FAITH, THE FLIP SIDE OF FEAR

You have decided on your goals. You have written them down. You have given your goals “legs” to support them. You have set a deadline to achieving your goals. You are focusing on their achievement. Now what? Once you have planted the goal seeds in your mind, you must water them with faith. Faith is not religion. Faith is simply persistence. Faith is the flip side of fear, which would keep you frozen in one place forever. When you persist or keep working toward achieving your goal, you are demonstrating faith. If you did not have faith, you would never persist; you would give in to fear. In other words, faith is expecting to succeed.

As you go forward on this fat-loss journey, I want you to adopt the attitude that you can do it. You will succeed. Go out and buy an outfit that is two sizes smaller. Plan on attending your high school reunion. Buy a ticket for a beach vacation. Do these things with the belief that you will be fit and healthy when that day comes.

Whenever I talk about faith I am reminded of an individual who had so much faith that he changed the world of track and field forever. His name was Roger Bannister and the year was 1954. Roger had a dream. His dream was to run a mile in under four minutes at the summer Olympic Games. Up until that time, it was believed to be impossible, but Roger did not accept this. He believed that he could break the record. And break it he did. Roger did the impossible and ran the mile in three minutes, 59.4 seconds. Roger did not accept what everyone around him was saying. He expected to succeed and in doing so paved the way for others. Within 10 years of his accomplishment, no less than 336 other runners accomplished the same goal. 

But it took the faith of one person to break through the psychological barriers that were keeping others from

achieving this goal. So what are you to do if you do not have any faith? I have good news: Faith is abundant, free, and easy to acquire. All you have to do to possess faith is to act as if what you want is already yours.

Act as if you are healthy by eating healthy foods.

Act as if you are fit by exercising regularly.

Act as if you are happy by remaining calm and cheerful and in the moment.

Act as if you cannot fail by never giving up on achieving your goal.

William James, the great American psychologist, once wrote, “To feel brave, act as if we were brave.” And this is what you must do. Believe that you will succeed. Act as if you are already in possession of that which you seek. Stay in character each and every day and never quit. If you happen to falter in a moment of weakness, simply forgive yourself, refocus, and move on. This persistence—this faith—is what’s truly necessary for your success.

The practice of deciding on, working toward, and achieving powerful, life changing goals is a process that you can continue throughout your life. By doing so you are taking hold of the rudder that steers your destiny. It has been said that success is a journey and not a destination. I challenge you to focus on making your journey a trip to remember.