From Belief to Success: The Importance of Faith in Achieving Goals

"Everything begins with Faith" -- Major Williams

From Belief to Success: The Importance of Faith in Achieving Goals

This article is about Faith.  It is the first of the four phases of success that I developed for me over time.  I consider these as the foundation for achieving whatever it is you are trying to achieve.  

Here are the four F’s 

Faith Focus Finish Fun  

I consider them foundational because there are other systems or processes that work within the four F’s.  We will cover those in other articles.

To begin with, I want to clarify that the following discussion is not centered on religion, even though I personally believe in God and consider it to be a significant factor for achieving success. Instead, our focus on faith lies in its ability to instill a strong conviction. To get started, let's define the terms.

 The dictionary definition from Oxford Languages has 2 definitions.

We are going to focus on the 1st definition.

“A complete trust or confidence in someone or something”

Before going to far, lets look up the words trust and confidence.

Trust -  “Firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability or strength of someone or something”

Confidence - “The feeling or belief that one can rely on someone for something”.

If I combine them, Faith is the firm belief in the reliability, strength and ability of something or someone.  

It has been my experience, everything great that has had a lasting impact in this world starts with faith.

Faith can be observed in all aspects of our lives, even in the very device you're using to read this article. It was created because someone had the faith and vision that computers would become ubiquitous. One notable example of this is Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, whose mission statement used to be: "A computer on every desk and in every home, all running Microsoft software."  LIttle did he know at the time that there would be a computer in nearly every pocket.

This article is a manifestation of my belief that its message is worth sharing. Additionally, I have faith in the wisdom that my wife imparted to me when I first started coaching high school volleyball, and I recognized the significance of her words. You can read the full story of how I developed the principles of Faith, Focus, Finish, and Fun in my article titled  “The four phases of progress”.

Ultimately, my conviction in the potential of my thoughts and ideas to help others motivated me to share them with the world.

Here is the point.

Before you can achieve anything you must start with Faith.  And frankly, that belief needs to start with you.

You must have faith in yourself.  Or stated differently you must firmly believe in reliability, truth, ability, and strength of yourself.  

I know it is easier said than done. It is hard to do something if you have never been taught how to do it. A lot of our Faith is developed when we grow up.  The environment we grow up in when we are trying to identify who we are as a person. It is easier to do when you have examples of people to mirror.  Unfortunately many do not.

As a child, my life was decent. My parents loved me, and other adults in my life did their best to steer me in the right direction. They included a teacher whose name I cannot recall, but who recognized my ability to work with computers and an English teacher who wrote a glowing letter of recommendation for me, even though I never asked for one. I also had coaches who challenged me and taught me that I was capable of more than I realized.

Despite all of these positive influences, their lessons failed to truly resonate with me. It wasn't until I began writing articles that I finally understood the quote, "The teacher will appear when the student is ready." And the truth was, I wasn't ready.

There is also the proverb. "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now." I hope this article will plant a few seeds out there.

What was missing from me? It was a belief in myself.  I didn’t think anything I had to say was important enough to say to others. Let alone write an article and publish it for all to read.  So what changed?  I developed my Why.  My Purpose.  

Someone once shared with me that the topics which trigger anger in us when we hear them are often connected to our purpose in life. At first, the idea felt daunting and overwhelming. Additionally, my mother had previously mentioned that God has given us all with a purpose, which may manifest as a persistent desire that we simply cannot get rid of, no matter how hard we try.

After reflecting upon these concepts, I concluded that my purpose is to create wealth that extends through generations and to guide and educate others in achieving the same. For the longest time, I used language like money isn’t important. I don’t need to be rich to be happy. Just being rich does not interest me very much. Until I really started thinking about it.  I want my family to be able to live a life of abundance.  Hard to do when you are struggling to pay the bills.  Hard to do when you are grinding away to make ends meet.  It also turned into something bigger.  As an African American male, I watched how George Floyd died over $20. I don’t know what brought him to that point and for me, that is not the point.  A man … Died  … Over $20!  I then saw African American celebrities demand corporations give the African American community their fair share of the money.  In my view, except in democratic countries with open election processes, power does not give up power.  

In my opinion, celebrities possess the potential to make an even greater impact on their communities than by simply relying on corporations for financial assistance. While it is possible that some celebrities are already taking action, I believe that they could be using their resources to educate and guide others in building wealth and achieving success within their communities.

I then decided learning how to create generational wealth, building generational wealth, and teaching others is a way to help bridge the wealth gap and hopefully prevent another person from losing their life for $20.  I intend to share what I learn with family, friends, and anyone willing to listen.

Well, this article took a turn I was not expecting.  I simply started with the idea of writing about why Faith was important and how to build confidence.  I will address confidence in another article. 

Well here we are and here is the lesson.

Everything that has ever been created from the chair you are sitting in to living a life in purpose. Begins with a firm belief in the reliability of the ability and strength of themselves. 

Believe in yourself…  I know you can do it because I have faith in you.

Until next time…