EVERYBODY, without exception, would love to know just one thing, one secret, one word, one action you name it that they need to know, learn, or do that will guarantee success in whatever they do.
In the course of my search for success, I’ve discovered that the secret of success consists of three keywords: dream, desire, and faith. And they go in that order.
No one in history has ever achieved true success without mastering these words, their true meaning, and how to apply them to their lives.
Of the three words, the first two are easier to master. You will discover this yourself when I start to analyze them one by one. Faith, by far, is the most difficult. And I believe there is a reason why it is so.
DREAM
A dream is the first step to achieving success. To dream or visualize is to see the picture of what you want to accomplish. To have a goal, a destination, a purpose. My wife and I have achieved a measure of success with SuccessDigest going by the enthusiastic response we get from all who have come in contact with the publication. But there would have been no SuccessDigest if we had not thought of it; pictured it in our mind’s eyes and visualized how we wanted it to be.
If what we dreamt about wasn’t right, if the picture was bad, if what we conceptualized was wrong, SuccessDigest would never have had the same appeal that it has had for everybody.
Think about it, is it possible for you to find what you don’t know? The answer is obvious. If you send somebody who didn’t know what an exercise book is into a bookshop stocking the highest quality exercise books to go get you one, he would come back empty-handed and tell you he couldn’t find it.
In the same way, you will never succeed in what you don’t know; what you don’t do; and what you have never thought about in your life.
So, the first key to achieving lasting success is to have a dream of what you want to succeed in and hold on fast to the dream; the picture. Don’t allow your dream to fade or become blurred.
Do you find it difficult to dream? Nobody should. But it is a fact that some people don’t know how to dream. They cannot visualize what they want to be. Some are even afraid of creating a picture of what they want.
Are you in this group? If you are, start this simple exercise.
Without worrying about the possibility of what you are picturing in your mind’s eye coming true or not, just relax your mind and allow the picture to take form.
DESIRE
Next to dreaming is desire. To desire something is to want the thing so badly that you will do anything to get it.
Desire is a key element to achieving success. Without desire, no one will ever be able to gather the energy required to make things happen. When desire becomes so intense it begins to burn inside you; when no other thought will cross your mind but that thing you desire, then there are no forces on earth that can stop you from getting that thing. Unless you drop dead in the process.
In 1984 when I decided to set up shop as a sports magazine publisher, I had an incredible desire to achieve the goal. To most people around me, what I was proposing to become could simply not be achieved. They knew I had no money. And they could see that I had not assembled a mastermind group that would include financiers for the project. So how did I want to do it?
At that early stage, I was lucky to have Esther by my side. How she got the belief that I could swing what now looks to even me, looking way back to that month of October in 1984, an impossible dream, I don’t know. But she stood by me all the way. I tell myself today that if she had expressed doubt, however little, the course of the last 14 years of my life would certainly have been different.
The point is this: when you dream or visualize what you want to become, you must back the dream up with a burning desire.
FAITH
Dream. Desire. Two powerful tools for achieving success. But they are not enough. You can picture what you want. You can muster all the desire for it. But without faith, you will never achieve it.
Let no one kid you about this: Nothing is ever achieved without you believing that it can be accomplished.
About 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ taught the world about the potency of faith. At every opportunity, He proved that faith is at the back of extraordinary achievements.
For example, on one occasion, He was seen walking on water.
His follower named Peter asked if he could do the same. “Yes you can,” he was told. And he started to walk on water.
But something happened. After taking a few steps, he began to doubt his ability to continue. And he started to sink.
“You of little faith,” said Jesus to him, “why did you doubt?” On another occasion, a Canaanite woman came to Jesus, begging for help. After a brief discussion, Jesus declared: ‘Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.”
Now, I want you to read the following over and over until the importance of every word in it sinks into your system:
“I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig-free, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.’ Mathew Chapter 21 verses 21 and 22 (New International Version).
And this:
“Thoughts which are mixed with any of the feelings of emotions constitute a ‘magnetic’ force which attracts other similar or related thoughts.” – Napoleon Hill.
There is no greater secret to achieving success than what you have here. But as I stated earlier, faith is the most difficult part of it all to acquire.
Consider the following definition provided by St. Paul in Hebrews Chapter 11 verse 1: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Did you grasp the message? Faith is being convinced of what you do not see but are hopeful that it will come.
Anyone who is not a child knows how difficult that can be. A child comes to the world with a mighty faith. Tell a child you will buy him a car and he will believe you. No questions asked about whether you have the money or if you will be prepared to buy it for him. Not so an adult.
Promise a grown-up anything and the doubting mechanism in his mind which he has perfected to a very efficient degree will take over.
“Who wants to buy you a car? This one? Where will he find the money? He doesn’t even have a car of his own. Look at his car, it is being pushed before it starts. And he wants to buy a car for me”.
And on and on it goes.
Are you surprised that with this sort of self-doubt holding us back, we are not achieving as much as we ought to?
In 1984, I did not doubt for a single moment that I would create a publishing empire. How I would make it happen, in view of my lack of adequate resources, I didn’t know. But I believed I would. My absolute faith in God’s ability to do it for me was unshakable.
Conversely, anything I doubted my ability to do I have always failed to accomplish. I sometimes have a wrestling bout going on in my mind. After desiring something, the self-doubt would invite self-belief into a duel. It is usually a big struggle. If I back self-doubt, that project is immediately shot down. If I choose self-belief, of course, the thing gets done.
My message is this: Faith does Move Mountains if you know how to apply it.
And if you want to succeed, you must begin to learn how to apply faith.
With faith, success in anything is within your reach.
Quote:
“Faith does Move Mountains if you know how to apply it. And if you want to succeed, you must begin to learn how to apply faith. With faith, success in anything is within your reach”
