History is littered with greatness.   Like Helen Keller overcoming great disability to become an advocate for numerous causes and a leader in civil liberties.  Darwin tackling a world full of dogma and working tirelessly for 20 years to solve some of natures biggest riddles.  Martin Luther King overcoming massive prejudice to lead a human rights movement, the effects of which would ripple right around the world.  Churchill overcame overwhelming odds to secure victory in the Second World War.  Or even when Federer overcame a miserable 2008 where it appeared his reign as the King of tennis was over, only to return to the most impressive form in his career.

These people might not have set out to change things or to seek greatness, but it happened all the same.  What they did set out with was a deep desire to play the best damn game they could, and they achieved great results that we now interpret and label with “greatness”.

But let’s not make the mistake of believing that achieving great results or doing great work is directly derived from desire or passion, something I’ve seen a lot of people espousing online recently.

One thing doesn’t naturally lead to the other, just like the front door of your house or apartment doesn’t make you leave the building, it simply makes it possible for you to leave.  You might have a desire to open that door, but if you don’t believe you can or if your belief in the fear of what’s on the other side is too great, you’ll never leave the room.

You still have to get up and go through that door; you’ve got to make the choice to engage and there’s simply no substitute for getting up and putting the effort in.  That’s true of the few people I’ve mentioned above, as well as the dozens – no hundreds – of other examples I could have used.

But while taking repeated action and a deep desire are most certainly essential parts of greatness, no amount of desire or effort can be enough without a supporting belief.

As Bruce Lee once said, water adapts to any container – in other words your life shapes itself and adapts to the barriers you’ve set.  It doesn’t matter if you pour 20,000 gallons or a glass of water into an empty swimming pool, the water can only go as far as the dimensions of the pool.

If your beliefs place barriers artificially close to you you’ll never reach into the well of potential on the other side, and you’ll never achieve greatness or do great things.

I know you’re great at stuff – I know you are – but unless you believe that you are you’ll never be able to use those things in the real world.  Whether you’re a great cook, a great singer, a great entrepreneur, a great basketball player, a great connector, a great Mum,a  great friend or a great goat-herder, without belief and trust in your capability you won’t be able to apply your capability.

Those great people I mentioned made great things happen because they believed their capability was greater than any limits the world might present them with.

You’ve got to believe it and you’ve got to feel it.  That’s what true confidence is – a belief and trust in your own capability right down in your bones; a belief that enables you to apply that capability no matter what.