The Four F's of Transformation - Faith Focus Finish Fun

The Four F’s of Transformation – Faith Focus Finish Fun

These four words have helped me frame a method to create progress and move toward my future self. I first started using these four words while coaching High School Volleyball.  I was in a coach training program, to learn what I thought was volleyball playing strategy and this program taught me a program-building strategy instead.  We learned tactics, too.  But it was the holistic program aspect that made the most impact.  One of the key emphases was having a value system.  A measuring stick to refer back to when learning how to play this game of volleyball. 

I had to develop a value system or a set of guiding principles for the program.  The words were actually given to me by my wife about a year before I was in the training program.  She wrote 3 words on a piece of paper and said,  These words are for you.  I don’t know how you are going to use them but they are for you.  The words on the paper were Faith … Focus … Finish.  

By this time in my marriage, I’ve learned to accept what she gives me even if I don’t understand it. This wasn’t the first time it happened. This is one of the reasons, I know she is the one for me.

Now during the training, the coaches emphasized the players need to have fun too.  They talk about how as adults we forget about the importance of play and fun.  So I added fun to the end of it

As a varsity coach for several years, I had some achievements with my team. We made it to the playoffs, but not to the championship game. However, something else changed when we adopted the Four F’s. We became more united as a team. The players collaborated better and improved in various aspects. They excelled not only on the volleyball court but also in the classroom. Whenever we fell short of our goals, we could trace it back to neglecting our principles. Sometimes we lacked Fun, Faith, or Focus. Or we simply failed to finish the game.

Although we did not win a championship.  Some good things happened.  I was the second most winning coach in volleyball.  I think that record still stands.  I had the highest winning percentage. I had more wins per year than any volleyball coach.  I had 2 players go off to play in college. For a small 2a School that is pretty good. And what I think is the true sign of success, many of the players went on to become coaches themselves.  This is the ultimate compliment.

I confess that I abandoned these four words Faith Focus Finish Fun when I quit coaching. It was only recently that I revived them and applied them again. I’ve been on a journey of self-discovery since 2020. I intensified my efforts in 2022 and these four words resurfaced in my mind. I also experimented with some new things. I studied people who are “successful” and wondered what made them different from me. I know we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others, but this was not to judge myself as bad or them as good. I wanted to learn what they did that I didn’t do.

To my wife and daughters, I would make statements like.  Ok, they talk about there are only a few people in the top 1% that are wealthy.  But if you pay attention. There are a lot of people in the boat. One of my mentors, Jeff Lerner, taught me that more people become millionaires each year than run the marathon. That struck me. It is more likely to become a millionaire than run a marathon.

As Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result”. I wanted different results. So I decided to do something different. I had heard about the book Think and Grow Rich for years and thought it was not for me. I started listening to ET Eric Thomas the hip-hop preacher, Steve Harvey, Jeff Lerner, and Benjamin Hardy. I read a few other books. I realized they were all saying the same thing. It reminded me of the Four F’s. Faith, Focus, Finish, Fun. They were not exactly the same, but very similar.

I will dig into Each of the four F’s in future posts.  I will do some additional training on them as we move forward. I will teach them in this group and how I apply them to my life and how others can use them.

You can use mine or create your own.  The point here is:  What are your guiding principles?  What do you use to ensure you are on track?  Before we track the numbers? Before we set the goals? Before we define our Why and Purpose?  We need to have a guiding light. A set of principles that resonate with us and keep us on track.  These principles should stand up to whatever you're doing.  It worked for me while coaching volleyball, it is now working for me while working to build generational wealth.

Now as a part of Own Your Future Action we believe in Action. 

Take a moment and think about what values are important to you.  If you can’t think of any, start with mine. I started with other people’s principles before I created my own.  

The important thing is to start:

• Write down your guiding principles.

• For each principal write down what it means to you.  Examples of following and not following the principle.

• Once they are written down.  Look at them in the morning when you wake up and at night before you go to bed.  

• It is not about perfection.  I may change mine at some point in the future.  The key is to get started.  We are not looking for Perfection, we seek Progress…

• To take it a step further.  Leave a comment with your guiding principles.  This post will help you and help someone else that is struggling with creating their own.

If you want to take a bold action, create a video and upload it to the group.  Talk about our values and what they mean to you.

My next few posts will take a deeper dive into the meanings of Faith Focus Finish and Fun.

Until next time…