I don’t watch TV very often other than college football and Shark Week, but many years ago I got hooked on the singing competition show, American Idol.

Steven Tyler, the lead singer of Aerosmith, was one of the celebrity judges. I remember him telling one of the contestants who had just gotten through to the next round, “ You are a better star than you are a singer.“

In other words, he was saying; You don’t have the best voice or the most talent, but you have what it takes to get the job done.

If we base a person’s ability to get the job done on talent alone, then we are ignoring the unseen qualities of what it truly takes to get the job done.

NFL great Tom Brady posted the weakest bench press and ran the slowest 40 yard-dash time of all the quarterbacks in his NFL tryout. His average arm strength and lack of athletic ability turned off every NFL team, except the New England Patriots. A team he eventually led to six Super Bowl Championships. He collected his seventh Super Bowl ring with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after he was considered too old to play.

So, in the words of Steven Tyler, Tom Brady was a much better quarterback than he was an athlete.

All the physical skills needed to produce a great NFL quarterback; Tom Brady didn’t possess. He was slow, weak and unathletic, but he knew how to get the job done. He owned a hidden talent that cannot be measured by a stopwatch.

Throughout my baseball playing and coaching career, time after time I witnessed less talented players advance in their careers because they believed in themselves and were not intimidated by what others had. Confidence in oneself almost always outweighs talent.

They were fearless, unafraid to fail, and unwilling to make peace with mediocrity. I am like that today; I only wish I had been more like that when I was younger.

Being intimidated by those that are stronger, richer, better looking, etc., is a disservice to my God given gifts. I have been given a spirit of power, not timidity.

You actually become intimidating to others when you are not intimidated by others. Think about that.

Here is what I am learning about life. Every time I reach out in kindness or take steps toward my goals, I am weaving a wire thread within my life. The more frequently I do that, those wires will eventually weave into a cable of achievement, almost unbreakable.

The same rule applies when offering less than my best. Correspondingly, I am weaving a wire thread in my life that will eventually weave into a cable of underachievement, becoming difficult to break.

I am either strengthening the absolute best version of myself, or the less than best version of myself. It truly is a tug of war, and eventually one side will win.

So, don’t focus on what you are not, focus on what you believe you can be. You don’t have to drink what they drink or think what they think. Write your own success story. Be fearless and give no thought or attention to the reasons why you cannot become a person you are incredibly proud of.

Tom Brady was the worst athlete of all the quarterbacks at the 2000 NFL tryout. However, he was not intimidated by what he wasn’t because he was confident in who he knew he was.

I believe we can all be more than we can imagine, just gotta try.

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Todd Howey is a columnist for BrownwoodNews.com whose articles appear on Fridays. Email comments to [email protected].