

I’ll make time for appointments, errands, and deadlines. But reading just because I want to? Sitting outside? Calling a friend when neither of us needs anything? Those things are easy to postpone because there’s no consequence if I don’t do them today. 

Except, after a while, I can feel the difference.

As we move into fall, I’m thinking about what I want to make room for before my calendar fills up. I don...

A new season makes me want a fresh start. I start thinking about routines I want to get back to and projects I’m finally going to finish.

And then I remember how easy it is to turn a fresh start into a huge assignment. I will confess to being a serial starter. Nothing makes me happier than planning and then beginning something new. I love it. I also know after years and years of starting things, that finishing them is NOT my best thing. 

Maybe that’s you too? 

I wanted to walk e...

It’s that time again. The light changes, the days feel different, and suddenly we’re talking about fall plans. Which I love. Here in Ohio, I think fall is the prettiest season and also there’s football and that combo makes me so happy. 

Before we rush into the next season, I want to take a few minutes to look back at summer. I’m not making a list of everything I meant to do and didn’t. I want to remember what was good.

What did you enjoy this summer? Was there a place you l...

You aren’t going to get today back.

I know that can sound like the beginning of an episode about making every minute count. That’s not where I’m going with this. I don’t think every minute needs to be productive. I guess what this is about is how we decide what counts.

For many of us, work always counts but none of us work all the time. What else counts? What else matters. I think today it’s worth paying attention to how we decide what matters, and how we honor that.

When...

Changing the plan can feel like giving up.

We decide how something is supposed to happen, create a timeline and begin moving in that direction. I do this all the time, and then something pops up that I didn’t expect or something takes longer than I thought. 

And sometimes things change that I didn’t expect.

Instead of pushing through, we are allowed to adjust. We can change the plan or even start over if we need to especially if things look different up close than it did from a distance.

I l...

I’ve been thinking about capacity lately, not just how much time we have, but how much energy and attention we have available.

Those are not unlimited resources.

My calendar can sometimes show that I have time for things and my brain is telling me no, that’s too much for one day. 

There might technically be an open hour in the day, but that doesn’t mean we have the emotional or mental capacity to fill it with another difficult task.

Recognizing that isn’t laziness. It’s self-awareness. I am fortunat...

It’s the belief that even when something doesn’t go according to plan, we have the ability to adapt and adjust.

There are plenty of things in life we cannot control. Other people’s choices. Unexpected expenses. A delayed opportunity. A sudden change in circumstances.

But we are not completely powerless.

We can decide how to use and grow our personal resources—our time, money, experience, relationships, creativity and talents.

Resourcefulness asks a different question.

Instead of saying, “Why don’t I have what I need?” it asks, “What do I have...

I was listening to my friend Alecia’s podcast recently, and I’ll share the link in the notes, when her guest said something that stayed with me.

She was talking about prioritizing what is most profitable.

But she wasn’t only talking about income.

She was also considering ease, energy and brain capacity.

In other words, something might bring in money, but if it requires a huge amount of mental energy, constant problem-solving or more stress than it’s worth, is it truly profitable?

That question led her into wha...

The resilience class I’m taking has given me so much to think about.

This week, we talked about composure and health and how both affect our lives as a whole.

One of the ideas Dr. Donita shared was the practice of being persistently hopeful.

I love that phrase.

Being persistently hopeful doesn’t mean ignoring what’s difficult or pretending everything will work out exactly the way we want.

It means staying in the present and actively choosing to hope from all the options available to us.

Beca...

I went to a networking event last week and I had a great time.

I know. That’s not something you usually hear when people talk about networking, right?

So, what made this one different?

Part of it was the people, of course. It was a small group of about 15 women, and everyone seemed genuinely interested in connecting.

But I think the real difference was the intention behind the event.

We were given time to speak for a few minutes with each person. Instead of awkwardly wandering around the ro...

Wanting to be in control sometimes gets a bad rap. For good reason.

Think about it. When someone is being controlling it’s not a compliment. Often because we’re trying to control other people, or every circumstance. We’re trying to predict every outcome, or make sure nothing unexpected ever happens.

None of that works because we can’t control any of that. But there is another kind of control that can be very hopeful.

It’s the control we have over our own actions. Yes, we have 100% control over what we do. I know...

There is always a reason NOT to do something. A reason to postpone or delay. 

We’re tired. We’re busy. The timing isn’t right. We need more information. Tomorrow looks like a much better day to begin. I’ve used all of these and more. 

And then there’s inertia.

Once we’re comfortable where we are, even if where we are isn’t where we want to be, it can be difficult to get moving.

I’ll admit that it’s often easier for me not to do the thing, especiall...

One of our podcast clients is making a big change.

She left her job. She wrote a book and is submitting it to publishers. And now she’s creating a course to help parents.

She’s updating her website, making changes to her podcast, and building an entirely new chapter of her work based on everything she knows, what she’s learned and the things she knows will help others. 

What inspires me most about her story is that she doesn’t know exactly how any of it is going to turn out.

The...

I’m taking a class about resilience, and so far, it has been fascinating.

One of the first topics we explored was tenacity.

I like to think of myself as a tenacious person. And sometimes I am. But if I’m being honest, there are also times when I give up pretty quickly.

If something feels harder than I expected, takes too long, or doesn’t give me an immediate result, it’s easy for me to lose momentum. Sometimes I bail when I realize that I might need help or I don’t know exa...

Most of us have something we want to change.

There’s a habit we want to break, a new routine we want to begin, or some part of our life we know isn’t working anymore.

The temptation is to make one big, dramatic change.

We create the perfect plan. We buy the supplies. We announce that this time, everything will be different. And we believe it, at least I do. The optimist in me always thinks that this time everything will line up perfectly. 

And sometimes that burst of energy helps...

We often think of hope as a feeling, something we either have or we don’t.

What if we think about hope as more of a habit? As a trait we can develop and a skill we can practice? That means we can reach for it anytime and that’s so helpful because hope is one of those things we need the most when we feel it the least. 

What if we practice hope by taking action in the present.

That doesn’t mean pretending everything is wonderful when it isn’t. It doesn’t m...

One of the easiest ways to create a little more hope is to put something good on the calendar.

It doesn’t have to be a vacation, a concert, or an expensive night out, but it could be if that’s what you want to do. I’m thinking about going to see an NFL game. You do you, 

Maybe that’s coffee with a friend, or taking an afternoon off to read, or maybe it’s dinner at your favorite place. 

Part of the joy comes from the experience itself, but part of it comes...

I think we sometimes make restarting harder than it needs to be.

If we stop doing something that mattered to us, we tell ourselves we’ve lost our momentum. We feel behind and think we need to catch up or make a big plan before we can return.

This is your reminder that you’re allowed to just begin again. Start.

You can go back to the gym after missing a month.

You can call the friend you haven’t talked to in far too long.

You can return to you...

I’m sharing a link today to a Substack post by Shola Richards about the anatomy of an apology.

It’s so good, and it’s absolutely worth reading.

One part that stayed with me is the importance of centering the other person.

When we apologize, it can be tempting to focus on ourselves.

We mean well, but often we start by explaining what we meant or why we didn’t mean it. We might describe what we were going through, trying to prove that we’re a good person and are truly...

Today’s episode is a guest submission by my friend and business peer Amy Lahmers. 

Having the ability to be humble and approachable and to also be able to act with boldness when you need to aren’t always opposites. 

In today’s Daily Dose of Hope, Amy introduces the idea of “humble boldness” the courage to act with conviction while remaining teachable, grounded, and willing to listen. It’s boldness without ego and humility without passivity.

Whether you’re leading a team, a business, a family, or simply yourself, you can speak up for what you...