Faith: Visualizing and Believing in Your Financial Goals

"Faith is the head chemist of the mind. When faith is blended with thought, the subconscious mind instantly picks up the vibration, translates it into its spiritual equivalent, and transmits it to Infinite Intelligence."

— Napoleon Hill

In our previous article, we explored how burning desire forms the foundation of all financial achievement. But desire alone is not enough. Napoleon Hill discovered that the second step toward financial success requires something equally powerful: faith.

Faith, as Hill defines it, is not merely religious belief, but rather "the visualization of, and belief in, the attainment of desire." It's the unwavering conviction that your financial goals are not only possible but inevitable.

The Science Behind Financial Faith

When Hill wrote "Think and Grow Rich" in 1937, he was far ahead of his time in understanding what modern neuroscience now confirms: our brains cannot distinguish between vividly imagined experiences and real ones.

Research at Harvard Medical School demonstrates that mental visualization activates many of the same neural networks as physical action. This means that when you consistently visualize financial success with emotional intensity, your brain begins to wire itself as if that success has already occurred.

This isn't magical thinking—it's practical psychology. When your neural pathways are primed for success, you:

• Become more alert to opportunities that support your financial goals
• Make decisions that align with your desired financial outcome
• Take consistent actions that reflect the identity of a financially successful person
• Persist through obstacles with greater confidence and resilience

Faith vs. Wishful Thinking

Many people confuse faith with wishful thinking, but Hill makes an important distinction. Wishful thinking is passive hope without action. Faith, on the other hand, is active belief that manifests in consistent behavior.

Consider the contrasting examples of two aspiring entrepreneurs:

As Hill states, "Faith is a state of mind which may be induced, or created, by affirmation or repeated instructions to the subconscious mind, through the principle of auto-suggestion."

How to Develop Unshakeable Financial Faith

Even if you weren't naturally endowed with strong faith in your financial abilities, Hill provides a methodical approach to developing it:

1. Recognize That Your Dominant Thoughts Materialize

The first step is understanding the causal relationship between thoughts and outcomes. Hill writes, "The subconscious mind translates into its physical equivalent a thought impulse of a negative or positive nature with equal facility."

This means your financial reality today is largely a reflection of your past dominant thoughts about money. To change your financial future, you must first change your dominant thoughts.

2. Identify and Eliminate Limiting Financial Beliefs

Most people carry unconscious limiting beliefs about wealth that were installed during childhood. Common examples include:

• "Money is the root of all evil"
• "Rich people are greedy/unethical"
• "You have to work extremely hard to make good money"
• "I'm not good with money"
• "There's never enough money"

To identify your own limiting beliefs, complete this sentence: "Money is..." and write down the first 10 responses that come to mind. Then examine each for negativity or limitation.

3. Create Empowering Financial Affirmations

Once you've identified limiting beliefs, create their positive counterparts. For example:

• "Money is a positive resource that allows me to live fully and contribute to others"
• "Wealthy people create tremendous value and solve important problems"
• "I attract money through providing value and solving problems"
• "I am developing excellent money management skills"
• "Money flows easily and abundantly into my life"

Write these affirmations on cards and read them aloud at least twice daily—upon waking and before sleeping—when your subconscious mind is most receptive.

4. Visualize Your Financial Success with Emotional Intensity

Spend 10-15 minutes daily in focused visualization of your desired financial state. Create a detailed mental movie that engages all your senses:

• See yourself receiving checks, looking at growing investment accounts, or running a successful business
• Hear conversations about your financial success or the sound of a transaction completing
• Feel the emotions of financial security, freedom, and abundance
• Smell and taste elements of the lifestyle your financial success enables

The key is generating genuine emotion during these visualizations. Emotion is the energy that imprints these images on your subconscious mind.

5. Act As If Your Financial Success Is Already Guaranteed

Faith requires congruent action. Begin making decisions and taking actions as if your financial success is inevitable. This might include:

• Dressing and grooming yourself as a successful person in your field would
• Speaking about your financial goals in present or past tense ("I am building" or "I have built" rather than "I will build")
• Making one bold request or proposal daily that aligns with your financial vision
• Investing in your financial education and skills development
• Restructuring your environment to reflect your future success

As William James, the father of American psychology said, "Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together. By regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling."

The Financial Faith Feedback Loop

As you implement these practices, you'll begin to experience what Hill calls "the financial faith feedback loop":

1. You develop faith in your financial vision through affirmations and visualization
2. This faith leads to congruent actions toward your financial goals
3. These actions produce small initial results
4. These results strengthen your faith
5. Stronger faith leads to bolder, more consistent actions
6. These actions produce larger results
7. The cycle continues, with faith and results mutually reinforcing each other

This is why Hill insisted that faith is not merely a psychological trick but a practical tool for transforming your financial reality.

Case Study: The Power of Financial Faith

Hill shares numerous examples of financial faith in action, but one modern example stands out. Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx and self-made billionaire, exemplifies Hill's principle of faith.

Before Spanx earned a single dollar, Blakely visualized the company's success with absolute conviction. Despite having no background in retail, fashion, or manufacturing, she:

• Wrote in her journal that she would create a product that would sell millions
• Visualized her product being sold in major department stores
• Saw herself on the Oprah Winfrey Show discussing her success
• Maintained unwavering faith despite being rejected by every hosiery mill in the country

This faith led her to persist until she found a manufacturer willing to produce her product. Within two years, Spanx was featured on Oprah's "Favorite Things" segment, just as she had visualized. Today, Blakely's net worth exceeds $1 billion—a testament to the power of faith coupled with action.

Conclusion: Faith as a Financial Force

Napoleon Hill discovered that every self-made wealthy person he studied possessed unwavering faith in their financial vision long before their success materialized. This faith wasn't a result of their financial success—it was a prerequisite for it.

As you strengthen your financial faith using the methods above, remember Hill's assurance: "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve." Your belief system is the foundation upon which your financial empire will be built.

In our next article, we'll explore Hill's third principle: Auto-Suggestion, and how to effectively program your subconscious mind for wealth.