The Power of Hope

In the pursuit to find consistent and proven techniques to ensure success in endeavors, researchers tend to look for certain behaviors or characteristics. Why did this person succeed and this person did not? Why did this organization succeed and this one did not?
What I am finding in looking at a multitude of books and research studies is that many of the outcomes are dependent on too many variables to be without critical detraction. One of the dimensions that doesn't seem to change is the spirit/physical connection. Where authors have identified  work/practice/grit there must first be a grounding in hope. Without hope there is no grit. In order to have hope, there must be faith, either faith in probabilities or faith in a higher power. If a person does not have a belief that certain laws apply that will lead to a wanted outcome, then hope is hard to build. And again, without hope actions and persistence are hard to come by. Even with faith and hope, without a connection to values: things that you love and hold important, there is no meaning to achievement. It is telling that when Frankl (2006) describes the clues of when someone had given up and started to die during the Holocaust, that after everything that they loved was taken away from them, they began to lose hope and decided to stop trying.
In Start With Why, Sineck outlines how a constant of compelling leaders is the process they have to connect what they do to an important cause, a cause that resonates with the members' interests, the things that they find important, the things that they love. So, when Jesus shares that he gives us three things: faith, hope, and love, it is not a superstitious hocus-pocus religious-speak. It is grounded in business, sociology, and psychological study.
In identifying things that we should love there is also some guidance in Jesus's words: Do not build your treasures here on earth, where moth and rust destroy. Psychology has shown that money spent on things diminish with time. (Gilbert, 2006) Experiences, especially with people you have a connection with provide a much stronger and long-lasting memory and sense of satisfaction than things.
So, knowing these things, as we plan and evaluate our actions, what should be the focus of our priorities and the method of our measurements? What voices do you listen to when evaluating your actions and accomplishments? What do you think they should be? How do we make those changes? Would they lead to greater fulfillment?