Give Faith a Chance

The millions of people who have read my books and the millions who have heard me lecture know that I place a great value on faith. I’ve written about religious faith and mentioned it in my lectures. You have your own beliefs and you follow them in your own way. I’m sure many of you rely on religious faith as you seek success in your profession or happiness in your relationships with others.

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I also write and speak about faith in yourself, a strong ally in mastering your way to the top. This is faith in your objectives and goals as being honest and good and worthy of your best efforts. It’s also faith in others. And above all, it is faith in the future. Faith can be a positive factor in your life, and therefore a positive factor in your business and all other actions you undertake to get to the top—and, more important, to stay there.

Consider the effect of faith on me—the faith my mother, who all her life exercised the power of positive thinking. Norman Vincent Peale would have considered her a first class example of the thing he wrote about in his book The Power of Positive Thinking. I can still hear my mother saying “Joey, I have faith in you, faith that you’ll succeed in whatever field you choose. But you must have that same faith in yourself.” My mother handed down her faith in me, and I have been guided by it all my life. In turn, I have tried to give that faith to others. A familiar saying is that “The more you give something to others, the more you wind up having for yourself.” Try it as you seek the faith you’ll need to succeed.

So many things have been said or written about faith. You’re probably familiar with many of them. For example, faith is said to move mountains. We all know that doesn’t mean the Rockies or the Alps. But faith can move the mountains of self-doubt, frustration, discouragement and negative thinking that get in your way toward success. Faith is said to be the assurance of things hoped for. I like to put a Girard spin on that. I believe that hoping will never get you anywhere, nor will wishing or expecting. You might say, “I sure hope it doesn’t rain today”. That’s a nice thought, but your hope won’t affect the weather at all. It will either rain or it won’t rain, and your hoping has nothing to do with it. Instead, I believe that faith is the assurance of things or goals that are planned for, are realistic and that call for working smart. Hoping won’t change the weather, but planning for either bad weather or good weather will assure you are prepared for whatever weather comes. Put your faith in planning, not wishing. Only that kind of faith will get you to the top.

I frequently use the letters ATANA, meaning All Talk And NO Action. Now add to that the letters AFANA, meaning All Faith And No Action. Faith without action counts for little. The Good Book says that faith without works is dead, and it means what it says. If you have faith in yourself, faith that you can be what you want to be, then do something about it. I’ve mentioned often how faith, when exercised, carried me through the early disappointments in my life. It sustained me when I was down, so broke that I hardly knew where to turn, and it rewarded me when I took the steps that carried me to the top. As faith worked, and still works for me, so it can work for you.

Photo Credits- Outload