Is your FAITH empowering you? Last month’s column focused on helping you deepen your DESIRE through better understanding the power of your determination, expectations, satisfaction, inspirations, resiliency, and effort. I have been re-reading the writings of Napoleon Hill, author of the classic, Think and Grow Rich. According to Hill, the key to achievement is to “create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.” You might be saying to yourself, “How can you be ready or proceed to take action if you don’t feel as if you are ready?” The answer is to have FAITH … in your hopes, dreams, desires and in yourself. Too often the biggest deterrent to someone realizing their ultimate desires is because of a lack of faith in the possibilities or in oneself. Is this what is causing you not to feel ready to take action? Is your lack of faith holding you back? To be empowered by your faith, you need to be fearless, affirmative, intuitive, tenacious and habitual in how you go about striving toward your desires. F = Fearless: Faith is fearless. The type of faith I am referring to is defined in the dictionary as: “confidence or trust in a person or thing; a belief that is not based on proof.” When you have faith, you have confidence and trust in where you are headed. Your fearlessness is the result of your clear “expectation” related to the outcome of your desire. As a result, you are not afraid, but excited by where pursuing your desire may lead you. As Martin Luther King so eloquently stated, “Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” • •
What are you most afraid of right now in taking action and what is the worst thing that could happen? What could help you become more fearless in your pursuit of what you desire?
A = Affirmative: Faith is affirmative. It means you can positively see that what you desire can become your reality. Your focus remains resolute and optimistic in finding and seeing the possibilities versus being bogged down by or discouraged by any problems that may arise. Your affirmative attitude empowers the “determination” and “resiliency” aspects of your desire in order to realize your expectations. You are able to identify and consider options when faced with a challenge. • •
Are you envisioning what you desire in detail with specific expectations in mind? If you are overwhelmed by a particular problem or challenge, how can what you envision help you identify options or alternative ways to progress?
I = Intuitive: Faith is intuitive. When you have a strong faith in yourself, you also have a strong intuition that helps guide you to answers and opportunities. Your gut instinct becomes your compass through having trust in yourself. As mentioned earlier, the definition of faith is
about having trust in someone or something. When you get to a place where you can trust yourself and your ability to make decisions, you will be amazed at how far you will be able to go. • •
When you feel the twinge in your gut, do you pay attention to it or ignore it? If you have a feeling overcome you that is unexplainable about a particular activity, person or situation, do you pause to understand why?
T = Tenacious: Faith is tenacious. It holds you together like glue and grounds you when times are tough. You are steadfast in your belief in yourself as well as in others. You are purposefully focused on what you are trying to accomplish with the ability to persist against the odds, while also being able to resist temptations that could easily distract you. • •
How are your desires tied to a strong purpose to continue to guide and inspire you? How well are you able to resist temptations or distractions?
H = Habitual: Faith is habitual. You pay attention to what has helped you succeed and then establish success habits that continue to move you forward. What is most powerful about this aspect of faith is that when you demonstrate the effectiveness of these habits by your own actions, you instill faith in others to support you resulting in these habits being transferred to others for enhanced effect. • •
How are you establishing habits based on your successes? How are you documenting these successes for others to replicate in support of your efforts?
Strengthening your faith will help you overcome any challenge that may come your way. Allow it to bring your desires into reality. Be fearless. Be affirmative. Be intuitive. Be tenacious. Be habitual. And you will truly understand how your faith helps you embrace all that you know you can be and in what you can accomplish.
Bio: Sherré DeMao inspires millions through her monthly columns, weekly Insight eZine and national contributing writing. An expert strategist and marketer focused on entrepreneurs, her unique perspective and innovative approach has earned numerous awards regionally, nationally and internationally including being named among the Top 50 Enterprising Women of North America in 2007. Her books, Me, Myself & Inc. (www.memyselfandinc.com) and 50 Marketing Secrets (www.50marketingsecrets.com) have received national acclaim as Top Business Shelf picks and must-reads.
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