Faith is something older generations talk about regularly, while younger people treat it like an outdated concept.
Most people think faith is about religion, about believing in some divine entity that will intervene on their behalf. But that’s not what I’m talking about today.
I’m talking about the kind of faith that enables action in the face of uncertainty.
The faith that allows you to commit to a direction when the outcome is not guaranteed.
Let’s be clear about what faith actually is, because many people get this completely wrong.
Faith is not hope. Hope is passive.
Hope is sitting around wishing things would get better.
Faith is the internal conviction that enables action when you can’t prove the action will work.
Now, I need to be clear about something because this gets confused all the time.
Some of you might be thinking, “Isn’t faith simply just confidence?”
And, No, it’s not, and the distinction is crucial.
Confidence is based on evidence
past successes, proven abilities, your track record.
You are confident about things you’ve already demonstrated you can do.
Faith, on the other hand, is what allows you to act when you have no such evidence.
Confidence says, “I can do this because I’ve done it before.”
Faith says, “I don’t know if this will work, but I trust my ability to handle whatever happens.”
The reason why I am distinguishing between these two concepts is because if you only act when you’re confident, you never venture into truly new territory.
You remain trapped in the narrow domain of your existing competencies.
But, here’s the thing
Faith creates confidence.
When you act without proof and handle the consequences effectively
whether you succeed or fail
you build confidence for similar future situations.
But that first leap, that initial action in uncharted territory, that requires faith.
Faith is the bridge that gets you from where you are to where confidence can eventually take you.
Think about it this way
Every meaningful decision you’ve ever made in your life was an act of faith.
When you chose your career, you couldn’t prove it would make you happy or successful. When you moved to a new city, you couldn’t prove it would improve your life. When you committed to a relationship, you couldn’t prove that person wouldn’t eventually hurt or disappoint you.
Yet you acted anyway. That’s faith.
But this is where many people go wrong
They want the proof of success before they begin. They want guarantees.
They want to see the entire staircase before they take the first step.
Look, creating a YouTube channel is fairly easy and it’s not a big deal these days, but I still spent months researching instead of just starting.
I kept waiting for the right moment, for some sign that it would work, for proof that people would actually watch.
I spent months researching equipment, studying successful channels, crafting the perfect content strategy.
All very logical, very thorough. And completely useless.
Because here’s the thing you can’t research your way to certainty.
The market doesn’t care about your plan. People don’t care about your credentials or your preparation. They care about whether you can provide value, and the only way to discover that is by actually doing it.
I had to act without proof. I had to film that first video not knowing if anyone would watch it, not knowing if I had anything worthwhile to say, not knowing if I could handle the inevitable criticism and rejection.
That decision to act without proof.
That’s faith.
And it’s the most rational thing you can do when facing uncertainty, when facing any meaningful decision in your life.
So, whether you’re applying for a job that’s a stretch for your current qualifications, or you’re starting a business, or investing in your education or whatever
The FAITHLESS approach is always the same
endless research, seeking guarantees, waiting for the perfect moment.
But all of this is just procrastination.
On the other hand, the faithful approach is different.
In FAITHFUL approach, you acknowledge that you can’t control the outcome, but you trust your ability to handle whatever happens.
If you succeed? Great, you’ll build on it.
If you fail? You’ll learn and pivot.
Either way, you’ll be fine.
But most people never adopt this approach because they avoid uncertainty whenever possible.
They choose the safe job, the safe relationship, the safe neighborhood.
By constantly avoiding uncertainty, they never learn to navigate it effectively.
They remain FAITHLESS, dependent on external guarantees that don’t actually exist.
Now, acting without proof doesn’t mean acting recklessly.
You still do your research, you still make reasonable preparations, you still try to stack the odds in your favor. But you don’t mistake these activities for certainty.
You understand that no amount of preparation can eliminate uncertainty.
At some point, you have to act on incomplete information.
At some point, you have to act when you can’t prove it will work.
