The Main Ingredient for Success!

Success is made up of many ingredients. If you have all of them but this one, you WILL FAIL.

I’m not talking about the latest software you "need" to buy or the latest membership you have to have. What I'm talking about today is something that you can’t read, and you can’t buy it because it is priceless. But, it won’t cost you a dime. To succeed, it is absolutely vital you have this ingredient.

I'm talking about FAITH.

What is FAITH? The Bible describes it as "assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld." (Hebrews 11:1) I am not talking about your religion. I’m talking about your VIVID VISION of what you want. It’s not the ability to see with your literal eyes. It is being able to "see" a clear picture of where you want to be, seeing your fulfilled goals in your MIND’s eye. But most people don't even have goals. But even fewer have faith that they will achieve those goals because they don’t have a VIVID VISIOn of how they will achieve those goals.

We can compare your life to a very complex, 5000-piece jigsaw puzzle. Your VIVID VISION would be kind of like looking at the box cover with the full-color picture of the finished puzzle , while putting together the puzzle.

WITHOUT that vivid picture on the box cover, it would be very difficult, if not impossible to put the pieces together properly. In fact, you could spend your entire life trying to put it together. But WITH the box cover, you can see what your puzzle should look like when you finish. This is your road map. Now you know where you're going, and you can chart your path to get there.

If you have read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey you may remember "Habit #2." It is perhaps the most important of all seven habits. That habit is simply this... "Begin with the end in mind."

So, you must have the FAITH, the VIVID VISION of what you want in life. Will you get everything you dream about? No. Will you get most of what you dream about? Yes. The reason you won’t get everything you may dream about is because that may not be the "best" thing for you. You may be limiting yourself to things that are less than what you can and should have. So you may not recognize them when they come true as being your "dream", but it is what the "giver of all good gifts" knew you needed and deserved. When you get something less or more than you "asked" for, there is a lesson there for you to learn to get more of what you dreamed about. Learn from it and you will achieve your wildest and greatest dreams.

But you will never get what you truly want if you do not have FAITH, a clearVIVID VISION, of what it is you want. The Bible also talks about it... "Where there is no vision the people go unrestrained..."(Proverbs 29:18) With FAITH and a VIVID VISION, you will SUCCEED, without it you will certainly fail.

I want you to take a moment to tell about me your VISION. It can be a vision for part of your life (spiritual, physical, financial, personal, professional, family), or it could be the overall vision you have for your life.

This is YOUR vision, and there is NO wrong answer. Nobody is going to make fun of it. It can be detrimental to share your vision with weak-minded individuals who may try to discourage you. On the other hand, it can be very helpful to share your vision with someone who can encourage you and keep you accountable.

So go ahead, post your vision in my blog.

In our next post we will define WEALTH and what FAITH has to do with creating WEALTH.

Stay tuned.