Hope Is Not a Strategy
People say, “I have hope.”
They live on it. Breathe it. Build their mornings and midnights around it.
Hope that things will change, that people will come through, that time will somehow soften what feels unbearable today.
I understand that kind of hope. I’ve lived on it more times than I can count.
Hope that systems would reform, that good people would stay, that effort and sincerity would be enough.
Hope that life would finally slow down.
That I would eat better, sleep longer, and take care of my body the way I promise myself I will every year.
Hope that I would read more books, write more stories, and finally finish the ones that keep whispering from the back of my mind.
Hope that I would meet new people, form deeper connections, build better relationships.
Hope that I would find the right job, or maybe create one of my own.
Hope that I would understand more, forgive faster, travel lighter, worry less.
Hope that one day I would arrive at a version of myself that feels whole, steady, and at peace.
But here’s what I’ve learned, again and again:
Hope is not a strategy.
And passion alone is not enough.
Hope is the spark that starts the fire, not the fuel that keeps it burning.
Passion gives direction, but not discipline. Both are necessary, but neither can stand on their own.
We love to tell stories about passion, the dreamer who refused to give up, the optimist who kept believing. But the truth is, change doesn’t come from belief alone. It comes from structure, from systems, from the dull repetition of doing the work even when the feeling fades.
In humanitarian work, I’ve seen teams full of hope crumble under the weight of poor planning. I’ve seen people with all the passion in the world lose their spark because there was no path forward, no process, no scaffolding for their effort.
Hope matters. It is what gets us through the night.
But strategy is what gets us through the storm.
If hope is the seed, then structure is the soil.
If passion is the flame, then process is the oxygen.
So yes, keep your hope. Guard your passion.
But build your strategy.
Because while hope may keep you believing,
only strategy will keep you moving.
Ali Al Mokdad
