Hope is useful when it produces behavior.

The measure of hope is whether it changes what you do. A belief that things could get better and produces no different behaviour is indistinguishable, in its effects, from despair. Behaviour is where the value is realized.

Check your optimism against your calendar. If you believe something is possible, find where that belief has claimed some of your time. If it has not, either act on it or admit it is a mood rather than a plan.