Let me tell you a truth: if you are a person of average athletic ability, you are not going to win a gold medal in the next Olympics, no matter how much you “believe in yourself.” Confidence does not replace ability.
But there is a deeper, more important truth: confidence creates ability. It’s just much farther upstream.
If you don’t believe you can do something, then you probably can’t. If you believe you can, that’s not magic. But if you believe you can learn, then you certainly can.
Belief is the seed of wisdom. You can’t learn anything without a belief in your fundamental ability to improve yourself. That’s what requires your faith. You can’t skip the learning step – you can’t go right from confidence to accomplishment. But confidence is what makes the learning step possible.
The Opportunity Machine 