In his classic work Think and Grow Rich,
Napoleon Hill describes 13 steps Towards Riches.
Step 2 Faith
Of all our emotions, faith is probably the strongest. It is a state of mind that most effects the subconscious. This is important when it comes to putting your thoughts into action in everyday life. If you set yourself a task but are lacking the faith in yourself to complete it then subconsciously you are accepting defeat as inevitable.
However, if you are able to convince yourself subconsciously that you can achieve what you set out to do then your efforts will be boosted and the results will reaffirm your self belief and strengthen your faith. You will not be able to fail, you will have let go of playing the victim!
Faith is related to the spiritual side of ourselves and is a very powerful emotion. Along with love, this can be one of the strongest emotions in people that affect the subconscious mind. Faith is a state of mind which is affected by repeated affirmations or instructions the subconscious receives in an idea known as auto-suggestion.
As an example, think of the reasons for which you are reading this article. Your objective ideally, is to gain the power to use your thought impulses of desire and convert them into the ability to make money or achieve some other goal you have set yourself. By being able to convince the subconscious mind that you believe you can achieve this, your subconscious then acknowledges this by reaffirming your belief in the form of faith. This is done through a process called auto suggestion which will be explained in more detail later.
It is difficult for people to strengthen faith if they are lacking it or don’t have any to start with! However, it is achievable and it is done by a process which involves encouraging positive thoughts and emotions in the subconscious mind rather than negative ones. This can be more clearly understood if you take a moment to think about how people fall into negative habits such as alcoholism. When a drinker remembers their first ever drink they will more than likely say they did not enjoy it. After becoming accustomed to drinking regularly and enduring the bad side effects they eventually start to embrace alcohol and ultimately begin to rely on it. This example suggests that if thought impulses of any kind are repeated and encouraged then that person will seek to express those thoughts through their actions. If the thoughts are positive and result in constructive actions then faith may be strengthened.
Many of the most creative scientists in history have realized the true importance of the subconscious mind. Edison, Marconi, Einstein, and many others have used the subconscious mind to give them the insight and the “know-how” to bring about their great achievements. The ability to bring into action the power of the subconscious mind is one of the most important factors in determining the success of great scientific and research workers.
If thoughts are backed by strong emotions such as faith and love then they have more chance of being expressed through actions. Therefore your actions can be affected by any strong emotion whether it is positive and productive or negative and destructive. If you are to become successful in whatever goals you have set yourself in life then you need to avoid negative emotions and encourage positive ones. As a consequence you will acquire a subconscious mind that will start to act upon all the positive emotions including faith.
One of the most common causes of a lack of faith is low self confidence. This can be overcome through a similar process to the one just mentioned. If you take the time to write down all your positive experiences and attributes and then read these to yourself daily, you will find that the repeated positive affirmations will reassure you of your accomplishments subconsciously and restore faith. Please follow these instructions right now and you can achieve future success
The following few principles outline methods to help with faith and self confidence.
First; you need to realise that you have the ability to meet your main objectives in life. This means you need to be persistent at all times in chasing your aims even when there are signs of initial failure.
Second; you must spend some time in the day just thinking positively about yourself and where you want to go in life. A mind dominated by positive thoughts will eventually express desirable physical actions. You can also turn your ‘positive thoughts’ into ‘Power Thoughts.’ With positive thinking, we believe that our thoughts are true. Power thinking recognises that nothing has meaning except for the meaning we give it. Since we are making up the story anyway, we might as well make up one that supports us.
Third; you should have your ultimate dream goal written down and you must promise yourself that you will never give up trying to achieve that goal even if you are not, at that time, confident enough; you will be eventually.
Fourth; you should take advantage of others to achieve your goals. You will be able to succeed by putting the hard work in yourself which will make the rewards all the sweeter. A negative attitude to people will not bring success. However, by making others believe in your ability you will reaffirm your self belief.
Repeat these principles and you will find that you are able to increasingly influence your subconscious mind. This process of positive thinking has been called auto-suggestion and is a key to the success of many. In short if you think that you will fail then it is likely that you will, but if you convince yourself that you will succeed then you have more chance of doing so. The people that win in today’s world are the ones that know they can.
Whether you think You Can or whether you think You Cannot; You will always be right! You can achieve your dreams but only if you really, really want to.
Every single successful person I have met has used this technique and believe me they are really living their dreams.
