When we first form our definite major purpose, we often feel so sure about it—positive that it is the highest realization of our dreams, skills, and talents; certain that we can do what we need to do to achieve it. But when it comes time to take action toward a smaller goal on the path toward our major purpose, we find ourselves faltering. We begin to doubt our ability to succeed in our aims. And worse—we begin to doubt our purpose. To keep ourselves on the road to success, we need to back our purpose with an unshakeable faith in our ability to achieve it. Thankfully, faith is not a feeling we passively receive; it is a state of mind we can—and must—actively cultivate.
The Battle Between Fear and Faith
There are two mental states in which we form our thoughts and convert them into actions: fear and faith. Fear is a state of mind that encompasses the emotions of doubt, worry, and discouragement. Faith is a force created by self-confidence, belief, optimism, and enthusiasm. These two states are constantly at war with each other, except for the individual who has taken complete control of their own mind and forced the evil influences out of it.
The emotion of fear and the emotion of faith are so unfriendly that both cannot possibly occupy the mind of a person at the same time. One or the other must dominate, always. Too often it is the negative emotion of fear that comes out the winner.
There are six basic fears that weaken your certainty of purpose and lead to procrastination, indecision, and a general posture of doubt:
• Fear of poverty
• Fear of criticism
• Fear of ill health
• Fear of loss of love
• Fear of old age
• Fear of death
Each of these fears is like a weed—when it takes root in the garden of your mind, it begins to crowd out the buds of hope and faith. As with a physical garden, you do not have to water the weeds for them to grow; they will sprout and flourish as a result of inattention. Without your guidance, nature plants all the things you don’t want, but you can plant the seeds of the things you desire, and nature will be just as bountiful in producing the things you do want.
Self-suggestion is the technique through which you may voluntarily feed your subconscious mind thoughts of a creative nature or, by neglect, permit thoughts of a destructive nature to find your way into this rich garden. Definiteness of Purpose will keep your mind clear of the things you don’t want and keep it so busy working on the things you do want that it will have no time to grow weeds—undesired things. Without tending to your mental garden, the weeds of fear and doubt will overtake your mind until you are left with a mindset of failure consciousness.
Thankfully, you have complete control over the thoughts that occupy your mind. You have all the tools you need to create the mental conditions necessary for success consciousness; primary among these is faith.
Weed out the seeds of fear through the power of decision. Disempower your fears by taking away their emotional force and creating new mental habits centered on faith. Self-discipline is critical here: refusing to give your fears the emotional weight they demand and taking positive action in spite of them requires nothing but a daily decision to be governed by faith rather than fear. You must be intentional about monitoring the thoughts that go in and out of your mind and committed to doing work every day in service of your major purpose.
Discouragement and doubt are the keenest tools in the “devil’s” toolkit. When you allow indecision to leave you “forever on the fence,” letting others do your thinking, you permit others to dictate how you understand and act (or rather don’t act) on your purpose. Procrastination is another deadly form of this same weakness, and it can be overcome only with faith, persistence, and strict self-discipline. Inaction and passive thinking breed doubt and fear; focused, positive thinking and constructive action breed faith and success.
The Self-Confidence Formula
Faith strengthens our resolve in our major purpose, and it is also the natural outgrowth of a purpose that is characterized by definiteness. In other words, we can apply faith to our purpose to solidify it, and we can develop more belief around our purpose by sharpening our vision of it.
The greatest of all the benefits of definiteness of purpose is that it opens the way for the full exercise of that state of mind known as FAITH. Through the application of faith, your mind becomes “sold” on succeeding and refuses to accept the possibility of failing. It makes the mind positive and frees it from the limitations of fear, doubt, discouragement, indecision, and procrastination. Doubt usually results in alibis, excuses, and apologies for failure. Remember:
“SUCCESS REQUIRES NO EXPLANATION—
FAILURE PERMITS NO ALIBIS.”
To cultivate Definiteness of Purpose, implement the following formula on a daily basis:
1. Believe in your ability to achieve the object of your Definite Major Purpose, and demand of yourself persistent, continuous action toward its attainment.
2. Concentrate your thoughts for thirty minutes daily on the person you intend to become.
3. Apply the principle of autosuggestion by dedicating ten minutes each day to the task of focusing your thoughts on your desire to develop self-confidence.
4. Write down a clear description of your Definite Major Purpose in life, and never stop trying to attain it.
5. Commit to never engaging in any action that is not founded upon truth and justice. Reject all thoughts of hatred, envy, jealousy, selfishness, and cynicism, and cultivate a love for all humanity, recognizing that a negative attitude toward others will never bring you success. Not only will this inspire self-confidence, but it will cause others to believe in your purpose and want to contribute toward its attainment.
By following these steps, the power made available by the subconscious mind is stimulated and amplified by the power of FAITH. A force is created that accepts no such reality as the possibility of failure. This constitutes genius, and genius that may be developed by any person!
Source: Napoleon Hill’s Path to Purpose by Napoleon Hill