Often times when things are tough people "hope for the best“ which, according to Life Transitions Coach, Diane Dennis, isn't quite enough. Diane says that you need to have "intelligent hope" and she explained what that means.

Without Hope the Human Spirit Dies”  Hospice Nurse
Barack Obama brought Hope into our lives, making Hope the cornerstone of his campaign. Lets take a look at Hope and how we can use it to affect change.
Why we don’t apply the same tactics to Hope we apply to Goals:
a. Hopes are hearts desires, often we leave them to daydreaming
b. Fear of losing the dream
c. (Fear of or actualized) Failure attacks our self-esteem
d. Keeping them secret is safer

To hope for something and make sure what you hope for will happen, you need to apply the formula for “Intelligent Hope” or else hoping is nothing more than wishful thinking.

The formula for Intelligent Hope is as follows:
Behavior + Purpose + Passion + A Plan = Intelligent Hope
The key behaviors of effective hope are:
Consistency: Be consistent in your efforts to make your hopes come true
Commitment: Do not give up. Commit certain days of the week, hours in the day to give effort to your hopes.
Clarity: Make your Hope specific
Confront Reality: Is the Hope possible given your current circumstances, and limitations
Credibility: Believe in yourself and ability or no one else will
Congruency: Discover your areas of weakness and recruit others to help
The Purpose of the Hope needs to align with values, integrity and skills
You must have a Passion, or the energy to meet the Hope will fizzle

Make a Plan like any other goal you are trying to accomplish.