You can transform a spark of hope into embodied faith with a single archetype. By using archetypes, you can shift future scenarios from vague hopes into embodied roles you can rehearse, test, and integrate.

What are the steps you can take to elevate hope into a stronger sense of faith with archetypes? It’s a matter of

1. choosing an archetype to work with, then
2. deconstructing the archetype by
3. brainstorming at least one weakness first, then one strength.

If you want to try the intermediate approach, then brainstorm 3 weaknesses first, then 3 strengths. If you want to try a more advanced approach, then brainstorm 10 weaknesses first, then 10 strengths. (Listing more archetypal strengths and weaknesses broadens the archetype’s spectrum and clarifies how the archetype can support or block your quest.)

Why do I recommend deconstructing archetypes in this way? It’s an exercise in mental contrasting. Mental contrasting is a science-based self‑regulation technique that pairs vivid, positive visualisation of a desired future with realistic identification of present obstacles. This helps to increase and maintain your motivation and clarify action steps. It was developed by psychologist Gabriele Oettingen (fantasy‑realisation theory). Practiced regularly, it boosts goal commitment, energisation, and performance across domains of life such as study, health, and habit change by converting hopeful wishes into concrete plans and effort.

Gail Goodwin 2025

I’ll use the Saboteur archetype as an example. This archetype is one that is shared by everyone. I’ll brainstorm 3 weaknesses first, then 3 strengths within the context of starting a service-based business.

Saboteur archetype: 3 weaknesses

1. Self‑undermining. How? Habitually sabotages opportunities through procrastination, last‑minute withdrawal, or creating “accidents” that justify failure.
2. Fear‑driven loyalty to limitation. How? Clings to familiar smallness (to belong or avoid threatening others), which blocks growth and keeps ambitions muted.
3. Hypervigilant negativity. How? Focuses on flaws, worst‑case scenarios, and critical inner‑dialogue, which erodes confidence and alienates allies.

Saboteur archetype: 3 strengths

1. Protective caution. How? Spots real risks, warning you away from reckless moves and helping you avoid genuine harm when balanced.
2. Truth‑spotting clarity. How? Able to see weaknesses, blind spots, and unlikely outcomes others miss, which can sharpen plans when reoriented constructively.
3. Motivator for inner work. How? Its discomforts point directly to unmet needs and unhealed wounds; when engaged consciously, it becomes a doorway to transformation.

Embodying the strength of an archetype shifts a vague hope of starting a business into an embodied role you can rehearse, test, and integrate as you choose. By using archetypes, you can turn abstract or uncertain ideas about the future into concrete, relatable scenarios. Instead of just wishing for a certain outcome, you actively imagine yourself taking on the qualities of the archetype as the context arises, (in this example, the context is starting a business) which in turn tends to attract more of that context into your life. It allows you to practise, experiment with, and eventually adopt these traits or actions in real life.

This approach makes it easier to prepare for the future by providing a framework for action rather than relying on wishful thinking alone. It shifts hope into faith.

You, in the driver’s seat of your life, can transform a sense of hopeful longing into grounded faith and genuine possibilities by using just one archetype.