I was visiting with a former member of our military recently and he was explaining to me about his job when he served in the Army. As I listened to him tell about his missions and just exactly what they entailed, my first question was: “How do you keep a cool head in that kind of circumstance?”

His reply stuck with me: “Knowledge of your job is the key to keeping a cool head. If you know your stuff, then you know what to expect and can perform.”

I’ve thought about that statement many times since then. Each of us has a job to do on a daily basis. And most of us know that job inside out, and we’re good at it. We know what to expect and can perform. But it’s when we are never faced with adversity that we seem to lose confidence in ourselves. If we are never tested, then we never know just exactly how far we can go.

Take the most amazing racehorse in the world, for example – if Secretariat, a known short-distance sprint champion, had never been given the chance to run a race way out of his comfort zone, he and his owners would have never known he could run a mile-and-a-half and win by 30 lengths. He would have never won the Triple Crown and he would have been just another good racehorse … but never a household name.

Looking back at your history and seeing where you’ve come from and how you have improved in life can give us the boost we need in confidence to accomplish nearly any task. But knowing that you were created with a unique purpose and a specific plan can propel you to the moon and back.

You are the only you and no one is like you. No one can do what you do the way you do it because you are wired uniquely. That’s amazing all on its own, but it may not be enough to convince you of your potential success.

So, let’s put some feet on this intangible thing called self-confidence and then walk into the day seeing if you can make a difference in yourself. We know that feelings follow actions. If you act a certain way, then pretty soon, your feelings will follow.

So as you go through the day, act with purpose, courage, confidence and intelligence, until these qualities lock into your mind. Instead of looking at your weaknesses or shrinking back because you don’t think you can, remember who you are and what you can do! You’ve mastered several areas of life; don’t forget those.

Remember where you came from, how you’ve grown and what you’ve accomplished. And when you do that, this will add fuel to your self-confidence and spur you into facing obstacles and challenges with courage.

Readers with questions or comments for Melissa Hart may write to her in care of this publication.