I’ve pondered for years the difference, by definition, between faith and delusion.

Both are seemingly the same:

Belief in something you can’t see or touch or prove.

I’ve decided, on a self-talk strategy level, that I’m going to stop using the phrase “have faith in yourself”.

If faith means believing in something you can’t see or touch or prove, this phrase negates the self more than it empowers.

Your life is your proof of self. There’s data to obtain.

Be nakedly honest with yourself about yourself, with the awareness that we literally aren’t capable of complete self-objectivity.

Reflect on your lifetime of truths, patterns, historical metrics.

Safeguard yourself from your own limitations, plan for them. Where you have a strength, sharpen it, exploit it.

If faith and delusion are essentially the same thing, when you say “have faith in yourself” you’re actually kind of saying… delude yourself.

If you see positive historical data sincerely when objectively reflecting, why would you do yourself the disservice of deluding yourself?

And equally or maybe more important: if you do not see positive historical data sincerely when objectively reflecting, why would you do yourself the disservice of deluding yourself? This is limiting.

Don’t have faith in yourself.

Know yourself, actively.

Strategize accordingly.

This is how you ensure ongoing growth and avoid plateauing in life.

Facts > Faith