George Michael sang about it, you needed it to get where you are today and where you need to be, I talk about faith.Faith is a powerful force, it can move mountains and change lives. I sat down once with my friend Bobby Shriver to listen to his story about a project that he and Bono from U2 was about to launch. There was a global ambition just then to help people in Africa in many areas – everything from debt relief to AIDS. He said that the campaign was something they believed in but that would require quite a lot of faith to implement. Is not that what life is at large? That we believe the most in life requires that we have a lot of confidence.

If you look at your own life, I am convinced that you often had to enlist the help of your trust. You could not see it, you could not take it, but in your soul so you knew that it was possible.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

Nelson Mandela is a good example of a person whose faith was critical. For 20 years he sat in prison with a conviction that the people of South Africa would one day be treated equally, regardless of color. He could think broadly in a restricted environment. Think big in a small cell.

I sat down with many different color leaders from South Africa a while ago and realized that Mandela’s dream has become reality. From Peter de Villiers, team leader for the rugby team ‘The Springboks‘ to some of the world’s most successful businessmen. All of the darker skinned ones brought up their goals of living their best lives and aiming for the top, mostly thanks to a great man in a small cell, chose to think big.

If you do an inventory of your life, how many times have you had all the odds against you and still managed to do your ambitions? When I was young, I thought it was pretty boring in the church, but there was a story that always caught my attention. The story of David and Goliath. David was a boy who was standing face to face with a challenge that was much larger than himself – a giant. I liked the story that David had a certain attitude, ‘I have killed a lion, I killed a bear, I can kill this giant also’ Certainly there are similarities between David’s attitude and your own life? Think of all the difficulties you went through and the moments where you just been dependent on your confidence in your own ability to cope with any obstacles. Obstacles you did because you are where you are today.

It is so easy to find flaws and errors in himself. I would challenge you to instead look at how much confidence you have. You may not be where you want to be today, but thank God that you still are not what or where you used to be. Give yourself some space this week. Reward yourself instead of pushing yourself. Remind yourself of your successes. Remind yourself that you made it through hard times.

“There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”
Nelson Mandela