How to keep faith in our dreams even when they seem impossible

A few years ago we kicked off something big. There was no guarantee that it will succeed but something was telling us it would. This was the “inner” voice of our faith.

Nowadays this same feeling is stronger than ever and we owe it a lot. In today’s article, we would like to talk about how we can take good care of it with the help of our vision while building up confidence with each 90-day goal.

Believing in what we do

You may have already guessed that this big thing of ours is “GoalBuddy” – the one project that has become a mission for us.

Eight years ago we knew for sure only one thing. That our system was so good that it’s worth investing all of our resources to bring it out there in the world. We would like to popularize it among millions of people and help them to live happy and meaningful lives.

What we aimed at was to have a website, to do seminars, podcasts, and articles, to write an app, and then to publish a book.

Did we know back then how to do this? The answer is “Not at all.”

Was there even one person who could promise us a happy end to the whole endeavor? Again, the answer is “No.”

We took off entirely by the wings of our faith.

By the way, many people, our accountants, for example, were quite skeptical, to put it mildly.

Was it rational on our part? No … Was it a necessity? Definitely!

The only thing we knew was what our hearts were telling us. It is hard to describe it but everybody understands it. Plus, it is one indispensable ingredient when pursuing a dream.

One of our main driving forces is that we know “GoalBuddy” can bring value to anyone. Are we convinced that it will reach millions of people and change their lives for good? No, but we want to believe it, and that was crucial for us to kick-start it even if it seemed the deck was stacked against us.

It is amazing how often this very consequential factor is underestimated.

Definition

First, we have to make it clear that it is not about God or anything supernatural. Our definition is far away from any religious context.

Faith comes from within to reassure us that we can reach our dreams when everything else tells us we can’t.

Its role is so critical because it keeps our spirits high while at the same time giving us the understanding that we are doing something of significant value.

Faith vs fear

We can, either, look at the future expecting that things will work out perfectly well.

Or, we can be scared of what will happen.

Obviously, both of these are emotional rather than rational. But while faith makes us stronger and focused, fears (fueled by our limiting beliefs) diminish our chances for success.

The difference between faith and confidence

These two are very close in their meaning.

And yet, the former doesn’t need any proof while the latter relies heavily on our past achievements. It grows with each lesson learned and challenges taken on.

That’s why faith is firmly oriented towards the future while confidence is drawn from the past.

In the system

“GoalBuddy” rightfully puts faith in the center of the vision. It is the place where our bold dreams reside in the form of a bet towards everything you want against the reality of life.

One is much better served by a vision which is crystal clear if to reap the many positives of a more upbeat state of mind.

And what comes out next is action, aka the 90-day goals which will give results and increase our confidence. And confidence emerges only through action.

When you believe in yourself you act decisively gaining in the process experience and skills which bring in more belief in yourself.

Strategies for lifting up confidence and faith

We’ve already shown that one needs to have unflinching belief at the very beginning. Then you set your intermediate objectives, you work hard on them and eventually you get to reach them.

But how about learning how to look on the bright side of life by reinforcing this attitude? Let’s see now how to do that.

# 1 Working on our vision

The first thing is to outline a detailed long-term vision for the most important aspects of our lives. We have to write down what we strive for in the next 20-30 years. This “manifesto” has to be re-examined regularly.

For those of you who have never gone through the process of written goals, we have a disclaimer of sorts: the vision isn’t something set in stone.

Don’t be scared of how far into the horizon of your plan you go! Instead, treat it as only a first draft.  You will be going over it every quarter and make some changes from time to time. The key thing in this process is that you will keep your dream alive and exciting. Over time you will start believing it is not only possible but inevitable.

# 2 Visualizing what’s ahead of you

The core idea of this strategy is trying to create a picture in your mind of the past as well as future accomplishments. Again, the point is to tune your brain into a state of success. Your mind will become more perceptive to any chances and opportunities you might run into.

There are several techniques. For example, when you wake up in the morning you look at the day ahead of you as a perfect one. Or, you can, like Niki, think of your dream as if already realized.  This will unlock not only a number of optimistic feelings but will also reveal some details that might be important.

# 3 It’s time to believe

We understand how hard it is to find the time to work on that. Modern life with its hectic nature on top of all duties and responsibilities makes this almost a lost cause.

Ideally, this is best done early in the day as part of your morning ritual.

For more than 2 years without skipping a single day, Niki has been practicing meditation. It clears his mind from the day-to-day worries and frees up some space for his visions. There will be new ideas popping up. Plus, you will be able to understand better what’s going on. All of these are essential for getting your faith continuously renewed.

Ivan, on the other hand, applies the technique of positive affirmations. He makes it an integral part of his morning ritual to read everything that he wrote down about how things might unfold. This type of review has a calming and peaceful effect against any doubts and hesitations he might have.

# 4 Action

Haven’t you ever felt like saying something like this, “I would have never guessed it to turn out that way, not in a million!” Usually, this happens after we did something against all the odds and it became a resounding success.

This link between faith and confidence is the actions we take. Each time we reach an objective we prove to ourselves that the seemingly impossible is achievable. And there is nothing else that can bring more energy and resolve to keep going.

Unfortunately, we tend to forget or underestimate how far we’ve gone. The thing that can make all the difference is the exercises for boosting our confidence during the quarterly meeting with our Goal Buddy. These allow us to relive what we went through, big as well as small landmarks along our way forward. The result is that we feel better and therefore much more prepared to take on even more challenges.

# 5 Let’s get someone else to believe

One of the most popular principles in our system is its social element. You should share your aspirations by discussing them freely and thus expressing your firm belief in them.

Having a Goal Buddy next to you can do miracles for you.

Every week the two of you meet to evaluate what was done so far and what the next step forward is going to be. All this makes your objectives look much more real and within your reach. There is also a higher level of determination since you make a commitment in front of somebody else.

And if you find yourself in trouble with an objective or motivation it will be your Goal Buddy who will make sure you get back up on your feet and on the right track. This is someone who will not only find a way to remind you of the reasons for your efforts but will also encourage you by strengthening your faith.

There is little that can shake our belief!

As for us, we still don’t know if all the effort and time we invested will ever bring in any type of return. While nowadays, we have a lot more positive feedback from those who use our system, faith is still our primary driving force.

Maybe someday our accountants would believe in the project as well.

We never forget that there is no such thing as 100% insurance that things will always go the way we expect. So, we will have to rely solely on our faith from the very start.

Anything of value created by the human civilization has been through that – someone had a crazy idea that they strongly believed in… and then it changed the world!